2009 has been a great year here at Postpartum Progress and I just wanted to take a look back at some of the cool things that have happened here and all thatYOU have accomplished…
We started Six Things, an ongoing series of easily digestible lists of six things to know about perinatal mood and anxiety disorders if one has time to read nothing else. The first Six Things articles included "Six Things Every New Mom Should Know About Postpartum Depression", "Six Things You Should Avoid if You Have Postpartum Depression or Anxiety" and "Six Things That Can Affect HowQuickly You'llRecover from Postpartum Depression". There will be more to come in this series in 2010!
We held the first annual Mother's Day Rally for Moms' Mental Health. This event featured 24 hours straight of female authors and bloggers writing about the importance of the emotional health of mothers. Some of the participants included Vicki Glembocki of Oprah.com's Blunt Force Mama, Catherine Connors of Her Bad Mother, Lauren Hale of Sharing the Journey, Deb Arora of Missives from Suburbia, and Therese Borchard of Beliefnet.com's Beyond Blue. We'll be doing it again next year, so if you have an interest in being a featured author, let me know!
We spoke out assertively against unbalanced or misleading coverage of perinatal mood and anxiety disorders in the media, especially when it came to the Time magazine article on screening and the Mother's Act and ABC's "Private Practice" episode. Many of you wrote your own letters and articlesin addition to speaking out on Postpartum Progress.
You signedDBSA's petition to support the Mothers' Actand added your name to Susan Stone's list of individuals and organizations who endorse its passage. (You can still add your name if you haven't already!)
You sent in your pictures so that the Surviving& Thriving Mothers Photo Album now features more than 60 photos of recovered, happy and healthymoms and their children. Your participation in this album helps fight stigma and serves as a symbol of hope to those who are currently suffering. If you haven't sentyour picturein yet, please do! I hear from women who say your pictures are very inspirational to them.
I'm so proud of what happens here and the community you've helped create by becoming regular readers, sending in news tips, commenting on stories, sharing your opinions, updating the support groups listand adding your photos to theSurviving & Thriving Mothers Photo Album. Postpartum Progress wouldn't succeed without this great community of survivors, clinicians, advocates and current "patients". Thanks for your bravery in speaking out. Please keep up the good work, and keepyour news, ideas and photoscoming in 2010!!
