Black Maternal Mental Health Week is a nationwide reminder that too many mothers suffer in silence.
San Antonio Metro Health hopes to change that with “Rooted in Legacy: Connecting Families to Black Maternal Mental Health Resources,” a free community event taking place this Friday at the Claude Black Community Center.
The gathering will bring together healthcare providers, doulas, mental health professionals and other advocates to support Black mothers, a group that continues to face disproportionate maternal health challenges.
Zita Powell, Metro Health’s Healthy Families Network Consortium Coordinator, said the heart of the effort is making connections.
“My job is to bring together different stakeholders in the maternal health field within our community,” she said. “[That way,] we can talk about the needs for our moms, both prenatal and postpartum, and what we can do to help moms have safer births as well as help our young babies make it past their first birthday.”
One of the most urgent issues Powell’s team is tracking is perinatal depression. While about 20% of mothers nationwide report experiencing depression after giving birth, Powell said that stat is a staggering 40% among Black mothers.
Too often the symptoms go unnoticed, according to Powell.
“Depression can be silent or can show up differently in different individuals,” Powell explained, pointing to signs such as withdrawal from the family, headaches, stomach pain or disrupted sleep — all symptoms frequently dismissed as everyday new-mom stress.
“If we can educate the entire family on what to look for, then possibly those warning signs can be made known earlier,” she added.
In past years, Black maternal mental health events have shown how powerful community spaces can be. Powell recalled mothers finding the courage to share their stories, families discovering new local resources for their needs and even curious passersby stopping in and leaving with life-changing information.
This year’s event will also feature speakers from the San Antonio Black Doula Collective and Beautiful Beginnings Counseling.
Powell said her message to the community is to just show up.
“Bring as many people as your car can carry,” she said. “And once a mother says something, give weight to the words she says.”
Free, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Friday, July 10, Claude Black Community Center, 2805 E. Commerce St, San Antonio, (210) 207-5233, sanantonio.gov/humanservices/Facilities/ReserveMeetingSpace.
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