Welcome back to Bridging the Gap Briefings, a special series of our Bridging the Gap podcast. These short, news-focused episodes hit on timely trends that are impacting the healthcare industry. In our latest episode, Tracy Parkhurst, Senior Director of Product at NeuroFlow, discusses the maternal mental health crisis and how NeuroFlow tackles this critical issue. 

This episode highlights NeuroFlow’s solution to identify behavioral health needs among new and expectant mothers and connect them to the right level of assistance and care. Read on for the top takeaways and tune in to the full episode below! 

The True Cost of the Maternal Mental Health Crisis

The maternal mental health space is often overlooked. Many mothers lack the critical resources they need to navigate the mental and emotional changes faced throughout the perinatal period—the time spanning pregnancy and the year after birth.

As reported by the CDC and the APA, every year, 1 in 5 women suffer from a mental health or substance use disorder during the perinatal period. 75% of those women never receive treatment due to lack of screenings or inaccessible care, and low income women and women of color are particularly at risk.  23% of pregnancy-related deaths are due to behavioral health conditions, and in most cases these deaths are preventable. 

While these statistics are definitely “hard to swallow”, as Parkhurst describes, “…the true cost is really impossible to quantify. These are human lives that we’re talking about, and it’s the moms, and its families, and its children who are bearing the weight of these statistics.” 

NeuroFlow’s Maternal Mental Health Solution

NeuroFlow has introduced a suite of perinatal and postpartum care pathways intended to support and improve behavioral health both during and after pregnancy.

These pathways are tailored to every stage of pregnancy, delivering assessments and content based on the trimester and postpartum period. “NeuroFlow is able to point them to resources specific to their situation,” Parkhurst says, explaining how the pathways direct parents to resources and assessments specific to their trimester and the unique challenges they face.

Click to see Laura’s journey through NeuroFlow’s Maternal Mental Health Care Pathway.

“The times that they’re feeling their worst might not be in the middle of a doctor’s visit–or maybe it doesn’t even occur to someone that something is a problem,” she adds, emphasizing that parents can access support 24/7 wherever they are to ensure that they can get the support they need early.

Looking Ahead

When it comes to providing care and support to the mothers that need it, NeuroFlow’s work is far from done, with plans to enhance the current pathways even further. 

“Over time we want to expand this offering both in terms of breadth and depth, so looking at how we can add support for people even earlier in the perinatal journey… We also want to support partners of pregnant people,” says Parkhurst, “…as well as add more nuanced content that reflects the more individualized needs that people might have throughout and post-pregnancy.”

With the help of these initiatives, NeuroFlow is able to better identify and provide timely support to populations that are underserved at a critical and vulnerable period in their lives. “The pregnancy and postpartum period are incredibly challenging both physically and mentally,” says Parkhurst, “I’m really proud that NeuroFlow has made it so that no one has to face those challenges alone–and if we impact only one mom with all of this, then we’ve still made all the difference in the world.”

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