Celebrating Black Maternal Mental Health Week
Black Maternal Health Week, founded and led by the Black Mama’s Matter Alliance, takes place every year from April 11 –17. The campaign and activities for Black Maternal Health Week serve to amplify the voices of Black mamas and center the values and traditions of the reproductive and birth justice movements.
To celebrate this important event, we worked with parents and community members to curate a collection of resources that specifically work to support new and expecting Black parents. Check them out here:
Shades of Blue Project
The Shades of Blue Project is dedicated to helping women before, during and after child-birth with community resources, mental health advocacy, treatment and support. The Project works to change the way women are currently being diagnosed and treated after giving birth and experiencing any adverse maternal mental health outcome.
National Black Child Development Institute
NBCDI supports and works with Black children and their families through coalition building with community-based organizations, foundations, corporations, school systems, elected officials, government, child care, Head Start, and many other public and private partnerships.
Black Women Do Breastfeed – Peer stories
Black Women Do Breastfeed strives to make visible those Black women who do breastfeed. Parents share stories with the hope that they can support, encourage and inspire others who want to breastfeed their children.
Safe & Sacred Pregnancy: Black Mamas Glowing Through COVID-19
A virtual support network formed to reduce isolation and build community for Black birthing families and the network of birth workers and supporters.
Therapy for Black Men
TherapyForBlackMen.org was born from the idea that Black men and boys face unique challenges and stigmatization, and therefore need a dedicated space for seeking and finding mental health support. They’ve made it their mission to strip away that stigmatization and ease the process of finding help. By providing targeted resources and a database filled with professionals equipped to support men of color, users can now obtain the help they need and deserve.
Natal Stories
NATAL is a podcast docuseries about having a baby while Black in the United States. They pass the mic to Black parents to tell their stories about bringing new life into the world, in their own words. The docuseries also highlights the birthworkers, medical professionals, researchers, and advocates fighting daily for better care for Black birthing parents.
We are excited to support Black Maternal Health Week and hope you will explore, use, and share these resources! If you are interested in learning more about or getting involved with Black Maternal Health Week, please visit the Black Mama’s Matter Alliance website.