Building bridges

By Donna Keyser

Subjects: Pregnancy, Therapy, Allegheny County Maternal Depression Initiative (Pittsburgh, Pa.), Pregnancy Complications, Mental Health Services, Organizational Case Studies, Mental illness in pregnancy, Psychology, Community mental health services, Public health, united states, Mental health services, Depressive Disorder, Maternal Health Services, Community mental health centers, Allegheny county (pa.), Community Mental Health Services, Pregnancy, complications, Complications

Description: "Between January 2007 and June 2010, members of the Allegheny County Maternal and Child Health Care Collaborative designed, implemented, and evaluated the Allegheny County Maternal Depression Initiative, a local systems-change effort focused on increasing identification, referrals, and engagement in treatment as needed and appropriate for women at high risk for maternal depression. The collaborative was successful in improving key organizational and clinical processes related to the achievement of its aims. This report describes how and why the initiative was created, the processes through which it was implemented and evaluated, and the results and lessons learned. It concludes with recommendations in four areas for practice and policy change designed to expand and sustain the initiative's achievements: improve identification of maternal depression, enhance access to available resources and services, increase engagement in behavioral health treatment, and improve overall systems performance."--Publisher description.