01/02/2025
New mothers face barriers to getting the mental health care so many need
Last night the PBS Newshour highlighted a Detroit start-up and a new approach to help that are creating a new path to help for mothers
Maternal mortality rates have soared in the U.S. to nearly three times those of other high-income countries. Over 20 percent of deaths among new mothers are from su***de and overdose. Researchers and service providers have made progress in addressing postpartum depression and anxiety, but barriers to care remain.
Last night, the Newshour’s Ali Rogin reported nationally on this new approach by a Detroit start-up, The Fourth TriSanctuary is helping to pioneer a new path to help.
Here is a link to the story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLNQG5em74U
From Melissa Scodellaro, co-founder and president of Fourth Tri Sanctuary:
Our mission is to fill the gap in postpartum care by providing a welcoming, in-person community space where mothers can rest, recover, and access vital support. Unlike traditional appointments, moms can stay for the entire day and participate in out-patient activities focused on mental health, movement, lactation support, and nutrition.
Our sanctuary also offers flexible care, allowing moms to engage in as many or as few activities as they choose. With 6,300 square feet of space, we provide spa-like amenities, including shower rooms, baby bathing stations, nap rooms for mothers, a nursery for babies, a fireplace lounge, café, and grocery store.
Our model is designed to be replicated nationwide, and we currently accept HSA/FSA payments while working to expand insurance coverage. In addition, we started the Fourth Tri Foundation which offers scholarships to those in need.
On the issue
One in eight new mothers suffer from postpartum depression according to the CDC. Yet approximately 75% go undiagnosed or untreated. Su***de is one of the leading causes of death for women in their first year postpartum. Black, Indigenous, Hispanic and low-income women are more likely to be affected. Although thousands of women suffer from postpartum depression there are not nearly enough resources available.
But now, new postpartum centers, similar to spa’s, are opening up around the country with the intent to help make more of those much needed treatments available by providing new mothers specialized care in a non-hospital setting. The Fourth TriSanctuary just outside of Detroit in Ferndale, MI offers both in-patient and out-patient services. Services ranging from therapy, child care, support groups, classes, massage, to more intensive in-patient services. They also rely on donations to help some of their clients receive these treatments.
These new centers are hoping to ease some of the pressures of being a new mom as well as combat the stigma of postpartum depression.
But for many women who do seek treatment many insurance carriers do not cover these treatments. Those that do, reimbursement rates are so low that the majority of women end up having t o pay out of pocket. Making access to these centers and to newly available medication a very real concern.
Just last year the first pill for postpartum depression was approved by the FDA, but experts worry that minority and low-income women, who are disproportionately affected by the condition, won’t have easy access to the new medication. Most antidepressants take six to eight weeks to take full effect. The new drug zuranolone, which patients take daily for two weeks, acts much faster. But the medication, manufactured jointly by Biogen and Sage Therapeutics under the brand name Zurzuvae, comes with a hefty price tag of nearly $16,000 for the two-week course. Dr. Catherine Monk, Director of The Perinatal Pathways Lab at Columbia University Medical Center believes we have the necessary tools to fight postpartum depression but she tells us, “the insurance factor is the elephant in the room…our biggest impediment of recovery from postpartum depression is lack of care driven by insurance reimbursement.”
Maternal mortality rates have soared in the U.S. to nearly three times those of other high-income countries. Over 20 percent of deaths among new mothers are ...
