Postpartum depression: Local nonprofit helps families cope with illness

From KLCC Studios, this is Oregon on the Record.

I'm Michael Dunn. Despite the war with Iran, rising inflation, and other huge stories, the trial of Lindsay Clancy has captivated the national attention for months. This incredibly tragic story of a mother who, claiming that under postpartum psychosis, killed her children and tried to kill herself. And throughout that trial, a big question was posited. Do we as a society truly understand postpartum depression and psychosis and their impacts? Today on the show, you'll hear from the leader of a local nonprofit that works to help mothers and families better understand and better cope with postpartum depression and even psychosis. And she explains her organization's efforts through her very own personal story. Then at the end of the show, one of our reporters will talk about some local policy action against data centers. That's next on Oregon on the Record. While most people have heard of and many have experienced postpartum depression, this illness has in some ways existed on the periphery of general mental health awareness. And its adjacent condition, postpartum psychosis, might be even less talked about and understood. Today on the show, you'll hear from a local nonprofit that works to both help people better understand these illnesses and even more importantly, how to deal with them. Lindsay Leach, the executive director of WellMama.com. Thanks so much for coming in and talking to us.

Thanks for having me.

Yeah. Let's start with this. Perhaps many people or some people may not know, what does your organization do? What is Wellmama all about?

Wellmama is a nonprofit that's based in Eugene and we provide perinatal wellness services. So really at our core, we believe that nobody should have to navigate pregnancy, postpartum, loss, or early parenthood alone. So we bring people together with similar stories. to connect and to get support from our free support groups, wellness services, our one-on-one care with our trained peer support specialists. And we do that through our support line. through in-person meetings, or even in the community. And that's in English and in Spanish.

Okay. And do you serve all of Lane County, the Eugene area? Kind of what's your service territory, if you will?

Yeah, we mostly serve the Eugene-Springfield area. We also do have a lot of virtual programming and our 24-7 support line. It's a text line. You can text in any time. And that's available throughout all of Oregon.

Postpartum depression and postpartum psychosis has been in the news a lot lately, and I'd love for you to kind of explain to people who may not know what it is and talk about how serious it can be.

Yeah. You know, to answer this question, if I might, I'm going to take us back to my own story. Okay. Ten years ago, I had just had my second baby. And every day I'd go to work and I would get my baby and toddler ready to put them in the car and strap them in their car seats to drive to work. And I would turn on to that stretch of Highway 99 coming into Eugene. And my brain consistently would start to send me these visions of veering straight into traffic.

Really?

These visions. And now I know them as intrusive thoughts.