Welcome. We are so glad that you are here!
The Colorado Chapter of Postpartum Support International (CO-PSI) believes that every family deserves emotional wellness and so we strive to support every family during the perinatal period. Perinatal mental health complications are common. One in 7 mothers and 1 in 10 fathers experience the impacts of perinatal mental health issues. This occurrence increases to 1 in 3 for mothers of Color. (We don’t have data yet for nonbinary parents). Perinatal mental illness can happen to any parent. That’s why we have to ensure every family has access to resources. When parents thrive, babies thrive, and the whole family thrives.
CO-PSI connects families to resources by:
Making sure Colorado families know about resources like volunteer support coordinators, the maternal mental health hotline, and online support groups.
Hosting the Climb Out of the Darkness, an annual event where parents and providers come together to connect with one another and share their stories.
Fostering communities of connection for perinatal mental health providers.
Offering scholarships for providers to build their skills to work with the perinatal population and obtain certifications.
The Birth Squad, a pilot support group therapy program in Denver.
Connecting providers of color in Colorado.
Increasing awareness and sharing perinatal mental health information and resources with the broader community.
While perinatal mental health can affect any parent; race, income, language, gender identity, disability, and other factors play a significant role in who accesses treatment and whose stories get told. CO-PSI centers equity in its work, and ist striving to prioritize reaching populations who face the biggest barriers to wellness. This looks like:
Offering programming in languages other than English.
Creating connections and training opportunities for providers of color.
Offering scholarships and services that are free of charge to make our programming more accessible.
We know that families need support to thrive and be well, which is why CO-PSI provides training, resources, and networking opportunities for providers and other professionals who support families during the perinatal period. This looks like:
Offering scholarships for perinatal mental health training as well as scholarships for the Perinatal Mental Health Certification Exam.
Hosting perinatal mental health Resource Roundtables for professionals who are looking to strengthen their referral network.
Creating space for mental health clinicians to network and refer via the closed “CO-PSI Therapists’ Connection” Facebook Group.
Launching the Colorado Perinatal Mental Health Alliance for Professionals of Color as an affinity space for BIPOC perinatal mental health professionals.
How do your dollars make a difference?
Awareness. Most people, even parents and pregnant people, only have a vague understanding of postpartum depression, not to mention other perinatal mental health complications. CO-PSI shares accurate, destigmatizing information with hundreds of people across Colorado.
Prevention. Increasing awareness and Sharing perinatal mental health information and resources with the broader community.
Treatment. CO-PSI supports and trains clinicians and, through the The Birth Squad, CO-PSI offers free, accessible treatment to birthing people in Denver, in English and in Spanish.
Together, we can work towards a state where there are accessible mental health resources during the perinatal period for Every. Single. Family.