Alma programme peer mentors Gracia Deras, left, and Shannon Beckner sit with baby Wyatt. Deras experienced postnatal depression with her first child and now helps other mothers navigate their own mental health struggles. Credit: Juan Nino/ CU Boulder.

A new study has found matching new and expectant mothers with trained peers provides ‘rapid relief’ for postnatal depression.

Gracia Deras had just delivered her first child when the dark cloud that had nagged her during pregnancy began to overtake her.

She lacked the energy to care for herself – much less her newborn son – and her husband at the time was not supportive.

Ashamed to feel depressed when she was expected to feel joyful, she folded inwards: she skipped church, ignored her phone and hid in bed when visitors knocked at her door. At times her thoughts terrified her.

“I felt like I lost all hope in my ability to be a mother,” recalled Deras, who – at the advice of her paediatrician – sought therapy when her son was a few months old.

Peer mentor

A decade later, Deras serves as a peer mentor for Alma, an eight-week CU Boulder-born programme that pairs new moms struggling with mental health issues with trained peers who have been through it and come out the other side.

New research shows that the programme – which has served nearly 800 mothers – provides ‘rapid relief of symptoms’ and ‘significant clinical improvement’ to a population that has historically faced barriers to mental health care.

Another new paper suggests that new mothers are not only open to, but also hungry for, peer-support. With expansions in New Jersey and California underway, Alma now aims to go nationwide.

Programme founder Sona Dimidjian, a professor in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at CU Boulder, said: “My vision is that every mom who is feeling anxious, stressed and overwhelmed knows that she’s not alone and has access to the support she needs.”

An unmet need

About one in five US women experience perinatal mental health challenges – including depression and anxiety that can begin during pregnancy and last a year after a child is born. 

Stigma prevents many from seeking help. When they do, trained clinicians are hard to find, wait lists are long and the expense is often prohibitive.

Due to language and cultural barriers that can make them feel isolated, new Latina mothers are at particularly high risk, with nearly half experiencing postnatal depression.

Yet the number of facilities providing therapy in Spanish has declined by 18% in recent years, research shows.

Anahi Collado, an assistant research professor who trains peer mentors for Alma, said: “Friends and family are well-meaning, and they try to offer support but sometimes it is hard for them to know how to help.”

Study first author Collado added that something as simple as a hot shower or walk around the block can be key: “Sometimes when we’re feeling depressed, we stop doing the things we used to enjoy, and we start doing things that end up maintaining that depression.

“Alma empowers moms to break the cycle.”

Critical tool

Dimidjian launched the programme in 2016, inspired by research she and colleagues had conducted in India and published in The Lancet that year.

They found that when depressed patients saw ‘lay counsellors’ – specially trained community members with no formal mental health education – for three months, they had fewer symptoms and missed less work: 64% experienced remission from depression.

Dimidjian, who sees peer support as a critical tool for addressing a national shortage, said: “There are not enough licensed mental health providers to meet the need.

“All of our communities are stronger when mothers support one another and learn from each other’s wisdom and expertise.”

Study first author Collado said: “These findings add to the growing evidence base for using peer-support programmes to address perinatal depression.”

Deras, now a proud mother of two boys, credits therapy for getting her through her own rough patch. But she also credits her sister, who held her baby so she could shower, put on makeup and go back to church.

As an Alma mentor, she is now paying it forward: “It is so gratifying to give back to these moms now. I know what they are going through,” she said.

The research is published in the journal Behavior Therapy.