🗣️Raising Our Voices: Birthing Justice Film Screening🤎
We believe every birthing person deserves a beautiful birth which is why we partnered with three other Arizona organizations to host the Phoenix film screening of BIRTHING JUSTICE. This documentary outlines our nation’s Maternal Mortality crisis for Black mothers who die at 3 - 4x’s the rate of white women.
A heartfelt thank you to the 50+ community members in attendance as well as those who were there in spirit! (View more photos here - huge gratitude to our volunteer photographer - @Kamalani Photography)
We are grateful for the community' participation as well as the many representatives from our Arizona Department of Health Maternal Mortality Committee (including the Program Manager) and the AHCCCS Maternal Child Health EPSDT Manager.
Together we can change outcomes, treatment, and experiences of Arizona’s Black birthing families and nationwide. The work continues... . . Stay tuned for more opportunities to show your support!
🧐Arizona Feature: Health Affairs Workforce Briefing
“[T]he Arizona Department of Health Services is an illustrative example of improving these gaps by offering full scholarships to BIPOC and rural mental health providers to be certified in PMH in partnership with Postpartum Support International; an organization dedicated to promotion, prevention, and standardization of treatment of perinatal mental health.” 🎉 That’s us!!! 🎉
The policy brief was recently published in Health Affairs Forefront titled "Addressing perinatal mental health with a diverse workforce: A national call to action." A huge shout out to doctoral student Nalani Thomas who took a lead on this project with the assistance of undergraduate student Hannah Moton.
The author’s even thanked, Elizabeth Wood, PSI-AZ Board Chair and Dewanna Cuthbert, PSI-AZ State Coordinator for their “invaluable feedback and guidance on direction.” Congratulations, Nalani for your work elevating this issue into the policy arena!
🏆 Record Number of Arizona “Climb Out of the Darkness” Events
Together, we raised even more awareness and reduced stigma around Perinatal Mental Health challenges! A huge thank you and congratulations to all of the Climb event leaders and their support teams:
Yuma | Lead by Estephanie - special thanks to Maritza Rubio for taking pics!,
Globe | Led by Carolyn,
Tucson | Led by Nancy with support from Pearl, Tiffany and Rachel and
Phoenix | Led by Brittany!
We are so grateful for your volunteer time, energy and passion to host these life changing events!
🎓Scholarships have REOPENED
We have out paced every other state in the US in 2023 by awarding: 228 training scholarships and 19 exam scholarships! And we’re no where close to done! We plan to shatter this record in 2024!!!
Moving forward, training scholarships will be reviewed and awarded quarterly. The next application cycle closes Friday, January 5th, 2024. Applicants will be notified via email during the 2nd week of January.
With a goal of transforming our Perinatal Mental Healthcare desert into an equitable, informed, culturally congruent workforce - we encourage the following to apply:
AZ Providers of Color
AZ Providers who serve more-rural communities (non-Maricopa / non-Pima counties) - regardless of race
AZ Providers who accept AHCCCS
🏆 Get Involved: Feed Your Passion
Nov 17 | Meet & Greet Potluck hosted by the AZ Equity & Access Group | Phoenix
Mar 18 | Mental Health Day at the AZ Capitol Building | Phoenix
Apr 24 - 26 | BIPOC only PSI Training | Phoenix
Please Support PSI-Arizona this Giving Tuesday!
November 28th | Unleashing the power of community to transform Arizona’s Perinatal Mental Healthcare landscape. Every penny makes a huge difference!