MMHLA Executive Director Featured in Capitol Hill Briefing
MMHLA’s Executive Director, Adrienne Griffen, was a featured speaker at a Capitol Hill briefing for over 60 staffers who were in attendance to learn about the maternal mental health crisis in our country.
This briefing was co-sponsored by MMHLA along with the American Psychiatric Association, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the Mental Health Liaison Group.
Leaders in public health, health care, education, and policy were in attendance.
Representatives Robin Kelly (IL-2) and Lauren Underwood (IL-14) started the briefing with comments about the impact of maternal mortality in our country with a specific emphasis on the disproportionate impact on women of color. Representatives Kelly and Underwood have long championed issues of maternal health equity, with Representative Underwood leading the Black Maternal Health Momnibus and the Moms Matter Act, and Representative Kelly leading the Preventing Maternal Deaths Act Reauthorization of 2023.
Griffen was joined by the following speakers who outlined issues leading to the maternal mental health crisis, including sharing information about recent data from Maternal Mortality Review Committees from across the country that emphasizes mental health issues as the leading cause of maternal mortality.
Featured Panel Speakers
Nancy Byatt, DO
Dr. Byatt represented the American Psychiatric Association and served as the moderator for the panel.
Dr. Byatt is one of the founders of MCPAP for Moms—the first Perinatal Psychiatry Access Program in the United States, which has served as the prototype for other programs across the country.
Denis Antoine II, MD
Dr. Antoine II is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Johns Hopkins University. He is also the Director of the Center for Addiction and Pregnancy at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center.
Veronica Gillispie-Bell, MD
Dr. Gillispie-Bell represented the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. She is the Head of Women’s Services at Ochsner Medical Center in Louisiana, where she is also the Medical Director of the Louisiana Perinatal Quality Collaborative and Pregnancy Associated Mortality Review for the Louisiana Department of Health.
The panel members identified specific steps that Congress can take to address the maternal mental health crisis.
The panel members also identified specific steps that Congress can take to address these issues, including:
Providing full funding for the Into the Light for Maternal Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Act of 2022 to support the National Maternal Mental Health Hotline and to create more state programs that would address maternal mental health.
Passing the Preventing Maternal Deaths Reauthorization Act of 2023 to ensure continued support for state maternal mortality review committees.
Encouraging support of the Black Maternal Mental Health Momnibus with a special emphasis on the Moms Matter Act, which specifically addresses maternal mental health by providing funding for community-based organizations in addition to growing and diversifying the maternal mental health workforce.
