Action Item:

Prioritize and Support the Needs of Maternal Mental Health

Include

mental health services and counseling options as covered benefits in the new postpartum care package in Healthy Texas Women and work closely with provider groups to ensure proper delivery of these mental health services.

Expand

Texas’s new Child Psychiatry Access Network (CPAN) to include perinatal psychiatric access in future years.

Increase

awareness of maternal mental health challenges by training a range of professionals serving mothers and families. Specifically, as the Maternal Care Coordination Pilot Program is implemented, it should include maternal mental health as a component of training for promotoras and community health workers.