Nobody Should Mother Alone: Postpartum Mental Health with the Founders of TogetHER

Postpartum depression is only part of the picture. New mothers can also face anxiety, trauma, intrusive thoughts, bipolar symptoms, and, in rare cases, psychosis, often long after the six-week checkup. This week on Next Steps Forward, Dr. Chris Meek talks with Kayla O'Connor and Caitlin Merritt, two central Iowa mothers who founded TogetHER after losing people close to them to suicide. Their grassroots organization helps women handle the mental health challenges of motherhood.

Kayla and Caitlin explain what people misunderstand about postpartum mental health and why risk doesn't depend on whether it's a mother's first child. They also discuss the Lindsay Clancy case in Massachusetts and a similar case decades ago in central Iowa, including how to talk about these tragedies without diagnosing anyone from the headlines. They share what mothers find hardest to say out loud, how partners and families can support a mom's identity beyond motherhood, and what they would tell lawmakers to fund next.

If you or someone you know is struggling, the National Maternal Mental Health Hotline is available 24/7 by call or text at 1-833-TLC-MAMA (1-833-852-6262). You can also call or text 988 for the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.

About Kayla O’Connor and Caitlin Merritt: Kayla O’Connor and Caitlin Merritt are two central Iowa mothers who co-founded TogetHER, a central Iowa grassroots organization to help women navigate the mental health challenges of motherhood, especially postpartum. Kayla O’Connor is a former educator who learned about a former student who died by suicide and was seven months postpartum. Caitlin Merritt is a nutritionist and personal trainer whose neighbor and the mother of her daughter’s preschool best both died by suicide.