Strategic Planning in Perinatal Mental Health

This article presents the story of the beginning of a movement to improve the perinatal mental health of families in the South Eastern Sydney Area Health Service. The movement is made up of practitioners and consumers who want to improve services. An early initiative was to provide information on appropriate referral procedures for postnatal depression, for General Practitioners (GPs), early childhood nurses and others who may be asked for help by women. A second project was a submission for inpatient accommodation for women with acute psychoses or depression and their infants. The key theme that has emerged is that perinatal mental health is an issue with many disparate causes and effects, some of which health systems can address. The promotion and maintenance of perinatal mental health requires a great deal of collaboration between health professionals from various disciplines. Existing levels of collaboration between services are insufficient and approaches to perinatal mental health should be re-oriented in order to facilitate a move from fragmented care to continuity of care. Primary care is the most appropriate starting point for co-ordinating collaborative efforts. Currently, the focus is completing a Perinatal Mental Health Strategic Plan to be considered in planning mental health services for the South Eastern Sydney Area Health Service.