Thank you for your engagement with our Spring 2024 Strategic Area Action Team meetings, as well as your asynchronous participation on our action team collaborative documents.

Below is a summary of projects in progress in our SAATs and how you can get involved in the coming months. The OPMH Task Force will reconvene as a collective this summer, though progress on the below projects will be in progress through individual SAATs ongoing.

Interested in proposing or leading an OPMH Task Force project? Contact balexander@mhaohio.org.

RESEARCH AND DATA

Statewide Environmental Data Scan

• The OPMH Task Force identified a need to systematically assess and catalog the existence and accessibility of relevant data pertinent to Ohio and will conduct a statewide environmental data scan using social determinants of health and diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) lenses.
  
  HOW TO GET INVOLVED: Mighty Crow will conduct a minimum of 8 statewide stakeholder focus groups comprised of 8-10 participants (including OPMH Task Force members) from all 5 major Ohio regions. Contact datascan@mightycrow.com to express your interest in participating in a focus group.

PUBLIC AWARENESS

Awareness Campaign for Black Birthing Persons and Providers

• Key messaging for this campaign: Black mothers and birthing persons face higher rates of maternal mortality and increased complications that extend beyond pregnancy. Research has shown that Black mothers and birthing persons report feeling afraid to report mental health concerns and needs due to fears of stigma and feelings of shame and worry that Child Protective Services will be used against them.

  • Birthing Persons: Remember that you are the center of your circle of care and that you can trust yourself to know how you’re feeling and the kind of care you need.

  • Providers: You can play a major role in the circle of your patients' care by providing compassionate care when they need it most.
    
    HOW TO GET INVOLVED: This campaign’s launch target is summer 2024, but we need your feedback, ideas, and involvement to ensure we have the assets and distribution required to make the campaign successful. Collaborate by sharing your ideas and desire to contribute to this shared document.
    
    

SCREENING AND IDENTIFICATION

Screening Protocol for Black Birthing Persons

• This framework for culturally responsive screening was created in collaboration with Black birthing people, Black birth workers, perinatal service providers throughout Ohio, Karen Sheffield-Abdullah, PhD, RN, CNM, and the POEM Program of Mental Health America of Ohio. A literature review and primary data from focus groups and interviews with Black birthing persons and birth workers/clinicians also inform recommendations. This background research highlighted the following barriers to effective screening for risk of perinatal mental health conditions with Black birthing individuals:

  • How questions in current screening tools are phrased or asked

  • Screening tools not being validated by ethnicity, cultural context, or various perinatal phases

  • Low trust/confidence among Black individuals in provider or health care systems

  • Fear of Child Protective Services or other entities using a mental health need to remove children from homes

  • Cultural and community-based stigmas surrounding mental health
    
    HOW TO GET INVOLVED: The screening protocol briefing and single-page reference document is complete. We need your assistance in distribution and contact for appropriate sites and providers that coordinate screening for and screen perinatal people. Collaborate by sharing your ideas and desire to contribute to this shared document

POLICY AND REGULATION

Ohio Perinatal Mental Health Day of Advocacy