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Regina Beaton, left, care coordinator at Park Valley Behavioral Health Center, stands with Britney Cummings, a physician assistant at Park Valley, as they prepare for the inaugural The Climb — Wheeling event to help raise awareness of postpartum depression, set for 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. Saturday, June 21, at Wheeling Heritage Port.
WHEELING — Regina Beaton understands the challenges families can face with postpartum depression. She said she experienced it herself with the birth of her own children — and now she and others are hoping to raise awareness on the support available for all new mothers, and even fathers.
On Saturday, June 21, Beaton, a care coordinator at Park Valley Behavioral Health Care in Wheeling, will join others in hosting The Climb — Wheeling, a family friendly event to help focus on Postpartum Support International’s initiative to raise awareness of perinatal mental health. According to the Maternal Mental Health Alliance, “perinatal mental health encompasses the mental well-being of parents during pregnancy and up to a year after childbirth.”
The event is set from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. June 21 at Wheeling Heritage Port. There will be family-focused activities, speakers, music, information booths and more to both raise awareness of the mental health aspects of having a child and also provide support to young families.
Beaton said in West Virginia, one in every four pregnant women and post-delivery mothers experience mental health issues. That’s twice the level it was in 2018, she said, and it’s also higher than the national average of 20%.
Beaton comes at the issue not just as a professional, but also as a mother who has experienced postpartum depression. She said the event on June 21 is meant to help those who might be dealing with depression following the birth of a child.
“We want (those attending the event) to understand that it is OK to experience postpartum depression, that it’s normal,” she said. “We want to reduce the stigma, because the stigma with mental illness is real, particularly around here. What we really want to do is raise awareness about postpartum depression and anxiety with new mothers, because it’s not talked about, it really isn’t.
“When I was pregnant with my first daughter, I was told by my grandmother, ‘you have baby blues, don’t worry about it.’ And then when I had my second daughter, we were in the military. My husband was gone, and I had this baby. … I had no family there, and I was a mess, a total mess. … I was crying all the time. I didn’t know what was going on with me. And I actually ended up going into an inpatient facility for (a few days), because it was so terrible. And the doctor that admitted me said he had just lost a (patient) that week who had killed herself from postpartum depression. I wasn’t there, but he told me that I just needed a rest, just some time to process these feelings. … That experience let me know that we need to raise awareness and let people know this is OK, and there’s help out there.”
Beaton said Park Valley offers the area’s only certified providers in postpartum depression that offer both medication management and counseling. Counselors and other support staff will be available on June 21 to assist those in attendance with any questions or concerns.
Other tables will be manned with professionals from the dental program at West Liberty University; staff from the Ohio County Public Library; and other organizations. Rising Up Yoga also will be on hand during the event.
Beaton said the goal on June 21 will be to show that support is there for those that may be struggling following the birth of a child. “We will bring together survivors, supporters, professionals and community members to symbolically represent the emotional climb that patients face on the path to healing. We want to raise awareness of PPD and reduce the stigma that many associate with the disorder,” she said.
Event sponsors include Park Valley Behavioral Health, Lorri Grisell State Farm Insurance Agency and others. Volunteers are welcome and a number of items — including tickets to West Virginia University football games, Pittsburgh Pirates items, a family photo session through Ally Alderman Photography and much more — will be raffled throughout the day.
For more information, visit The Climb — Wheeling’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/TheClimbWheeling/.
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