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Registered Nurse Beth Tupala (left) and Psychiatrist Dr. Jasmine Gandhi (right).
Parents will often describe welcoming a new child as one of the happiest times of their lives. But physicians, midwives, nurses and others on the front lines will tell you that this is not always the case for their patients.
“Pregnancy is a time of enormous change to the body, hormones and lifestyle, which can stir up a wide range of emotions,” says Dr. Jasmine Gandhi, Psychiatrist at The Ottawa Hospital.
Many people are aware of post-partum depression — but experiencing depression and other forms of emotional distress during pregnancy is also common. As many as one in five new mothers experiences perinatal mood or anxiety disorders during their pregnancy.
To address this critical need for perinatal mental health support, a new service called Ask Masi is here to help.
Introducing Canada’s first perinatal psychiatry access program
Ask Masi is a free resource created for physicians, midwives, nurse practitioners, public health nurses — or any health-care provider who is involved in perinatal care. It was created to address the mental health needs of patients by providing support to their care providers.
“Naturally, doctors, nurses and other health-care workers are focused on the physical health of someone who has just given birth. As a result, when there is an immediate need for emotional or psychological support, care providers often don’t know where to turn,” says Dr. Gandhi. “Ask Masi is going to change that.”
The Ask Masi website offers many resources, including one-on-one psychiatry or nurse consults, training sessions, educational materials and prescribing supports. Most recently, the team added a clinical toolkit to the site offering detailed guidance on how to screen for conditions like anxiety, depression, bi-polar and PTSD.
Dr. Gandhi, who led the creation of this service, explains that the name Ask Masi comes from the Hindi language. It means mother’s sister and refers to the go-to person in the family for trusted counsel. As a psychiatrist who specializes in perinatal care, Dr. Gandhi wanted to support health-care providers in the same way.
The need for mental health services
“It’s common that women suffering from perinatal anxiety or depression will know that there is something wrong, but may be reluctant to bring it up,” says Beth Tupala, Registered Nurse at The Ottawa Hospital and project coordinator of Ask Masi.
Feelings of shame, guilt or fear may prevent expectant mothers from talking about their mental health with care providers. Without proper treatment, the early stages of perinatal mental illness can evolve into more serious conditions.
“With Ask Masi, our goal is to support health-care providers in identifying and addressing patients’ mental health needs,” says Beth. “We are here to provide these resources and tools, so providers feel empowered to care for this patient population.”
In addition to resources for health-care providers, Ask Masi has mental health information available to pregnant mothers and those planning for pregnancy.
The goal is to reach as many people as possible
The website first launched in September 2023. Since then, Ask Masi has assisted on over 100 cases. The response has been positive, but also somewhat unexpected. Dr. Gandhi and Beth report hearing from their expected target audience of obstetricians, nurses and midwives, but they are also hearing from fertility docs — reaffirming the need and desire to access this information.
Their goal now is to get the word out to as many people as possible.
“We have been building The Ottawa Hospital’s mental health team and seek to build capacity for care in the community,” says Dr. Jess Fiedorowicz, Head and Chief of the Department of Mental Health at The Ottawa Hospital. “To reach the people who need us most, we need to be creative. Ask Masi is the perfect example of this.”
Ask Masi is a collaboration between The Ottawa Hospital, Champlain Maternal Newborn Regional Program, the Ottawa Birth and Wellness Centre, and the Daymark Foundation.
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