Where to get help for postpartum depression

Samoina Wangui is a survivor of postpartum depression and a perinatal mental health advocate. She's the founder of Postpartum Depression Kenya.

“My journey with post-partum depression began with pregnancy depression in 2011. I did not know it then, but the circumstances surrounding my pregnancy predisposed me to depression, which only progressed to PPD after I delivered my son in January 2012.

I knew something was terribly wrong the day I slapped him when he was five months old. Shortly after, I started experiencing suicidal thoughts. That is when I went online to look for help. I was not aware then that what I was going through was actually post-partum depression.

I did not get any local resources at the time, but I did get information from Postpartum Support International (postpartum.net). Much of the content, however, was for a Western audience.

I did not set out to start an organisation. It all started with a blog in 2015 where I’d share my experiences as a mom living with PPD. Being vulnerable on my blog encouraged mothers like me to reach out to me and share what they were going through.

Over the years, the blog grew to a Facebook Page and then, together with other survivors and individuals passionate about perinatal mental health, we registered Postpartum Depression Kenya as a non-profit. I founded the organisation because I believe moms need not suffer alone, and without information addressing their mental health.

At PPDKenya, our mission is to raise awareness and reduce the stigma of perinatal mood and anxiety disorders while providing psychosocial support for affected mothers and their families. We are currently doing this through our social media platforms (www.ppdkenya.com) and the Elimisha Mama programme.

Elimisha Mama, which is Swahili for ‘educate a mother’, is the organisation’s flagship project that seeks to incorporate perinatal mental health into maternity clinics at partnering hospitals. The aim of the project is to create awareness on perinatal mental health, reduce the stigma and provide psychosocial support for moms at risk or with a mental illness.

We do this by offering psychoeducative talks at the clinics, as well as screening pregnant women and new mothers who may be at risk of a mental illness. Elimisha Mama is currently ongoing at Akshar Hospital (formerly Kikuyu Nursing Home) in Kikuyu.

Through the programme, we have reached more than 400 women attending the antenatal and post-partum clinics, while providing on-site psychosocial support for affected women. We hope to grow Elimisha Mama to partner with more hospitals, so that we can create more awareness for women in the perinatal period.”

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Postpartum Support International Kenya

“PPD (post-partum depression) is just one among several perinatal mental illnesses parents may suffer after birth. Depression after pregnancy is also called postnatal depression,” explains Joyce Wachira, a lactation educator and a perinatal loss counsellor at Perinatal Services in Nairobi.

Joyce volunteers as the country coordinator for Postpartum Support International in Kenya. “I have done this officially since being trained in components of care in 2016 by PSI, though I was involved in awareness work since 2014. I am also a survivor, having suffered PPD in 2002,” she says.

They are situated at Westlands Health Centre in Nairobi, and hold sessions three times a week to educate parents on these disorders for early detection and treatment. The platform they are using is made possible by the Parents’ Light Initiative, a vision of Perinatal Services.

This is a volunteering approach carried out by volunteers trained by Joyce, most of them PPD survivors. They have a Facebook page — Perinatal Services — where mums can interact with professional counsellors and other mums."