#26: Maternal Mental Health and OT with Carlin Reaume (CE Course)

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Full Course Details: Public course page
Learn more about our guest: Dr. Carlin Reaume, OTD, OTR/L, MAEd, PMH-C, PCES

Read the article and discussion upon which this podcast is based.

Course Description

Released February 7, 2022 from Aurora, NE

Research is backing up what many of us are experiencing in our communities: the pandemic is exacerbating mental health issues.

And, one can imagine how this would be true for new mothers—so many families’ birth experiences have been drastically impacted by COVID protocols, followed by increased isolation once the family arrives home.

The article we will be discussing in this one-hour podcast course is a call to action to support the positive mental health of new mothers, particularly during this pandemic.

Whether you approach this topic as a pediatric OT, an OT who specializes in maternal mental health, a parent yourself, or simply an involved community member, I think there are important takeaways for all of us .

After reviewing the article, we will welcome Dr. Carlin Reaume, OTD, OTR/L, PMH-C, PCES. Carlin is an occupational therapist, maternal wellness specialist, and owner of Supported Mama. Her and I will discuss ways you can support maternal wellness in your traditional OT practice, and ways for you to become even more deeply involved in this practice area.

Primary Journal Article Explored

When you log in, be sure to check out the OT Potential Club’s written breakdown of the following research article. Then, share your questions and thoughts with fellow practitioners.

Barlow, K., &; Sepulveda, A. (A. (2020). The promotion of Positive Mental Health for new mothers during covid-19 . World Federation of Occupational Therapists Bulletin, 76(2), 86–89.

Supporting Research and Journal Articles

Hessami, K., Romanelli, C., Chiurazzi, M., &; Cozzolino, M. (2020). Covid-19 pandemic and Maternal Mental Health: A systematic review and meta-analysis. The Journal of Maternal-Fetal &; Neonatal Medicine, 1–8.

Sepulveda, A. (A. (2019). A call to action: Addressing maternal mental health in pediatric occupational therapy practice. Annals of International Occupational Therapy, 2(4), 195–200.

Resources from the Podcast

Websites

Facebook Groups

Assessments

Learning Objectives

  • You will be able to describe how promoting maternal wellness can impact the health of your pediatric client.
  • You will be able to identify maternal mental health screens that can be used in OT practice.

Agenda

Intro (5 minutes)

Breakdown and analysis of journal article (5 minutes)

  • What was the purpose of this article?
  • What do we already know about maternal mental health?
  • How is the COVID-19 pandemic impacting maternal mental health?
  • So, what is the role of OT here?
  • Case study example
  • What were the implications for OTs?
  • Takeaways for OT Practitioners

Discussion on practical implications for OTs (with guest Dr. Carlin Reaume) (50 minutes)

  • Can you tell us the story of how you found OT and maternal wellness?
  • Can you tell us about your practice at Supported Mama?
  • In your work, have you seen the kind of exacerbation of mental health challenges that the article talked about?
  • What was your impression of the case study and call to action?
  • What do you personally think pediatric OTs can be doing in their practice to support maternal wellness?
    • Do you have any advice for introducing conversation about maternal wellness?
  • If OTs want to get specifically involved in maternal wellness, what do you see as the current avenues to doing this?
  • My impression after reading this article is we need more holistic pre- and post-natal support for new parents. Do you agree with this? Do you think OTs have a larger role to play than we are playing?
  • Are there any simple strategies you would like to leave us with that we could all adopt to be more supportive of new parents?

Contact Hours

1 hour (0.1 AOTA CEUs)

Target Audience/Educational Level

Our target audience is occupational therapy practitioners who are looking to learn about Maternal Mental Health and OT. The educational level is introductory.

Instructional Methods/Registration/Special Needs Requests/Cancellation Policy

This course is an independent/self-study course delivered via podcast on iTunes, Spotify and Google Play. Explore your listening options on the OT Potential Podcast page.

If you need accommodations to take this course, please contact us and we will address your needs on an individual basis.

If this course were to be cancelled, please see our cancellation policy on our terms page.

Course Completion Requirements

In order to receive a certificate for this course, you must first listen to the podcast in its entirety. Then, you will need to take the test (found at the top of this page) and earn 75% or higher. If you pass, a certificate will be automatically generated and sent to your email.

Financial and Non-financial Disclosures

It is the policy of OT Potential to disclose any financial and non-financial interest the provider or instructor may have in a product or service mentioned during an activity. This is to ensure that the audience is made aware of any bias of the speaker.

We here at OT Potential have no financial stake in this topic. Dr. Carlin does have a financial stake in her own maternal wellness practice, but does not have a product of service targeted at OTs.

Speakers

Dr. Carlin Reaume, OTD, OTR/L, MAEd, PMH-C, PCES:

Dr. Carlin Reaume, OTD, OTR/L, MAEd, PMH-C, PCES

Dr. Carlin Reaume has more than 15 years of experience as a therapist and educator. Utilizing her clinical expertise in Lifestyle Redesign®, she has focused her career on expanding occupational therapy’s role in non-traditional and emerging practice areas including workplace wellness, college student health, and maternal health. She holds specialty certifications in Perinatal Mental Health (PMH-C) through Postpartum Support International and Pregnancy & Postpartum Corrective Exercise (PCES) through Core Exercise Solutions. Dr. Reaume is also a Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT-200), a certified postpartum doula through Cornerstone Birthwork Training, and a graduate of Loyola Marymount University’s Yoga Therapy RX Certificate Program. She launched Supported Mama in 2020 as a way to provide holistic support for women on the journey before, during, and after pregnancy.

Dr. Reaume graduated from the University of Southern California (USC) with both her Master of Arts and Doctoral degrees in Occupational Therapy. She also completed her Master of Arts in Education from Pepperdine University. She has presented her work both nationally and internationally, as well as held leadership positions on the Board of Directors for the Occupational Therapy Association of California. Dr. Reaume currently serves as Assistant Clinical Professor for the Doctor of Occupational Therapy Program at the University of the Pacific in Sacramento, California.

Sarah Lyon, OTR/L:

Sarah Lyon, OTR/L headshot

Sarah’s passion is helping fellow OT practitioners translate evidence into daily practice. Sarah earned her BA in religion from St. Olaf College, then earned her master’s degree in occupational therapy from New York University in 2011. Since then, she’s worked in numerous facilities, including a critical access hospital, an acute trauma hospital, and a state inpatient psychiatric hospital.

In 2011, Sarah launched OT Potential because she realized we needed a reliable source of quality occupational therapy-related content and resources. She has also had the opportunity to create content for brands like WebPT, MedBridge, Saebo, and NeuroLutions.

She launched the OT Potential Club in 2019 to marry her love of simplifying complex topics with her desire to help therapists access the most important OT-related research released each year.

Sarah is a prairie girl at heart, which is why she returned to her hometown to raise her children in Aurora, Nebraska (home of the strobe light).

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Please share any other feedback below! Including, ideas for future programming, and most importantly, how you feel this podcast will impact your practice!

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This topic is awesome. Thank you so much for your time and support.

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Wonderful Podcast! It is so true that our country is not doing the best job of supporting postpartum women. We are behind so many European countries that offer much better holistic care to women after childbirth. My dream would be to see OT’s working in the OB/Gyn offices to be a standard consult as a part of the aftercare visit to open the discussion about sleep, lactation support, anxiety/depression, transition to a new “occupation” role of mother. It just seems like such a crucial aspect of postpartum care that is being missed! Thank you for a great podcast!

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I enjoyed hearing about maternal mental health. Thank you to Dr. Reaume for sharing her personal experiences and her path to helping others. I also appreciated her words of encouragement that we do have the foundation to build upon. I plan on visiting each resource mentioned and will be discussing this further in my department team meeting. Thank you for your time to educate others.

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Hey @kristine7! When you are looking at resources, I wanted to make sure you saw this FB group! I didn’t have it on my original list of resources, but Carlin said there are good discussions in there!

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Thank you so much for your comment! I absolutely agree - having an OT consult as a part of standard postpartum care would be so deeply valuable. Especially since we know that increased risk for perinatal mental health concerns extend throughout the first full year after giving birth, not just the first few months postpartum. I’d honestly love to see multiple OT touchpoints throughout the first year become common practice. That’s my dream, anyway :slight_smile:

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Thank you for your comment! I’m so glad you found the topic to be valuable and are planning to share with your department. The more awareness that exists around all of these issues, the better. So thank you for making a priority in your setting!

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I really enjoyed listening to you speak and admire the work you are doing!! You are such an asset to our field!

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Great topic to discuss cause it brings awareness to everyone out there on how much this pandemic has impacted all our lives.

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Thank you so much for this! I have 3 babies, and 2 are “Covid” babies born in May 2020 and Nov 2021, so this resonates with me so much right now. It’s an interesting area of opportunity for OTs that I’m definitely going to explore more.
It’s amazing how much this pandemic has affected mental health in general.
I actually got a doula for the birth of my second child, but due to the pandemic; I couldn’t have her in the room with me.

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Thank you so much! I love this topic and it is so timely. I am currently reading Polyvagal Theory and The Developing Child and just learning about the Polyvagal response in the early days of a child’s life. This is so important - educating young mothers about the autonomic nervous systems and its affect on health of mother and child.

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I love hearing more about supporting Maternal Mental Health as an OT. I have experience working in birth to 3 along with being a Certified Educator of Infant Massage. I am always seeking ways to expand my knowledge to help those struggling with mental health. Having more resources available is so beneficial, even in sharing with friends who need it.

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Very informative podcast! I listened to it twice and see how I could incorporate this into my practice. Truly meaningful work!

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I’m so pleased to hear that you found the conversation to be valuable and that you’re planning to incorporate this into your practice! It’s such important work! I’d love to hear more about what you’re envisioning :slight_smile:

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Agreed! And infant massage is so helpful in this area – not only for the infant…but for bonding/attachment support from the side of the parent too. Thank you for the work that you do.

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I agree 100%. I’m so glad to hear that this topic resonated with you. It is so important!

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This means so much. Thank you!!!

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Thank you so much for this episode! I was initially drawn to OT years ago because of the promise of care that was client centered and treated individuals as whole people. However, the unfortunate reality is that this is not the case in most settings due to a multitude of factors that I’m sure we are all familiar with. It was refreshing and inspiring to see an OT doing work that is actually reflective of the true values of OT! Addressing both the physical and mental health aspects that come from such a huge life change such as motherhood is crucial and OT’s should be an integral part of this. It has inspired me to further look into the resources provided so that I can try to incorporate this into my practice. Thank you also to Dr. Carline for bringing up the importance of advocating for policy changes as these skilled services should be being reimbursed. Fascinating topic, Loved it.

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