#RealMotherhood

2018 Social Media Awareness Campaign for Maternal Mental Health Monday April 30 - Friday May 4

Thank you for signing up to join us in this year’s Maternal Mental Health (MMH) Awareness Week social media campaign. We are honored you have signed on to help lift the heavy stigma that weighs on mothers and families suffering from a maternal mental health disorder like postpartum depression. Your participation will inspire new conversations around how we care for mothers, reminding everyone that every mother needs support, and we all need to ask new moms how they are really feeling.

Theme

This year’s MMH Week Campaign theme is #RealMotherhood #NoShame

Getting real about motherhood is healthy for everyone, especially the 1 in 5 women who will suffer from a maternal mental health (MMH) disorder like postpartum depression. For many women, there are unspoken and spoken ideals of motherhood, unrealistic myths, that crowd the mind and keep women judging themselves through an unrealistic lens. It is especially hard for women who are suffering from an MMH disorder who may choose to suffer silently because they feel there must be something terribly wrong with them for feeling something so different than those expectations.

Motherhood myths like:

To be a good mom you have to love being a mom all the time.
Moms never need help.
I wasn’t a good mom, because I couldn’t breastfeed.
I am not a good mom because my baby’s birth didn’t go well - or my body failed.
I had to go back to work too early and that makes me a bad mom.
I had to take an antidepressant after I had my baby and that makes me a bad mom.
And the biggest myth of all, "Other mothers are better moms because they look like they have it all together.”

These myths aren’t doing mother's any favors and this year through the collective effort made by you and all of our partners we will help challenge these unrealistic expectations of motherhood to remind everyone that motherhood is hard, and to not be afraid to talk about #RealMotherhood moments.

There are two components to this year’s MMH week campaign:

The 5-Day #RealMotherhood Challenge
Sharing daily social media posts and images

For Mothers: The 5-Day #RealMotherhood Challenge

The 5 - Day Challenge will ask mothers around the country to take photos and write posts that they share on social media daily that reveal what motherhood really looks like. We want to challenge mothers, at least for this week, to drop their Instagram filters, not pose their children or try to make them look like perfect angels, and not push aside their stacks of mail and dirty dishes. We want the hard moments, the real moments. Mothers are encouraged to share that they are participating in the 5-Day Real Motherhood Challenge and use the hashtag #RealMotherhood.

For Organizations: Sharing Daily Social Media Posts

These posts will not be available until the morning of each day during the campaign. Messages will originate from TheBlueDotProject Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts, starting at 9 am EST each morning during the campaign week. You can visit one of TheBlueDotProject’s accounts each morning to share the post/image that day and use the hashtags #RealMotherhood #NoShame in your posts. Make sure to invite colleagues, friends, and social networks to take part. Just think of the 1 in 5 women who will suffer from an MMH disorder. Every share, like, comment, and post counts to reach 1 more mom who may be suffering in silence.

Here is an example of one of our Social Media images released during one of MMH Week's campaign days.

Additional Optional MMH Messaging

As noted above, we will have daily social media posts with images released at 9 am EST every day of the challenge from TheBlueDotProject's social media platforms tied to the theme #RealMotherhood, but if you are looking for some extra ways to share the importance of raising awareness of MMH disorders here are a couple of key messages to help.

The mother-child bond begins with mom’s mental health and wellbeing.
1 in 5 women suffer from maternal mental health disorders like postpartum depression.
Postpartum depression is more than depression. Women suffer from a range of symptoms and disorders, including anxiety, panic, rage, PTSD and more.
Postpartum depression doesn't just happen after the baby is born, pregnant women can suffer from “prenatal” depression..
Motherhood doesn’t always feel like a greeting card.
#Askher how she’s really feeling. #Askher how she’s really doing? #Askher how she’s sleeping. #Askher how she’s eating?
Maternal Mental Health. Learn about it. Talk about it. Because mothers and babies matter.
More than 600,000 women will suffer every year from a maternal mental health disorder like postpartum depression.
Maternal Mental health disorders impact more women than breast cancer does.
Only 15% of women will receive treatment for a maternal mental health disorder like postpartum depression.
Don’t let a new mom you know suffer in silence. #Askher how she’s feeling.

Resources: When posting these messages point to Postpartum Support International’s website www.Postpartum.net for more information about disorders and how to find help. 2020 Mom’s website www.2020Mom.org provides resources for organizational systems change and state and federal policy change.

Twibbon

A twibbon is an easy way to show your support for a cause on social media. With a click of a button and no sharing of your personal information and contacts, you can add the MMH Awareness Week image to your Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram profile picture. Anyone who is supporting MMH awareness week can click here to set up the Twibbon. If you are going to use the Twibbon, consider using it starting Monday April 30.

Drop In Article

Check back, will be posted Friday, April 20th.

Additional Infographics

You can drag and drop the three images to your desk top.

Posters

Help patients and customers learn more about maternal mental health. Use 2020 Mom's posters, flyers, and awareness cards (business-card sized cards) in your facility.

Posters can be printed on standard 8 1/2" x 11" paper. You can even personalize them with your own logo and text if you choose. To personalize, download the file and place it in a letter size document as a picture. Adjust the pdf to fill the page. Now place a text box and/or your logo in front of the poster image.