Winter Webinar Series

The webinar explores the diagnostic foundations of perinatal mood and anxiety disorders from the perspective of a perinatal psychiatrist, Dr. Helen Olaoye. Dr. Olaoye describes common perinatal mood and anxiety disorders using DSM 5-TR, while examining how symptoms manifest across diverse populations. She discusses the ways in which matrescence, culture, historical and structural forces shape symptom expression, coping behaviors, and help-seeking patterns for African, Caribbean and Black communities. Viewers will learn culturally responsive assessment frameworks and care strategies designed to improve diagnostic accuracy, patient trust, and equitable outcomes.

The webinar discusses perinatal mental health disparities from the perspective of a family medical physician, Dr. Danielle Brown-Shreves. Dr. Brown Shreves presents the structural factors that drive inequitable perinatal health outcomes across African, Caribbean and Black communities. She discusses the imperative for culturally responsive, affirming care environments to measurably improve mental health outcomes, and examines the bidirectional relationship between pregnancy complications and perinatal mood and anxiety disorders. Dr. Brown-Shreves offers practical strategies for integrating standardized mental health screening into primary care and explores how collaborative, community-centered continuous care models can advance perinatal mental healthcare across the perinatal period.

The webinar episode offers a strong overview of midwifery in Ontario by Dr. Karline Wilson Mitchell, a midwifery educator at Toronto Metropolitan University Midwifery Education Program. Dr. Karline Wilson Mitchell defines what a midwife is, their core responsibilities and duties and how midwives differ from doulas in clinical scope and licensure. She also explores why midwives are uniquely positioned to address perinatal mental health in African, Caribbean and Black communities through continuity of care, trauma informed and ancestral-centered practices. The episode also examines systemic barriers to midwifery access and integration, and the system-level changes required to prioritize midwifery practice within healthcare practice, policy and research to advance perinatal mental health and maternal healthcare.

The webinar is presented by our community partners at Ottawa Public Health (OPH). Laura Crupi, a clinical nurse specialist at OPH, provides an overview of the Healthy Growth and Development Program, highlighting its services and the program’s approach to supporting individuals and families during the perinatal period. The webinar discusses key socio-demographic data collected from their Healthy Babies, Healthy Children (HBHC) proram to share how these insights inform care coordination and improve service delivery to equity deserving communities. The episode also features a conversation with Julie, a public health nurse, who delivers home visiting services, offering practical insights on providing culturally responsive care, early intervention, and meeting families where they are. Together, the discussion illustrates how integrated community-focused approaches can strengthen and advance perinatal mental health outcomes for all.