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Maternal Mental Health & Suicide
Facilitator: Elsa Matsumoto, LCSW, PMH-C
Location: Zoom (live event). You will receive link 72 hours prior to the training.
Date: Friday, October 23, 2026
Time: 10 am PST, 12 PM CST, 1 pm EST
Cost: $111.11 + 3% processing fees
Description
This interactive continuing education session provides behavioral-health professionals with an evidence-informed framework for understanding maternal mental health and suicide risk within individual, interpersonal, cultural, community, and structural contexts.
Participants will review current research regarding perinatal depression, anxiety, suicide, and maternal mortality, with particular attention to racial and ethnic inequities affecting Black and Latine mothers. The workshop examines how unrealistic expectations of motherhood, individualistic conceptualizations of mental health, gender roles, unequal caregiving burdens, racism, socioeconomic inequity, healthcare disparities, and limited social support may contribute to maternal psychological distress.
The program emphasizes that these factors should not be conceptualized as singular causes of suicide. Rather, they may function as contextual stressors or risk factors within a multifactorial model of suicide risk.
Participants will also learn how to use validated perinatal screening instruments, distinguish screening from clinical assessment, identify suicide warning signs, and develop appropriate clinical responses when a client endorses suicidal ideation.
Learning Objectives:
By the end of the workshop, participants will be able to:
1. Identify at least three evidence-based risk and protective factors associated with maternal mental health conditions and suicide, including individual, interpersonal, cultural, and structural factors.
2. Apply knowledge of validated perinatal mental-health screening instruments to clinical case examples and differentiate screening results from diagnostic and suicide-risk assessments.
3. Develop an appropriate initial clinical response to a pregnant or postpartum client presenting with suicidal ideation, including further assessment, identification of protective factors, safety planning, referral/consultation, and appropriate escalation of care.
References
1. https://postpartum.net/perinatal-mental-health/?utm_source=chatgpt.com
2. Boakye, P. N., Setordzi, M., Etowa, J., Etowa, E., Yoon, R., Fung, K., Desta, F., Tiwaa-Boateng, N. A., Maxwell, C., Byass, M. T., Yamada, J., Clark, C. T., Wilson-Mitchell, K., Mugambi, D., Johnson, D., & Wong, J. P. (2026). Sociocultural and Structural Determinants of Black Maternal Mental Health: A Scoping Review. Birth (Berkeley, Calif.), 53(3), 454–466. https://doi.org/10.1111/birt.70066
3. Elleni M. Hailu, Sai Ramya Maddali, Jonathan M. Snowden, Suzan L. Carmichael, Mahasin S. Mujahid, Structural racism and adverse maternal health outcomes: A systematic review,
Health & Place, Volume 78, 2022, 102923, ISSN 1353-8292
4. Tindall, J., Browne, T., Felder, T. M., Woo, B., & Alexander-Richardson, B. (2026). Judge Me Not: Exploring Black Mothers' Perceptions of Maternal Health Care Services and Structural Racism in South Carolina. Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities, 10.1007/s40615-026-02933-z. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-026-02933-z
5. P. N. Boakye, M. Setordzi, J. Etowa, et al., “ Sociocultural and Structural Determinants of Black Maternal Mental Health: A Scoping Review,” Birth 53, no. 3 (2026): 454–466, https://doi.org/10.1111/birt.70066.
Facilitator: Elsa Matsumoto, LCSW, PMH-C
Location: Zoom (live event). You will receive link 72 hours prior to the training.
Date: Friday, October 23, 2026
Time: 10 am PST, 12 PM CST, 1 pm EST
Cost: $111.11 + 3% processing fees
Description
This interactive continuing education session provides behavioral-health professionals with an evidence-informed framework for understanding maternal mental health and suicide risk within individual, interpersonal, cultural, community, and structural contexts.
Participants will review current research regarding perinatal depression, anxiety, suicide, and maternal mortality, with particular attention to racial and ethnic inequities affecting Black and Latine mothers. The workshop examines how unrealistic expectations of motherhood, individualistic conceptualizations of mental health, gender roles, unequal caregiving burdens, racism, socioeconomic inequity, healthcare disparities, and limited social support may contribute to maternal psychological distress.
The program emphasizes that these factors should not be conceptualized as singular causes of suicide. Rather, they may function as contextual stressors or risk factors within a multifactorial model of suicide risk.
Participants will also learn how to use validated perinatal screening instruments, distinguish screening from clinical assessment, identify suicide warning signs, and develop appropriate clinical responses when a client endorses suicidal ideation.
Learning Objectives:
By the end of the workshop, participants will be able to:
1. Identify at least three evidence-based risk and protective factors associated with maternal mental health conditions and suicide, including individual, interpersonal, cultural, and structural factors.
2. Apply knowledge of validated perinatal mental-health screening instruments to clinical case examples and differentiate screening results from diagnostic and suicide-risk assessments.
3. Develop an appropriate initial clinical response to a pregnant or postpartum client presenting with suicidal ideation, including further assessment, identification of protective factors, safety planning, referral/consultation, and appropriate escalation of care.
References
1. https://postpartum.net/perinatal-mental-health/?utm_source=chatgpt.com
2. Boakye, P. N., Setordzi, M., Etowa, J., Etowa, E., Yoon, R., Fung, K., Desta, F., Tiwaa-Boateng, N. A., Maxwell, C., Byass, M. T., Yamada, J., Clark, C. T., Wilson-Mitchell, K., Mugambi, D., Johnson, D., & Wong, J. P. (2026). Sociocultural and Structural Determinants of Black Maternal Mental Health: A Scoping Review. Birth (Berkeley, Calif.), 53(3), 454–466. https://doi.org/10.1111/birt.70066
3. Elleni M. Hailu, Sai Ramya Maddali, Jonathan M. Snowden, Suzan L. Carmichael, Mahasin S. Mujahid, Structural racism and adverse maternal health outcomes: A systematic review,
Health & Place, Volume 78, 2022, 102923, ISSN 1353-8292
4. Tindall, J., Browne, T., Felder, T. M., Woo, B., & Alexander-Richardson, B. (2026). Judge Me Not: Exploring Black Mothers' Perceptions of Maternal Health Care Services and Structural Racism in South Carolina. Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities, 10.1007/s40615-026-02933-z. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-026-02933-z
5. P. N. Boakye, M. Setordzi, J. Etowa, et al., “ Sociocultural and Structural Determinants of Black Maternal Mental Health: A Scoping Review,” Birth 53, no. 3 (2026): 454–466, https://doi.org/10.1111/birt.70066.