Beyond Silos: Conversations in Maternal Mental Health

Beyond Silos is brought to you by the Center for Postpartum & Family Health — Houston's specialty practice for maternal and family mental health. Learn more at cpfh.org.

---

The Six-Week Visit Is Not the Finish Line | Beyond Silos Ep. 1

Dr. Lauren Pasqua is a licensed psychologist, Perinatal Mental Health Certified clinician (PMH-C), and the founder and clinical director of the Center for Postpartum & Family Health in Houston and The Woodlands, Texas. She also founded the Maternal Mental Health Collective: Greater Houston Gathering — a cross-disciplinary network built on the belief that warm handoffs save lives, and that a mother who gets connected to care within days doesn't fall through the cracks at month four.

85.7% of pregnancy-related deaths in 2022 were preventable. Mental health conditions — not hemorrhage, not infection — were the leading cause. And 37.8% of those deaths are now occurring after the six-week visit, when the world assumes she's fine. In this opening episode, Dr. Lauren Pasqua names the silo, shares her own postpartum story, and makes the case for why isolated systems cannot support mothers the way they deserve.

Topics We Cover:

• Why mental health is now the leading cause of pregnancy-related death. • The gap between the six-week visit and the rest of a mother's life • What a silo looks like from the inside — and who it harms • Why even a psychologist wasn't protected by information alone. • What this show is building — and who it's for

From This Episode:

"We are losing women in the gap between the six-week visit and the rest of their lives." — Dr. Lauren Pasqua

"I wasn't struggling because I was weak. I was struggling because the system around me wasn't designed to hold me through what came after." — Dr. Lauren Pasqua

"Isolated systems cannot support mothers the way they deserve. We need a network. We need warm handoffs. We need to know each other's names." — Dr. Lauren Pasqua

Connect with Dr. Lauren:

Website: cpfh.org LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maternalhealthstrategist
Facebook:@LaurenPasquaPsyd

---

Are you actively working to change how we support mothers — whatever your title, whatever your setting — in the Greater Houston area? The Maternal Mental Health Collective: Greater Houston Gathering is building the village. Join us at cpfh.org/gathering-event

Beyond Silos is brought to you by the Center for Postpartum & Family Health. CPFH is Houston's specialty practice for perinatal and maternal mental health, with locations in Houston and The Woodlands and telehealth available across Texas. Learn more or refer a patient at cpfh.org.