Your role as a Peer Mom is to be aware, educate, and offer support and resources to your new mom.

Only a trained healthcare or mental health professional can tell a person whether they have a perinatal or postpartum mood and anxiety disorder. As Peer Moms, we cannot diagnose, we can only share our personal experiences and validate feelings. As Volunteer Peer Moms, you have an ethical responsibility to not attempt to work work you are not qualified to do.

If you are concerned that your mentee may be in a crisis, please us this script to get them connected to someone who can help them:

“I am not really sure how to handle this at this point, let me get you in touch with someone who can help.”

From here you can suggest the 988 hotline which directs callers to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. Also available is the National Maternal Mental Health Hotline 1-833-TLC-MAMA (1-833-852-6262), which you can share. Then contact the Peer mom Coordinator for further assistance. They can manage the situation from there.