Mass General Clinical Social Worker Provides Perinatal Mental Health Support

Perinatal mental health has become an increasingly significant focus in recent years, particularly with recent studies revealing increasing maternal mortality rates across the U.S.

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A new role in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Massachusetts General Hospital was created to improve the pregnancy journey for patients. Clinical social worker Pamela Mayer, LICSW, recently joined the Waltham and Danvers clinics to work directly with obstetric patients at Mass General. She provides comprehensive psychosocial evaluations to determine appropriate mental health treatment, offering counseling with herself or connecting patients with perinatal providers as well as other internal and community resources. By understanding a patient's needs at the individual level, she collaborates with obstetricians and perinatal providers to ensure they receive the best level of comprehensive, quality care.

In this Q&A, she describes her role and its significance in providing a crucial support system for patients throughout pregnancy and postpartum.

Q: Tell us about your background, and how you became interested in the field.

Mayer: I have over twenty years of experience as a clinical social worker, and I initially became interested in OB/GYN social work when I worked in-patient at Beth Israel. For the past 15 years, I worked at Newton-Wellesley Hospital as a clinical social worker coordinating support services for high-risk pregnant and postpartum families on the in-patient side, where my passion was working in obstetrics, special care, and pediatrics.

My background has given me a kind of "global lens" to pregnancy: it's important to not only focus on mental health and a diagnosis because it's much more complicated than that. The role of social work and perinatal mental health support is so significant because many factors can affect a patient's mental health and ability to go through pregnancy and postpartum safely.

Q: What does your new role at Mass General involve?

Mayer: In this role, I primarily provide comprehensive psychosocial evaluations for perinatal mood disorders and other mental health needs for pregnant and postpartum patients. I receive referrals from obstetricians and nurses at the Mass General Waltham and Danvers locations, as well as from patients who request counseling and ask for my support. I meet with patients in person at these clinics but also see patients remotely, either for a one-time appointment or meeting consistently over several weeks, depending on their needs.

When I meet with patients, I first help them recognize their symptoms, assess for safety, and understand they are not alone. Patients are referred to me for a variety of reasons, but they may have histories of depression, anxiety, domestic violence, traumatic loss, and more. Using my prior mental health experience and connections to perinatal health providers, including therapists and prescribers, I direct patients to the proper level of mental health care and treatment. I support these patients proactively, working with their obstetrician so they can better understand the patient's needs and provide a more comprehensive treatment plan, including continuity of care. I offer counseling, either with myself or other perinatal providers, and help identify resources internally and in the community that provide additional support.

Q: Besides counseling, what kind of support and resources do you offer patients?

Mayer: I connect patients with a variety of resources both internally and in the local community. At Mass General, I frequently refer patients to the Center for Women's Mental Health, where perinatal providers specialize in evaluating and treating psychiatric disorders associated with female reproductive function. I collaborate with these providers to help patients receive the best quality care individually, from medication consultation and management to non-pharmacologic therapies and group support.

In addition, I connect patients with several resources in the community that they may not be aware of. The Jewish Family and Children's Services Visiting Moms program matches trained volunteers with new parents for weekly support visits at home during the first year of their baby's life, and Mass General works with the Fresh Connect program to give grocery cards and deliver healthy food to pregnant and postpartum women. I'll also assist patients with social determinants of health, which often create barriers that directly affect their mental health and overall wellness. I may connect them with a Community Health Worker who can help them get baby items, assistance with housing, and more.

Q: Why is this role so important for pregnant and postpartum patients?

Mayer: An integral part of this role is that it goes beyond counseling and allows me to weave my way into a patient's life and cater to their individual needs. So many social and environmental stressors can affect a pregnancy—it's not just strictly mental health, patients can have a lack of support, could be struggling financially or experiencing domestic violence, or could get news about an anomaly on ultrasound. If you don't follow somebody through their pregnancy and postpartum, you might not know the full picture. It's important to identify which patients need support throughout the whole pregnancy, and it makes a real impact on patients to have a session and know that they can always come back to me.

This role emphasizes how important it is for people to destigmatize perinatal mood disorders and have an understanding that the first step is being able to speak up and ask for help. The more we get the word out that it's okay to get support, the easier things will become.

Learn more about obstetrics and gynecology at Mass General

Refer a patient to the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology