Community Engagement Program

Maternal Health Equity

In Spring 2023, 18 community members and researchers attending our kickoff gathering focused on maternal health equity. After some icebreakers and getting to know one another, folks broke off into groups to brainstorm major problems within maternal health and came back together to discuss and prioritize those ideas into major themes for future research. These include power dynamics in healthcare, data sharing with patients and community, centering patient voice, patient/provider education, and healthcare structure and access.

Sustaining Momentum

Coffee Chats [PDF]

Perinatal Mental Health Coffee Chat – September 2023
Hosted by Jessie Colbert, She-Tara Smith, and Elysia Larson

Doulas, OB-GYNs, researchers, and community advocates took part in our first coffee chat on perinatal mental health in Fall 2023. The group shared personal stories and anecdotes in dealing with perinatal mental health and what supports doulas may need to address perinatal mental health with their clients. Elysia Larson shared progress and received feedback on her intervention, DoulaLink, designed to connect doulas to resources. Later, She-Tara Smith and Jessie Colbert led the group in brainstorming talking points for an upcoming maternal health listening session held by MA Department of Public Health. Major themes included rethinking the scope of practice for doulas, doula network of support, comprehensive and ongoing training, coordinated approach to mental health, and more.

Past Newsletters

Summer 2023

Fall 2023

Contact Kamini Mallick at kmallick@hsph.harvard.edu if you would like to be added to the mailing list or would like to submit something to the newsletter. You could share information about a relevant program, your organization, recent wins/publications, policy changes, and more.