The Maternal Outpatient Mental health Services (MOMS) Clinic, which launched shortly after the implementation of California’s Maternal Mental Health Screening Law in 2019, is helping to connect pregnant and postpartum patients with depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress, and other mental health conditions to high-quality care and support.
Misty C. Richards, MD is co-founder of the clinic at UCLA and recognizes the need for mental health assistance. At the MOMS Clinic, providers “swiftly identify, treat and support women who are suffering from perinatal mental illness and bridge them to more permanent mental health care in the community.”
Rashmi Rao, MD is the obstetric medical director of mental health and co-founder of the MOMS Clinic. She concurs with Dr. Richards about the need for postpartum and peripartum mental health assistance and feels that it has long been overlooked. The MOMS clinic is based on a collaborative care model that integrates psychiatric services within the UCLA Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
Pregnant or postpartum women who screen positive for a maternal mental health disorder are referred to the MOMS Clinic by their UCLA OB-GYN providers and receive a full psychiatric assessment by an experienced reproductive psychiatrist. Once established in the clinic, patients often begin treatment with psychotropic medications and short-term therapy until a seamless transition can be made to a trusted provider in the community for ongoing mental health care. The clinic is expanding its services to include an experienced social worker who will help to connect patients to reproductive therapists, psychiatrists, and other resources in the community for ongoing care.
For more information visit: MOMS Clinic