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Bringing a child into the world is often seen as one of the most joyous moments in a mother’s life. But for many, moments of bliss are overshadowed by the silent, yet powerful, presence of perinatal mental health (PMH) disorders.

These conditions span a vast and often devastating spectrum of mood, anxiety, and related disorders that can take hold during pregnancy or within the first year postpartum—ranging from depression and anxiety to obsessive-compulsive disorder, substance use disorder, and postpartum psychosis.

Their impact is not confined to mothers; they ripple outward, deeply affecting fathers, families, and the fragile foundation of early parenthood. What should be a time of love, bonding, and new beginnings can instead become a relentless battle against crushing stress, isolation, and despair.

At their most severe, these disorders do more than steal joy—they take lives.

According to a recent report by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the leading cause of pregnancy-associated deaths was attributed to mental health conditions. And when you add that Black women in New York City were on average nine times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications than their White counterparts, the ability to identify and intervene is nothing short of a matter of life and death in communities of color.

While there has been a growing awareness of the need to address PMH, the system to screen, diagnose, and treat remains fragmented and inconsistent. This is especially true in Brooklyn and other underserved communities, where educational and other resources are scarce.

A Powerful PMH Partnership

To help make meaningful and lasting change in the neighborhoods it serves, Brooklyn College connected with Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso and the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to develop the first credit-bearing advanced certificate program in perinatal mental health in New York State. The program will educate and train mental health, health care, and early education/early intervention professionals to work with pregnant mothers and birthing parents.

In collaboration with Borough President Reynoso’s Maternal Health Task Force and experts from the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, a multidisciplinary team from Brooklyn College developed innovative coursework on perinatal mental health to ensure a comprehensive and interdisciplinary approach to this important area of education.

“As one of the Borough’s longstanding anchor institutions, we are honored to partner with President Antonio Reynoso and his Maternal Health Task Force in this vital mission, and we deeply appreciate his steadfast support of the PMH program,” Brooklyn College President Michelle J. Anderson said. “We are thrilled to develop this innovative curriculum, which seamlessly combines academic excellence with tangible, real-world impact. This initiative is a testament to our unwavering commitment to providing compassionate, community-driven education and training that truly makes a difference.”

This spring, two pilot courses are underway, and the full certificate program will launch in the 2025–26 academic year.

The program’s coursework was specifically designed for licensed professionals or those pursuing careers in fields such as mental health counseling, social work, clinical and counseling psychology, midwifery, doula work, nursing, OB-GYN, and pediatrics, as well as in the area of early childhood/early intervention. The program presents a one-of-a-kind opportunity to transform academic learning into meaningful, real-world change.

Groundbreaking Curriculum

This spring, Clinical Professor Haroula Ntalla led one of two groundbreaking pilot courses, Parent-Child Dyad Relational Health, a deep dive into the roots of mental well-being within the parent-child bond—beginning prenatally and extending through the child’s first year of life. The course explored how early relational experiences shape lifelong mental health, emphasizing the powerful connection between parents and infants.

The second pilot course, Biopsychosocial Aspects of the Perinatal Period, was co-taught by Nina Newman, and Ira Glovinsky ’68. This interdisciplinary course examined the intricate interplay of biological, psychological, and social factors that influence the perinatal experience—from pre-pregnancy through childbirth and beyond.

“Perinatal mental health is not just a Brooklyn issue—it’s a New York City crisis,” Ntalla said. “However, Brooklyn has been at the epicenter of alarming trends. Recent maternal mortality cases at Brooklyn hospitals underscore the urgent need for intervention, as mental health plays a significant role in these tragedies. Without proper intervention, these factors contribute to poor health outcomes for both mothers and their children, reinforcing cycles of trauma and instability within families.”

Professor Laura Rabin, who initiated the curriculum design with Rona Miles, said Brooklyn College’s PMH curriculum directly addresses a public health crisis in perinatal care.

“Our goal is to improve maternal and child outcomes throughout New York City, and this program will enhance professionals’ clinical skills and help address maternal perinatal mental health problems, including perinatal mood and anxiety disorders (PMADs) and substance use disorders,” Rabin said.

Ntalla and Associate Professor Jacqueline Shannon leveraged existing expertise from Brooklyn College’s early childhood education and early intervention training and curriculum. They realized that mental health was often at the center of many of the issues they were teaching. The need for this specific curriculum became obvious, allowing them to build on the PMH curriculum design initiated by Rabin and Miles.

Shannon, who directs the PMH program, added: “We are excited to offer this specialized curriculum that not only bridges academic learning with real-world impact but also reflects our commitment to a compassionate, community-centered approach to perinatal care with a clinical focus on supporting maternal mental health across professions.”

Leading the Change

Georgina Gooden and Keema Wiley were seemingly destined for the frontlines of early intervention and perinatal mental health advocacy.

Gooden moved to Brooklyn from Jamaica in 2015 to be closer to family. She had her son in 2018, and while living in Brownsville, she began paying closer attention to the struggles that mothers, including herself, and their families faced. She started volunteering, first as a community member, and then as a dedicated advocate.

As an Early Intervention Ambassador Assistant with United for Brownsville, Gooden found a platform to address early childhood disparities, particularly in accessing early intervention services for Black and Brown children. Her firsthand experience with the PMH issues in the New York City health system led her to enroll in the pilot courses offered in Brooklyn College’s PMH program.

“I realized our voices, our lived experiences, could drive real change. The data supported what we already knew—our communities weren’t getting the same access to mental health resources,” Gooden said. “This is a crisis, and yet, until now, there were no structured graduate-level programs dedicated to tackling it. Brooklyn College changed that.”

Now, as she also pursues her master’s degree in early childhood education from Brooklyn College, Gooden is seeing the direct impact of her work. She follows expectant mothers through their pregnancies, gaining hands-on experience that connects research with reality.

“One of the most heartbreaking things is that many mothers are afraid to admit they’re struggling. They fear being judged because of the stigma, or worse, having their children taken away. The system isn’t built to support them—it’s built to punish them.”

A Different Kind of Front Line

Working as a trained doula, Wiley offers emotional, physical, and informational support to mothers and their families before, during, and after childbirth. She also works at United for Brownsville, serving as the Strategy and Improvement Manager and leading the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) Equity Initiative while enrolled in Brooklyn College’s PMH courses.

Wiley’s journey into maternal and infant health has been anything but conventional.

After graduating high school in 2009, she initially pursued college but was deterred by the financial burden. Instead, she enlisted in the New York Army National Guard in 2010. Over time, her interest in health care grew, leading her to explore midwifery. However, during the COVID-19 pandemic, she realized that becoming a nurse-midwife would place her on the front lines as both a soldier and a civilian—a challenge she wasn’t ready to undertake.

Instead, she discovered that the nursing prerequisites overlapped with public health, and she pivoted her focus.

Through her studies at Hunter College, she quickly honed in on maternal and child health. Her research was deeply personal—she had a smooth, uncomplicated birth experience in 2015, but many of her friends did not.

This stark contrast drove her to investigate how to improve birth outcomes for women who looked like her and shared her background. She recognized that too many mothers and babies in her community were suffering preventable complications, and she became determined to be part of the solution.

Wiley was introduced to the program at Brooklyn College through a professional connection at United for Brownsville. Recognizing the importance of mental well-being during and after pregnancy, she eagerly enrolled.

Through her doula practice and public health initiatives, Wiley is working to normalize conversations about mental well-being during pregnancy and postpartum.

“There’s this expectation that pregnancy and new motherhood should be the happiest time of your life,” she says. “But for so many women, that’s just not the case. And if they feel like they can’t talk about it, they suffer in silence.”

A Summit for Innovation and Impact

To spark real change and elevate awareness around the PMH crisis, Brooklyn College—alongside Borough President Reynoso, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, and United for Brownsville—hosted the college’s first Perinatal Mental Health Summit on April 4.

The groundbreaking event brought together over 200 attendees and a dozen leading voices in health and mental health, forming a powerful coalition to tackle one of the most urgent and overlooked issues in Brooklyn—and across the country.

The audience filled the space, united by a shared mission: to confront the perinatal mental health crisis head-on. The event, driven by the leadership of Shannon and Ntalla, didn’t just highlight the problem—it delivered real talk, real solutions, and real resources for families and care providers navigating these challenges every day.

The summit featured bold, thought-provoking discussions led by a lineup of interdisciplinary experts. At the heart of it was keynote speaker Dr. Ashanda Saint-Jean, M.D., a leader in the fight for maternal health equity. A board-certified OB/GYN, faculty member at New York Medical College, and a leader on both the New York City and New York State Maternal Mortality Review Boards, Dr. Saint-Jean brought her deep experience—and even deeper passion—to the stage.

Among those helping to bring the summit to life were Gooden and Wiley, who took on vital roles in organizing, marketing, and presenting.

“This isn’t just an academic exercise,” said Gooden. “This is about life and death. Mothers are dying. Families are being broken apart. For children, that’s their whole world. We need systemic change—and we need it now.”

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Brooklyn College’s PMH Program At a Glance
The full certificate program will launch in the 2025–26 academic year.

• Yearlong, online synchronous program that offers six interdisciplinary perinatal health and mental health courses.
• 120 in-person clinical hours in the PMH field, which include hours of individual and/or group work with diverse individuals, in addition to case presentations, reflective practice, and supervision by licensed professionals.
• Graduates will be competitive candidates for employment within the broad perinatal field and will be prepared to take Postpartum Support International’s perinatal mental health exam.
• The Brooklyn College curriculum team includes:
  • Associate Professor Rona Miles and Professor Laura Rabin
  • Assistant Professor Garumma Feyissa
  • Associate Professor Jacqueline Shannon
  • Clinical Professors Haroula Ntalla, Nina Newman, and Ira Glovinsky ’68, ’72 M.S.Ed.