When Frances Young became a mom, she thought about the joy she’d feel every day. She had longed to be a mother and the birth of her son should have elicited happy feelings every day — or so she’d been conditioned to think. 

Shortly after giving birth, Young experienced mood swings and bouts of sadness. She felt like she couldn’t catch her breath. 

“I had a lot of post-partum anxiety,” said Young, a visiting lecturer at the UNLV School of Social Work. Young graduated from UNLV with her bachelor’s in psychology and a master’s of social work.

Despite being a clinical social worker — someone trained to connect people to resources — she found it difficult to find the specific help she needed in Nevada as a new mom. 

“I noticed through my own experience, after having my son, that there's such a gap in care in Nevada when it comes to perinatal mental health, especially maternal mental health. It's also highly stigmatized to receive this care,” Young said. 

Recognizing these gaps, Young sought certification to specialize in perinatal mental health care counseling and she’s part of a small group of licensed perinatal mental health specialists in Nevada. She is on the board of Postpartum Support International Nevada Chapter where she advocates for more mental health resources for new parents. She serves on the board of Heart and Sol Collective, a non-profit that serves the community in lactation, mental health, educational workshops and support for Black, Indigenous, and people of color.  

“If you were to tell me as a clinician that I would be in this pathway, I would never believe you until I became a mother,” Young said. “We kind of find our pathway through a lived experience, so that's where I found mine.”

Young specializes in trauma, crisis management, anxiety and depression treatment for both individuals and families. She worked with children, teens, and adults in medical hospitals, behavioral health hospitals, the Clark County School District, and in private practice. 

At UNLV, she is training a new generation of social workers to be prepared for the clients they’ll encounter.

Removing Barriers to Seeking Therapy

Perinatal mental health care is recommended for individuals in the fertility planning to  pre-pregnancy stages to post-birth. But Young said that clients tend to seek therapy only after giving birth and many avoid therapy altogether. One reason, Young says, mothers are predisposed to thinking they shouldn’t feel sad after giving birth. 

Another reason? “Pride and shame,” Young said. It’s hard to ask for help, and seek help, especially in communities of color where talking with people about problems outside of the family is not the norm, Young said.  

“A lot of times, especially in a social media world, you're supposed to be happy. You think, ‘It's a great pregnancy. Everything will work out fine. You have a partner. You take the family picture,’” Young said. “It's just not reality."

According to Postpartum Support International, perinatal depression, including postpartum depression, can affect one in five women and one out of 10 men. Post-partum is categorized as two years after giving birth, but perinatal disorders may extend well beyond the two years and affect children as they grow up. That’s why Young recommends consistent therapy for mothers and their partners.

“The baby needs a healthy mom and a healthy family,” Young said. “These two people now are not their full selves, and if they aren't able to get treatment, they're not able to provide fully for their child from a mental health standpoint. It doesn’t mean they are bad parents.”

Young advocates for pre-screening for mental health stressors at obstetrician and gynecologist appointments. She also works with the birthing community, including doulas and midwives, to normalize conversations about perinatal mental health. 

In her classes, she emphasizes why future social workers will need to understand the signs of perinatal stress and how to get help for their clients. For a recent assignment, Young split students into teams to talk about a hypothetical case involving a woman experiencing psychological distress after giving birth. 

“You may not work with this population exactly,” Young explained to her students. “But you may have their child as your client. You may have the individual as your client, you may be in the school setting and have to see the effects of what maternal stress did to the family as a whole.”

Her class is one of the requirements for social work undergraduates. The class prepares students as social work generalists. Whether they enter the clinical, non-clinical, school, or nonprofit settings, students need to be aware of the diverse populations they’ll see, cultural sensitivities, personal biases, and how they present themselves through body language, facial expressions, and tone. 

Recognizing that it’s hard for people to accept they need therapy and sticking to it, Young said social workers are crucial in ensuring patients feel validated and welcomed. 

“We're getting people during the hardest time of their life. We don't do it for the thank you’s, or for the hugs. We do it knowing they need us at that time. We have to look at that as an honor."