Meet our 2020 Ambassador of the Year Finalists
Take a look at some of the phenomenal ways our Ambassadors are engaging with their own communities. These individuals have gone above and beyond to support the efforts of 2020 Mom in impacting Maternal Mental Health in ways that mean so much to them, and to us!
Danielle Bonura, MBA – Pittsburg, PA
In 2017, my husband and I suffered a miscarriage. Depression, anger, shame, and stigma surrounded me as I tried to find peace with our loss. I really began seeing the isolation, stigma, and lack of support within pregnancy and motherhood during this time. Ten months later, we were blessed to become pregnant with our son, Will, who will be turning two in March!
After his birth, even though I felt extremely fortunate to be a new mom, I experienced a year-long struggle with postpartum depression, anxiety, and OCD. I soon realized there was a light that needed to be shining so brightly on this dark underground feeling of motherhood. I began sharing my story with others and advocating for, what has since become my passion, Maternal Mental Health and the importance of fostering support in motherhood.
In the 20 months since Will’s birth, I have truly found my “mom voice.”
In February 2020 I created a “Happy Hour for Happy Moms” event that raised awareness of Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders and shared local and national resources that are available for help. Moms and families came together for a fundraiser to break the stigma of postpartum depression. The nearly $750 raised that evening was donated to benefit a local postpartum depression support group.
In working with the Western Pennsylvania Diaper Bank, I sponsored a 2020 Mom Diaper Drive and was able to collect 1250+ diapers and wipes and volunteered to distribute additional diapers to families in need at a local school.
I serve as a peer mentor to new moms in the greater Pittsburgh area as a volunteer with Nurture PA. Also, I am a proud member of Mom Congress and Postpartum Support International.
I have donated my DNA as part of the Mom Genes project aimed at understanding and finding a cure for Maternal Mental Health Disorders. And I also participated in The Blue Dot Project’s 2020 “Walk the Dot” with my team “Will’s Way” which raised nearly $400+ for next year’s MMH week campaign.
Currently, I hold the title of Mrs. Pittsburgh International 2021 and my platform is maternal mental health awareness. Because of my experience thus far, I became inspired to become a Postpartum Doula and completed my certification at the end of October 2020. I can’t wait to help make the journey into motherhood (and parenthood) a beautiful experience for other families!
Becky Harman – Los Angeles, CA
My name is Becky Harman. I am a wife, boy mom, and Certified Occupational Therapist Assistant. I discovered 2020 Mom after recovering from Severe Postpartum Depression Anxiety and PTSD (following 2 miscarriages prior to the birth of my now 14-month-old son). After going through the deepest and darkest of days, and finding hope and healing, I knew that I wanted to help other women going through something similar.
This year I have been working hard to educate healthcare workers, and get information and resources to new Mamas. I created a virtual BlueDotProject walk and raised over $1500 for maternal mental health awareness.
I have guest lectured for 2 different courses at CalState LA. After telling my story the professor and I gave 20 students an assignment to reach out to 1 OBGYN, 1 PCP, and 1 Pediatrician and write them a letter re: the importance of screening women in the perinatal period. With this assignment, we were able to reach 60 physicians! I will be guest lecturing again giving the same assignment - I have found this to be incredibly rewarding.
I had the great honor to be named the Maternal Wellness Coordinator for Maeve: Los Feliz. In this role, I have organized an event with Juliette Kurth of Silverlake Yoga for Maternal Wellness and Breath Work. Another role I have recently taken on as Maternal Wellness Coordinator with Maeve: Los Feliz is to set up meal trains for our expecting Mamas. With this, I have been able to introduce myself as the Maternal Wellness Coordinator, and I have been able to share perinatal resources with them.
This year I also organized a diaper, formula, and wipe drive and with partners, we were able to donate over 100 wipe packs, 3694 diapers, and 44 containers of formula all including 2020 Mom’s awareness stickers, to a local non-profit in L.A.
Leila Martinez – Spring, TX
I'm a storyteller. I want providers and other mothers to know these disorders are real. I am healing by sharing my story, though I’m still emotional, just not quite as shaky as before. I think the more I'll get to share, the more comfortable I'll feel. One opportunity I’m particularly honored to have participated in - is the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ACOG) patient stories project.
I enjoyed attending the MoMMas Voices summit last year as a member of the 2020 Mom community, to learn about non-policy advocacy opportunities for moms to advocate for improved maternity care support. I also joined the Mom Congress community and am looking forward to meeting other moms in person in DC at some point and am getting ready to roll up my sleeves to do more around policy.
Ivana Jagodic Meholick – Novato, CA
My experience with postpartum depression began with the birth of my second child in 2018, which followed a complicated miscarriage. I felt distant, emotionally numb, and broken. I desperately needed relief from my worsening symptoms, but when I reached out for professional help, there was a five-week wait for an intake appointment, and an additional four-week wait to start counseling. Moreover, the cost of out-of-network therapy was prohibitive. I was devastated. I felt stuck. The stigma and fear of being shamed and judged prevented me from opening up to my friends and family. I urgently needed someone to tell me that I wasn’t alone and that I would be ok. But when looking into peer support options in my county, I couldn’t find anything that fit my needs. I couldn't believe that, for parents with limited to average means, there was no access to affordable support in my community.
Desperate for help, I started reading anything I could find about postpartum depression, and that was how I discovered 2020 Mom, who has become my inspiration for everything that follows, and who has a great part in my healing and recovery.
My own struggles with postpartum depression galvanized me to create a safe, non-judgmental, supportive space for other mothers like me in our community. I simply could not rest knowing the injustice that pregnant and new mothers were facing in the struggle to access quality maternal mental health care. So I attended numerous webinars, seminars, workshops, and trainings about Perinatal Mental Health Disorders, peer support, and perinatal social support network development, etc. These trainings were hosted mainly by 2020 Mom and Postpartum Support International. I became the first PSI Coordinator in Marin County. Soon I will also become a National Certified Peer Specialist. On May 6, 2019 I founded the Postpartum Support Center (PPSC) (www.postpartumsc.org) to provide peer support and practical help to the perinatal population in Marin and Sonoma counties.
At the PPSC we are all volunteers. As part of our training process, our volunteers are instructed to attend the Maternal Mental Health 101 Webinar hosted by 2020 Mom. Over the past 11 months, we were able to provide direct peer support to over 250 moms, dads and grandparents. Support included over 15,000 minutes of peer counseling, around 28,000 text messages, and well over 2500 emails offering check-ins, information, and referrals;
I designed our website which features mental health self-screening assessments – over 500 assessments have been performed until now. We also have support groups and have had nearly 100 moms attending them since the foundation of the PPSC.
At the beginning of pandemic, the PPSC volunteers (including myself) distributed hundreds of masks to local families and distributed care packages, etc.
Again, inspired by 2020 Mom, I hosted a documentary screening (Dark Side of the Full Moon), a Stakeholder meeting, became an InnerCircle Member, and I became a member of the Mom Congress community to stay abreast of the latest news and resources surrounding motherhood.
We hosted a Diaper Drive (there is no diaper bank in our community). In just one week, we have received over 15,000 diapers and wipes, single strollers, double strollers, breast pumps, booster seats, car seats, baby bottles, bassinet, diaper pail, other baby items, and over $1,200 in monetary donations which will go to families in desperate need of assistance.
We have helped every family that has reached out to us. Through our collaborations with Marin Community Clinics, Maternidad y Esperanza, Marin County Health and Human Services, and Parent Services Project, we were able to expand our reach and help many more families in our community. We will continue to collect and distribute donations as we know that there are more families who need our help.
One of the struggles new moms go through is lack of support. As an immigrant myself, I do not have many relatives who live close to me. Therefore, my biggest support is my husband, the father of my lovely daughters. He inspired me to author and publish a new parent's/children's book "Thank you, Daddy". This first baby book for Dads is about appreciating all the wonderful support that new Fathers provide to their partners - it showcases that parenthood is a partnership. It's a sweet rhyming story where a Baby thanks Dad for all the wonderful work he does to support his growing family. A Father’s roles of partner, parent, and support person are central to the lives of Mom and Baby. The book is geared for both parents and kids, but mostly for Dads so that they can get some ideas on how to better support Moms during pregnancy and after childbirth.
After meeting with Marin County Maternal and Children Department, I moderated a presentation on MMH issues and problems in our community and proposed the solutions which came from 2020 Moms white papers. In total, 50 individuals representing different organizations and institutions in Marin and Sonoma counties participated.
I also became a member of local Maternal Mental Health Collaborative, Suicide Prevention Collaborative and Perinatal Services Network.
I am pleased to officially announce that Postpartum Support Center will be launching the ROSE Program (Reach Out, Stay Strong, Essentials for mothers of newborns), an empirically-validated prevention intervention for postpartum depression. Our team is currently going through multiple clinical and administrative trainings and will be providing an evidence-based program that has been proved to reduce cases of postpartum depression by half among low-income women, which will benefit every woman, regardless of socioeconomic status. The ROSE program is highly structured, easy to learn, and will be delivered in both Spanish and English, starting in January 2021.