Willow, a maker of wearable breast pumps, and maternal mental health app developer Canopie plan to offer free mental health resources to new moms throughout the month May.
The partners will offer up to 1 million hours of resources to support moms in postpartum via the Canopie app. That includes a behavioral health assessment to develop a personalized support plan, plus self-guided programs and clinician-led virtual classes. Classes include topics like sleep, childbirth, relationships, mental health, postpartum healing and more. Canopie also offers in-app calling and texting to a maternal mental health crisis hotline. All of its programs and resources are in English and Spanish.
“We have always had at the core of our mission elevating the experience for moms and really believing that new moms deserve better products, better services, better support,” Willow CEO Sarah O'Leary told Fierce Healthcare. “This partnership is an opportunity to kind of take that to the next level and really bring increased focus and attention to perinatal mood and anxiety disorders.”
Mental health conditions are the leading cause of maternal mortality, and most pregnancy-related deaths are preventable. Yet most women are not adequately treated, and Black women are more frequently underdiagnosed and untreated than white women.
New moms are navigating a range of challenges while learning how to care for themselves and their babies, O’Leary said, which is “completely intertwined” with mental health.
The latest initiative is a part of Willow’s broader campaign for Mother’s Day. “It’s very intentionally timed with the period of time that we typically are celebrating Mother’s Day and really intended to be a gift from Willow that’s more meaningful than flowers,” O’Leary noted.
The campaign also includes actress-turned-entrepreneur and mom of two Ashley Tisdale as a Willow brand ambassador. "My journey into motherhood revealed the often-hidden struggles with anxiety and the critical need for accessible mental health support," Tisdale said in an announcement. "This partnership between Willow and Canopie to donate maternal wellness support and offer resources that many of us mothers need through our parenting experience is a powerful step towards creating a real support system for moms."
Canopie has been a long-term Willow partner, offering proprietary content within the Willow app. Canopie was developed by perinatal clinical psychologists, doctors, researchers and new moms. Among people who have completed its program, 98% of moms reported a positive change in their emotional health, and 79% of participants with possible symptoms of depression have seen a clinically significant change in their mood, according to the company.
"Given how common it is to struggle during pregnancy and postpartum, mental health support should be as standard as taking a prenatal vitamin,” Anne Wanlund, founder and CEO of Canopie, said in the announcement.