Enabling primary perinatal care providers to address mental health
“Ask Masi” project by The Ottawa Hospital, Ottawa Birth & Wellness Centre, and Champlain Maternal Newborn Regional Program
One of the biggest challenges in perinatal mental health is access to care. Many women and birthing people experiencing mental health challenges are referred to specialty psychiatrists with long wait lists.
“A psychiatrist isn’t necessarily needed for mild-to-moderate mental health concerns,” says Beth Tupala, Project Coordinator for the Ask Masi project. “Our goal with Ask Masi is to build the capacity of perinatal care providers to support their patients’ mental health where possible while allowing specialist services to see those with more severe or urgent mental health concerns in a timely manner.”
Ask Masi provides a “phone-a-friend” service whereby perinatal care providers can speak to a psychiatrist in real-time to get advice on patient care. Beyond the phone service, Ask Masi also builds capacity through educational workshops and toolkits for care providers.
“Healthcare is a complex machine,” says Jasmine Gandhi, psychiatrist and Principal Investigator for Ask Masi. “A key challenge is culture and structural change – even once this phone service is in place, we still need perinatal care providers to willingly take on mental health as part of the routine care they provide. They will require the time and conditions in place to do so.”
Based on the highly successful MCPAP for Moms program in the US, Ask Masi has a strong evidence base.
Ask Masi launched in the fall of 2023 in the Ottawa region, with plans to later expand to other regions.
Ask Masi is a free service for perinatal care providers – including obstetricians, family doctors, midwives, nurse practitioners, and public health nurses – to receive support in identifying and addressing their patients' mental health needs. Perinatal care providers can ask questions and receive recommendations and resources.
Through the Ask Masi psychiatry consult phone service, physicians and nurse practitioners can speak with a perinatal psychiatrist about a specific patient or client in real-time. The perinatal psychiatrist will provide coaching and consultation on screening, assessing, diagnosing, and starting treatment for their patient.
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