Why is Heartland Needed?

Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders are defined as the full range or spectrum of emotional reactions, symptoms, and mental health disorders that occur during pregnancy and the postpartum period. One out of five women will experience a perinatal mood and anxiety disorder during pregnancy or after childbirth.

Untreated maternal depression is associated with negative outcomes for children including behavioral problems, cognitive or developmental delays, and impaired attachment. The Heartland Protocol for PMAD training is a person-centered approach to assessment, referral, and treatment that facilitates patient engagement, compliance, satisfaction, positive clinical outcomes, and retention.

Plus, it’s required…

A 2015 committee opinion written by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommended that all OBGYNs and other obstetric care providers complete a full assessment of mood and emotional wellbeing (including screening for postpartum depression and anxiety) with a validated instrument during the comprehensive postpartum visit for each patient. In 2016, the US Preventative Services Task Force changed its recommendation for routine depression screening in the general adult population including pregnancy and postpartum women. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends integrating postpartum depression surveillance and screening at the 1-2-4- and 6-month visits.

Who created Heartland?

As experts in perinatal mental health, Kim Martino-Sexton and Elizabeth Stallone-Lowder are committed to supporting all moms everywhere by encouraging a person-centered, empathic, and inclusive approach to treatment. They provide coordinated, multi-disciplinary trainings and consultative engagements customized for each audience. Having worked for the healthcare systems and advocated for moms, we know how it works—and it works best when we all work together.

Elizabeth Stallone-Lowder, MSW, LCSW

Elizabeth founded Sage Tree Therapy, LLC, a private therapy practice specializing in perinatal mood disorders and birth & pregnancy trauma, in 2012 to serve pregnant women on bedrest with individual at-home therapy and has expanded over the years. She has worked in the field of women’s trauma since 1996 as the director of a shelter for intimate partner violence, a patient advocate for adults with HIV/AIDS, a trauma therapist for women and girls affected by chronic abuse/neglect and sexual violence, and is DONA Doula trained. She has written original curriculum and facilitated therapy support groups on topics related to PTSD, trauma recovery, and motherhood. She started a teen therapy in-school program for Safe Connections in St. Louis, clinically supervises MSW students in practicum and LMSWs working towards licensure. She once served as the Victim Advocate for the Boone County Prosecutor’s office and Columbia Police Department with the DOVE Unit.

Elizabeth earned her BSW from the University of Missouri, Columbia and an MSW from Saint Louis University with a specialty in Sexual Health Education. She is trained in EMDR, trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy, dream interpretations, sex therapy, and expressive visual art therapy. She serves as adjunct faculty at the Brown School of Social Work at Washington University and on the Executive Board of the Hyperemesis Education and Research Foundation.

Kim Martino-Sexton, NFC

Kim has been serving perinatal women for 23 years as a childbirth educator, birth and postpartum doula, and perinatal mental health peer specialist. Besides being the Co-Founder/Co-Owner of Heartland PMAD Consultants she is the Senior Community Outreach Coordinator at SSM St. Mary’s. In this position, Kim is responsible for The MOMS Line Programs which includes recruiting, training, and managing over seventy volunteers that provide peer telephone support and peer led group support for perinatal women in the St. Louis Metro Area.

Kim’s first passion of educating expectant families continues to be one her top priorities. She can be found most Monday nights teaching Calm Confident Childbirth, her proprietary birth education curriculum which includes the following topics; physiologic birth, evidence-based practices related to labor and delivery, parental wellbeing, relaxation, and mindfulness.