14 FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY / COLLEGE OF MEDICINE
toll of perinatal mental health disorders on one family and the devastation they can cause.
Taylor Long Fishel, a Tallahassee mother of two, died by suicide at Christmas 2024. Fishel’ s mother, Marie Long, and her brother, Owen Long, shared their pain with the audience in the hope it could help inspire new strategies in the battle against pregnancy-related depression.
Marie shared how she almost lost her daughter to perinatal depression with her first pregnancy, with family never leaving her side for more than six weeks. Slowly, Fishel recovered. When she became pregnant again in early 2024, there was some trepidation the depression might return, but the family was hopeful the earlier experience left each of them better-prepared to deal with it.
The Florida Maternal Mental Health Collaborative paid tribute to co-founder Heather Flynn, Ph. D., for her 10 years of leadership.
Maternal Mental Health Collaborative, a statewide organization co-founded 10 years ago by Heather Flynn, Ph. D., chair of the Department of Behavioral Sciences and Social Medicine at the FSU College of Medicine. Its purpose is to improve mental health support for Florida families surrounding pregnancy and childbirth.
“ Mental health conditions, including suicide and overdose, account for almost a quarter of all pregnancy related deaths, making them one of the most frequent causes of maternal mortality identified by state Maternal Mortality Review Committees,” Flynn said.“ This means mental health is among the top lethal complications of pregnancy— more significant than many obstetric complications.”
At the 10th Annual Florida Perinatal Maternal Mental Health Conference, hosted by the collaborative and held at the FSU Alumni Center Jan. 8-10, an array of multidisciplinary stakeholders from across the state dedicated to improving perinatal maternal mental health and patient outcomes gathered to share resources, ideas and best practices.
A last-minute addition to the agenda chronicled the
They hadn’ t counted on the insidious condition teaching Fishel how to conceal her depression better.
“ My wife was pregnant at the same time as my sister,” Owen shared, adding that, fortunately, his spouse did not suffer from a perinatal mental health disorder.“ My son was 10 days old when my sister died. He’ ll never know her.”
He urged men to join the fight against perinatal mental health disorders, going with their partners to follow-up visits and learning the signs of depression and other conditions.
Co-hosting this year’ s conference was First 1000 Days Florida, an initiative of the FSU Center for Prevention & Early Intervention Policy. It was founded as a statewide convening of Florida’ s pregnancy and birth to age 3 partners, emphasizing the importance of the early learning window in child development. Maternal health, both physical and emotional, is one of its objectives.
The Florida Maternal Mental Health Collaborative is one of several collaborations of the Department of Behavioral Sciences and Social Medicine, one of two academic research departments at the college. It serves as an innovative leader in community-based training, science-based research and policy programming to improve health outcomes.