Sunnyside for Moms

Getting an innovative approach to postpartum depression for low-income moms of color taken seriously

Sunnyside for Moms combines high tech solutions with cognitive behavioral therapy to address postpartum depression for low-income African-American mothers.

It is an innovative solution to a vexing problem.

Nationally, postpartum depression affects 1 in 7 mothers. For women of color, especially African American women, the risk is several times greater. Cultural factors, mental health stigma, a lack of resources, and a shortage of services conspire to jeopardize the health and well-being of not one life, but two.

For mom, untreated “baby blues” can spiral into a deep depression where everyday tasks, including caring for your new child, can be difficult, if not impossible.

For baby, a suffering mom misses critical developmental milestones for which there is no reset button.

But there is help: Sunnyside for Moms was a platform that had gotten great results in a pilot and replication phases.

It worked.

It was successful.

It was deceptively simple.

And, that was the challenge, showing that Sunnyside was a sophisticated platform with a lot of complicated effort that had gone in on the backend from diverse contributors in technology, psychology, medicine, and pediatrics.  

It was not merely an app, and to be taken seriously, we had to show that clearly.  

Strategy

Sunnyside for Moms is a mental health platform powered by a team of experts— therapists, clinicians, pediatricians, maternal and child health professionals, midwives, nurses, doctors, researchers, technologists— managing mom’s mental health while also helping baby. It brings together cognitive-behavioral health experts and cutting-edge technology to intervene where shortages in care are most dire, and this crisis is most acute.

An entire medical and mental health team on a tablet—focused just on mom and baby.

We needed to tell that story. At the same time, we made sure that the expertise was embedded in the flashiness of the tech. It had to simple enough to scale and replicate but complex enough to take seriously. We crafted a narrative that showcased the tech, the team, and the impact making sure that the story we told for every audience hit on those three components.

Results

By finding a way to celebrate all its integral components— the tech, the team, the impact—Sunnyside for Moms outpaced its “there’s an app for that”stigma. It became a finalist in the Chicago Innovation Awards, a radio segment, and a transdisciplinary Digital Mental Health Initiative.