Christena Raines, a women’s health nurse practitioner in North Carolina, has made it her life’s mission to normalize mental wellness, according to People.
“Mental wellness affects everything we do and determines how well we do anything,” Raines told the magazine. “I think one of the gifts of COVID is that it has exposed the need for good mental hygiene and the ability of all of us to understand what self-care means to us and how we can keep the mind-body connection in alignment.”
Raines, who is also board certified in Psychiatric-Mental Health, says mental health is especially crucial for postpartum women, noting to People that her own experiences as a mom add “authenticity” to her work. Raines has five adult children and seven grandkids. She believes her work, or “mom’s psycho mumbo jumbo,” has helped to foster an environment where her children could talk about feelings, prioritize compassion and extend those lessons learned to their own children.
In 2011 Raines was working at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. After being unsatisfied with the treatment women received in the psychiatric unit, she helped open the first in-patient Perinatal Mental Health unit in the country at the school, People reported.
“These women needed a calm environment to process their feelings and to understand what was happening to them,” she explained to the magazine. “They needed specialized programming to understand their illness and a staff who could help them adjust to motherhood and bond with their baby.”
According to People, Raines’ extensive work led her to volunteer with Postpartum Support International, an organization founded in 1987 to raise public and professional awareness about the emotional changes that women go through during and after pregnancy. She has been a member of the organization for over a decade and is now serves as a Board Chair.
“One of the largest issues in perinatal mood disorders is a lack of trained providers to offer evidence-based treatment. We offer support services through volunteer support coordinators and have over 500 volunteers in every state over 40 international countries,” Raines told People.
Postpartum Support International recently expanded their reach by acquiring a federal government funding contract to create a maternal mental health hotline to assist families in getting the resources and support they need, People reported. According to the magazine, until it launches families can call the PSI Helpline at 1-800-944-4773 for volunteer support, or text “HELP” to 800-944-4773 in English or 971-203-7773 in Spanish.
“Having a hotline for families to reach out to 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year is crucial to the care of these families,” Raines said to the magazine. “I am hopeful and grateful for the work we are all doing and I expect big things to come in working with our colleagues in both the state and national legislation.”
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