Monmouth Medical Center Joins 4th Annual Global Climb Out of Darkness ‘Climb’ Event at Lincroft’s Thompson Park

One out of 7 pregnant and new moms will experience postpartum depression or anxiety, yet only 15 percent of them will seek help.

Postpartum Progress, a national non-profit organization focused on vastly improving awareness of perinatal mood and anxiety disorders like postpartum depression and providing peer support for the women who have them, held the fourth annual Climb out of the Darkness, the world’s largest event raising awareness of all maternal mental illnesses, this summer. More than 100 moms and their families joined the Monmouth Medical Center Climb held at Thompson Park in Lincroft.

“Team Lincroft” raised more than $10,500, with a very generous donation of $1,000 from Monmouth Medical Center, and became the fourth placed team in the world.

Monmouth Medical Center Climb Leader, Lisa Tremayne, also leads the hospital’s Perinatal Mood & Anxiety Disorders Program, which is designed to address many different topics and help women to understand that the disorders are not their fault and that they are not alone. The program offer free group support as well as evidence-based psychotherapy, and patients are supported by a multidisciplinary team of experts from psychiatry, nursing and social work.

Climb Out of the Darkness is always held around the longest day of the year to shine the most possible light on maternal mental illness. Over 4,000 people came together across the globe to raise awareness for postpartum depression and anxiety at the fourth annual Climb Out of Darkness.

The nationwide 2016 goal surpassed its ‘stretch goal’ of $300,000 and raised more than $348,000 to support Postpartum Progress. Funds raised from this event will allow the organization to create new educational materials to be used by obstetricians, pediatricians and other healthcare professionals, as well as new materials to help educate the media on the public health impact of postpartum depression and related illnesses on mothers and children.

To learn more about the programs and services of the Perinatal Mood & Anxiety Disorders Program at Monmouth Medical Center, call 732-923-5573.

Photo caption: Team Lincroft wrote a word they wanted to “release” from their Post-Partum

About Monmouth Medical Center

Located in Long Branch, N.J., Monmouth Medical Center, an RWJBarnabas Health facility, along with The Unterberg Children’s Hospital at Monmouth Medical Center, is one of New Jersey's largest academic medical centers and has been a teaching affiliate of Philadelphia’s Drexel University College of Medicine for more than 40 years. From its earliest days, Monmouth Medical Center has been a leader in surgical advancement and has introduced many technological firsts to the region, including robotic surgery and other minimally invasive techniques. U.S. News & World Report has recognized Monmouth as a regional leader in cancer, geriatrics, gynecology, neurology and neurosurgery. Monmouth Medical Center is the only hospital in Monmouth and Ocean counties to receive an “A” Hospital Safety Score by The Leapfrog Group, an independent national nonprofit organization of employer purchasers of health care and the nation’s leading experts on patient safety.