Postpartum program cut in Sarnia-Lambton

Women who use postpartum services in Lambton County will have to go somewhere else.

The Post Partum Adjustment Program is being cut at St. Clair Child & Youth, which offers the only program in the area. The program relied on funding from the provincial government which is no longer available.

"Their only other option would be some limited support with some of the health teams," said director Virginia Allen. "There's no one in Sarnia-Lambton, no program other than ours, that specializes in this."

Allen said the program connects women who have postpartum symptoms together and that they otherwise wouldn't meet.

"People don't realize how many other people have gone through it," said Allen. "It provides a lot of support to them when they can talk with women in a facilitated group."

According to Allen, one in five women who give birth will face symptoms of postpartum depression and 200 women a year have symptoms in Lambton County alone. 

"It's well known that this is a good investment in services," said Allen. "We're intervening at the earliest time possible."