Overview
What if every mom could have access to the mental health support she needs during pregnancy, after childbirth, and through her early parenting years?
Alma is a peer-delivered program that expands access to culturally responsive, community-based mental health support, especially for individuals who might otherwise go without care.
Underlying Alma is a hub of researchers, program managers, peer mentors and trainers, and CU students working together to investigate how this approach can serve as a sustainable, effective solution to maternal mental health disparities. This research responds to the prevalence of depression and anxiety among mothers, and the inaccessibility of traditional forms of treatment, like antidepressants and psychotherapy. It’s grounded in the principle that depression must be understood with its social and structural contexts, and uses a support model based on behavioral activation — the idea that changing what you do can change how you feel.
Research
Since 2017, Alma has been developed through the Crown Institute’s participatory design model to understand the challenges faced by moms, co-design research and programs, implement, evaluate and iterate upon findings, and expand reach and scale.
Some of our key Alma studies include:
- Moms for Moms: The Effectiveness of Disseminating Behavioral Activation using Peer Delivery for Pregnant Women with Depression
- Expanding the Alma Program: A Peer Mentoring Program for Parents with Depression During the Perinatal Period
- National Survey of Mental Health Care and Support Preferences Among New and Expectant Latina Mothers // Perceptions of Peer-Delivered Mental Health Support for Anxiety and Depression Among Spanish-Speaking, Perinatal Latinas in the United States
- Developing and Evaluating the Alma Program: Structured Peer Mentoring for Depressed Perinatal Spanish-Speaking Women
- Expanding the Alma Program with Substance Use Goals Around Recovery (SUGAR)- A Peer Mentoring Program for Mothers Who Have Experience with Problematic Substance Use
The Team
Research Faculty
- Anahi Collado, PhD, Assistant Research Professor
- Sona Dimidjian, PhD, Institute Director and Founding Faculty Fellow, Renée Crown Wellness Institute; Sapp Family Endowed Chancellor’s Chair for Research Excellence; Professor, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience
- Laurel Hicks, PhD, Research Associate
- Sam Hubley, PhD, Assistant Research Professor
- Antonella Onofrietti Magrassi, PhD, Research Associate
Program Managers
- Desiree Bauer, MPH, Senior Project Manager
Peer Trainers and Mentors
- Isabel Almeida, Spanish-speaking Peer Mentor and Trainer
- Shannon Beckner, BA, Peer Mentor and Trainer
- Lizbeth Clemente, Spanish-speaking Peer Mentor and Community Outreach Liaison
- Gracia Deras, Spanish-speaking Peer Mentor and Trainer, Professional Research Assistant
- Beatriz Ferrufino, Spanish-speaking Peer Mentor and Trainer
- Brenda Gutierrez, Spanish-speaking Peer Mentor
- Lorena Ibarra, Spanish-speaking Community Outreach Liaison
- Susannah Welch, MA, Peer Mentor and Trainer, Professional Research Assistant
Graduate and Undergraduate Students
- Joey Levy, MA, Graduate Research Assistant
- Kylie Sambirsky, Professional Research Assistant
- Adelina Aponte-Figueroa, Undergraduate Student Assistant
Our Partners
- Aurora Public Schools
- Community Health Acceleration Partnership
- El Centro AMISTAD
- Hard Beauty
- La Clínica del Pueblo
- Lifespan Local
- Massachusetts Child Psychiatry Access Program
- Postpartum Support International
- Prosper: Colorado Perinatal Mental Health and Substance Use Consult Line
- University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus Department of Psychiatry
- Valley Settlement
Join the hub
Interested in joining the Alma team? Curious about participating in a study? Email alma@colorado.edu