The Allay Foundation’s mission is to provide access to mental health care to mothers in financial need – women who are pregnant or have children.

Mission

The Allay Foundation’s mission is to provide access to mental health care to mothers in financial need – women who are pregnant, have loss a pregnancy, or have children.

Identifying and treating pregnant and postpartum women with depression, and other mood disorders, is critical. When left untreated, maternal mental illness has devastating effects on women, children, families, and communities. 

Challenge

Approximately 20% of women will suffer from depression, anxiety, or other mood disorder, during pregnancy, or shortly after. [2]

1 in 5 families, in the D.C. and surrounding areas, live below the Federal Poverty Level. [3]

More than 50% of low-income mothers living in urban areas experience depression at some point between two weeks and 14 weeks after delivery. [4]

“Depression is a particularly serious problem for low-income mothers, since it can create two generations of suffering, for the mother and her children.” The Urban Institute. [6]

Goals

The goal is to help mothers stabilize and flourish to benefit themselves and their family.

Allay will review applications for assistance to pay for mental health interventions that may alleviate a mother’s suffering and improve their quality of life – their ability to work, complete education, care for themselves, and their family.  A gift from Allay pays directly for services both mental health care and complimentary, as needed.

In addition to a gift, a recipient will complete the Allay Program consisting of weekly therapy sessions, as well as parenting and resilience building classes. Recipient’s progress will be monitored for expected milestones, the program may be changed as needed to meet the needs of the mother and her child. The goal is to help mothers stabilize and flourish to help themselves and their family.

Every child faces so many challenges today. Each one deserves the best chance for success. The foundation on which those chances rest is…mom.