Celebrating One Year of the National Maternal Mental Health Hotline

Mother's Day marks the first anniversary!

Here’s what people are saying:

“The hotline helped calm the storm before it turned into a hurricane.”

“I suddenly don’t feel like I’m drowning. I’m going to be okay. I hope people understand that it does help.”

“You've made me feel heard and that there's hope for me."

Mother holding her newborn in a hospital bed

In its first 11 months, the Hotline served almost 12,000 pregnant and postpartum people (people who recently gave birth) and their loved ones.

The following data show the reach and quality of Hotline services. All data are from May 8, 2022 through March 31, 2023.¹

How many people contacted the Hotline in its first year?

Counselors provided emotional support, resources, and referrals to nearly 12,000 people. About 70% of contacts were by phone and 30% were by text.

Detailed description of Contact Volume by Month.

How quickly did counselors answer calls?

The average speed to answer for telephone calls was 23 seconds, and 16 seconds for texts.

Did people contact the Hotline for themselves or someone else?

Most people are calling for themselves:

76% are calling for themselves, while 5% are calling on behalf of someone else (e.g., for a family member or friend)
5% said they were providers (contacting on behalf of a client or requesting information about the hotline)
14% were categorized as other/could not be determined ²

Were the people who contacted the Hotline pregnant or in the postpartum period?

Among the people who said they were calling for themselves, more reported reaching out in the postpartum period, vs. those who are pregnant (38% vs. 19%).³

Detailed description for Caller Type.

Why did people contact the Hotline?

People may call the hotline for more than one reason. The top five reasons people contact the hotline are: depression, anxiety, feeling overwhelmed, pregnancy, and relationship conflict. Because some people called for more than one reason, these percentages add up to more than 100.

Detailed description of the Reasons for Calling the Hotline.

Definitions:

Depression: A caller directly mentions feelings of depression, or the counselor recognizes signs/symptoms of depression.
Anxiety: A caller directly mentions feelings of anxiety, or the counselor recognizes signs/symptoms of anxiety.
Overwhelmed: A caller states they are overwhelmed. This most commonly means they are overcome with emotion/response/stimuli as a result of an amount of something (relationship, life, work, stress, childcare, parental demands, etc.) that is just too much to handle.
Pregnancy: A caller contacts the hotline regarding issues faced, and/or experienced in, the state of pregnancy or related to pregnancy.
Relationship conflict: A caller is experiencing relationship conflict that directly impacts their coping, ability to perform activities of daily living, parenting functions, and can include safety concerns, as well as intimate partner violence. Note, warm-line transfers may be made, as appropriate, to the National Domestic Violence Hotline.

Return to the National Maternal Mental Health Hotline page.

¹In order to prepare for cleaning and presentation of the data by the May 12, 2023 press release, data are presented from launch on May 8, 2022 through March 31, 2023 rather than May 8, 2023. HRSA will update this webpage for a full year of data by July 2023.

²Caller type is determined by the counselor based on the interaction.

³Pregnant and Postpartum status is a subcategory of Calling for Self. Pregnant and Postpartum status is reported when a person says in a conversation that they are pregnant or postpartum. 42% of callers did not mention their pregnancy or postpartum status.

Date Last Reviewed:

May 2023