Women’s Health Seminar Series
Scaling up Psychological Treatments for Perinatal Women Worldwide
March 20, 2023, 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm
Seminar Title: Scaling up Psychological Treatments for Perinatal Women Worldwide
Presenter: Dr. Daisy Singla, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto
Daisy R. Singla is a clinical psychologist, clinician scientist and associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto. In July, she became the first womenmind scientist at the Center of Addiction and Mental health. To date, Dr. Singla has led or contributed to developing and evaluating programs focused on improving child growth, health and development, as well as reducing maternal depression worldwide. She has worked in rural Uganda, Kenya, Bangladesh, India and Pakistan and now brings these innovative lessons to the United States and Canada. In 2018, she became the youngest recipient of a $13.1 (USD) Pragmatic Clinical Study Award which aims to scale up these lessons in North American contexts. In 2021, she received both the Janet Taylor Spence Award for Transformative Early Careers from American Psychological Science and Distinguished Scientific Award for an Early Career Contribution in Applied Psychology from the American Psychological Association (APA). In short, Dr. Singla aspires to increase access to evidence-based psychological treatments to enrich the lives of all women, their children and their families.
Talk Summary: Depression and anxiety impact up to 1 in 5 pregnant and postpartum women worldwide. Despite the recent US Preventive Task Force Recommendations for evidence-based psychological treatments for perinatal populations, as few as 20% of affected women are treated with adequate treatments in North America. To reduce the burden of perinatal mental health, Dr. Singla will present a growing and global body of evidence of innovations in Global Mental Health to scale up brief, psychological treatments for depression and anxiety. This will include task sharing, the use of digital platforms for treatment and supervision, and assuring quality of treatment through peer supervision.