Our Society

The Pacific Post Partum Support Society (PPPSS) has been supporting women and their families for over 37 years. The program developed in 1971 from a grass roots initiative. A small group of women began meeting at the Vancouver Crisis Line office to share their experiences and support each other around postpartum issues. With the help of 2 masters students, the mothers explored how it felt to be depressed, and the necessary steps to recovery.  As the women recovered they became telephone support volunteers for other mothers. These women stayed in close contact with the mothers they were helping and with the students. This established the pattern for our peer-support treatment model, women supporting women.  This was a new approach to addressing the issues of postpartum depression and one that has since influenced changes in postpartum support worldwide.

Today, PPPSS continues its role of supporting women and their families in the perinatal period. The services provided are woman-centered. Each mother is recognized and respected as a collaborator in her own care.  Support and guidance are provided as each woman leads her own journey to health, making informed choices that she feels are best for her and her family. PPPSS offers services to women of many different social and cultural backgrounds.

The Pacific Post Partum Support Society is a not-for-profit organization with a volunteer Board of Directors.  Volunteer support is an integral part of the Society.

The Society handles over 4000 telephone calls yearly. The majority of these calls come from mothers, their partners and/or families requesting support, health professionals requesting consultation, and agencies ordering informational materials.

Women may self-refer. In addition, many referrals come from physicians and public health nurses.