Parenthood is often celebrated as a time of joy and growth, but for many new parents, it also can bring unique mental health challenges. Anxiety, emotional distress, and depression are common experiences that can significantly affect both partners and the overall wellbeing of the family. Yet many struggle in silence. In fact, nearly one in four Canadian mothers (23 percent) report experiencing postpartum depression, according to StatsCan, yet many workplaces, relatives, and partners lack adequate supports, strategies and awareness to help parents with their mental health struggles.
Join The Globe and Mail on February 26th for an important conversation with health experts and providers on breaking the stigma around maternal mental health and exploring practical steps parents, employers and organizational leaders can implement to better support new families.
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Supporting Canadians’ access to the best-available healthcare treatments is Farah’s passion. As a reimbursement and health economic strategist with more than 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, Farah’s drive for equitable care has led to the funding of new and life-changing medicines for underserved Canadian patients. A collaborative leader with international experience, Farah is skilled at recognizing and articulating the value of new medicines and successfully negotiating their availability on behalf of those who need them.
Kristy Kirkup is a seasoned national journalist for The Globe and Mail.
Kristy specializes in federal health policy, including reproductive health issues affecting women and gender-diverse people, drug regulation and medical assistance in dying. Her reporting also brings national attention to systemic health inequities.
With more than 15 years of reporting experience, Kristy has earned a reputation as a trusted voice in Canadian journalism. She began her career with CTV News in Ottawa and went on to report at Sun Media, CBC News and The Canadian Press. She joined The Globe and Mail in the fall of 2019 and brings both political and policy knowhow to her work, along with a strong commitment to public service journalism.
Kristy has reported from Parliament Hill for much of her career and has chronicled major national developments and been part of coverage for five federal election campaigns (2011, 2015, 2019, 2021, and 2025). She has travelled across Canada and internationally, covering both Prime Ministers Stephen Harper and Justin Trudeau on official visits abroad.
Although she has extensive experience with breaking news and daily political coverage, Kristy is drawn to in-depth journalism.
In 2017, she received the Canadian Journalism Foundation Jackman Award for Excellence in Journalism, alongside colleagues at The Canadian Press, for a groundbreaking series on sexual trauma in Indigenous communities.
In 2021, she was part of a team at The Globe and Mail awarded the prestigious Michener Award for a series that exposed the Catholic Church’s efforts to sidestep accountability for its role in the residential school system.
She also received the King’s Coronation Medal in 2025, an honour awarded to individuals who have made significant contributions to the country. In her case, the medal was given in recognition of her reporting on Indigenous affairs.
Kristy is passionate about using the power of journalism to shine a light in dark places and to lift up the voices of the silenced and forgotten. She also believes strongly in mentoring younger journalists. Please contact kkirkup@globeandmail.com if you are looking to get in touch.
Dr. Vidyasankar practices in Newfoundland and Labrador after completing a Psychiatry residency at Memorial university. She has a community private practice focused on the perinatal period and reproductive stages. Focused on organizing a comprehensive approach to improving perinatal mental health in NL, she is the first chair of the Perinatal Mental Health Alliance of NL, which has led to the development of a Government Task Force which she co-chairs to help create an infrastructure to improve perinatal mental health in NL, and she is also Director of Prakash Pathways, the first hybrid community based perinatal mental health clinic in Atlantic Canada which offers a multidisciplinary, stepped care approach to care including medical services, counseling and therapy, as well as peer support.
Melissa Gallagher is the Co-Founder and CEO of Alma Care, Canada’s first and only holistic, in-home postnatal care platform. Alma Care supports families in the critical weeks after birth by delivering personalized care through registered nurses, certified doulas, lactation consultants, and maternal health experts — all in the home.