Sask. now offering online therapy course for new and expecting mothers, partners

New and expecting parents experiencing mental health difficulties in Saskatchewan are now able to seek professional help through a new online therapy course.

The Wellbeing Course for New and Expecting Parents is being offered though the University of Regina's online therapy unit, and is an expansion of internet-delivered cognitive behavioural therapy (ICBT) developed to help Saskatchewan residents dealing with mental and chronic health conditions.

"These are really important offerings, and the fact that they're free for people, you know, it's just all about removing barriers to access," Health Minister Jeremy Cockrill said.

The province has spent $380,000 on the new course and is also providing more than $1.6 million to support the ICBT program.

"In-person services are important, but really increasingly, I think more and more people are used to doing things online, and being able to offer these sort of supports virtually or online are very important," Cockrill said.

The new course supports expectant and new parents who may be experiencing mental health difficulties like anxiety or depression, during and after pregnancy.

A non-birthing parents resource still under development will be included in the program as well.

"I can say that as a relatively new dad, there's changes in your mental health when you bring a new child into the world," Cockrill said.

Since 2015, nearly 14,000 residents have accessed ICBT services, The new course for parents began accepting clients in February. Organizers say the early feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. 

"Parents [are] sharing that it's helping sort of manage stress, it's helping manage their thoughts around parenting and interactions, also improving communication with their partners," said Dr. Heather Hadjistavropoulos, director of the online therapy unit.

She said that when developing the course, her team was specifically focused on postpartum women and new parents, where she said she's seen a gap in care. 

"We formed this working group that's helped us really tailor and refine those materials to further take into account expecting parents, because we know that's really important as well as non birthing parents," Hadjistavropoulos said.

Through the course, parents and new mothers will complete educational modules with the support of therapists. Hadjistavropoulos also mentioned that the course has considerations for each client's diverse background.

"We do try and take into account diversity and that is actually something that's really important to our research. So we're interviewing clients as they go through, if they agree, and asking them about what could we do better overtime," she said.

In addition to the new course, the province has boosted the annual funding to HealthLine 811 by $6.6 million for 2025-26, and the Ministry of Health is also working with the Saskatchewan Health authority to establish a maternal mental health co-ordinator position at 811.

"This is the type of service that when somebody calls 811, we can refer them to this service and say, 'look at this. Did you know that this was available?'" Cockrill said.