Free Mental Health Support for Moms Who Need It Most

Please join our movement as we stand in mom’s corner.

At ME and MOM, we believe that our health begins with mom. The earliest environment a child will ever experience is the womb, and decades of scientific research now confirm that maternal stress, depression, anxiety, trauma, nutrition, and emotional well-being can profoundly influence the lifelong health trajectory of both mother and child.

As I got older and delved deeper into medicine and science, I began understanding the profound implications of chronic stress, inflammation, and emotional trauma on the body and the epigenome. We now know that health is not determined by genetics alone. The environments we experience, especially during pregnancy and early childhood can alter gene expression through epigenetic mechanisms that influence risks for chronic disease, mental health disorders, obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, addiction, and health span.

This understanding is supported by the pioneering work of Dr. David Barker and the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) theory, often referred to as Barker’s Hypothesis. His research demonstrated that conditions experienced during fetal development can shape adult health outcomes decades later. The Dutch Famine studies further reinforced this concept, showing that maternal malnutrition and stress during pregnancy altered the epigenetic programming of unborn children, increasing their risk of chronic disease throughout life, effects that, in some cases, extended across generations.

Science has made one thing abundantly clear: early life matters. That is why we started ME and MOM.

We created this organization to ensure that no mother has to suffer alone from stress, depression, or anxiety caused by pregnancy complications, infertility, postpartum struggles, trauma, or life circumstances without access to support. We provide access to free therapy and mental health resources because we believe that emotional health is healthcare. A professional and trained therapist can provide mothers with tools to cope, heal, regulate stress, and improve overall health outcomes for themselves and their families.

But our mission does not stop with mothers. We also recognize that children thrive when they develop confidence, self-esteem, emotional security, and the ability to process adversity in healthy ways. Children with high Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE) scores face significantly increased risks of depression, substance use disorder, chronic illness, poor academic performance, and reduced life expectancy. Yet intervention can change that trajectory.

For this reason, ME and MOM provides reading comprehension support and educational mentorship to children with high ACE scores because reading proficiency is one of the strongest catalysts for academic achievement, self-confidence, and future opportunity. We also provide access to therapy and emotional support so children can develop the coping tools necessary to build resilience, emotional intelligence, and healthier futures.

We are not simply addressing crises in the moment, we are working to change lifelong health trajectories through early intervention, emotional support, education, and prevention.

When we support a mother, we support a child. When we support a child, we help shape an entire generation.

We invite you to join our movement and help us expand access to mental health services, educational support, and preventive care for mothers and children who need it most.

Because healthier families begin with healthier mothers. Because our health begins with mom, and because changing a child’s earliest environment can change the course of their entire life.

Thank you for standing with us.

Sincerely,
Sean S. Daneshmand, MD and the ME and MOM team