Balance: Postpartum Care Center

Meet Balance- A postpartum care retreat for mothers, their partners, and newborns to stay following the birth of a child so they can heal both physically and mentally, as well as receive socialization and support. Balance was created during my year-long Master’s Thesis and steamed from my passion for children and interior design.

Did you know that 1 in 9 women in the US get Postpartum Depression (PPD), 1 in 2 women that get Postpartum Depression have no prior history of depression, 1-2 women in every 1,000 live births get Postpartum Psychosis (PPP), or that the Maternal Mortality Rate for mothers during the first year postpartum is 22.3 per every 100,000 live births? These statistics are not normal, yet the US provides minimal support and care for postpartum mothers.

Korea and other Asian and European countries have utilized and mandated postpartum care in the form of staying at a postpartum care center for 28 days, which results in very low rates of PPD and Maternal mortality rates. Statistics and evidence-based research shows that PPD, PPP, and Maternal Mortality rates can be minimal if proper care and services are provided, so why hasn’t the US established these? 

I wanted to create a prototype model and a guiding set of principles for designers and architects to use as a precedent in the hope that stand-alone postpartum care centers can be built along with funding and recognition of the benefits to postpartum women, and so Balance was created.