CPWA convenes survivors, families, providers, policymakers, and advocates to build a unified, statewide voice for perinatal mental health justice. Through storytelling, dialogue, and strategy, these spaces transform isolation into collective action—linking lived experience to policy reform, systems alignment, and healing-centered collaboration.
Upcoming
Storytelling for Systems Change
On August 5, 2026, join CPWA for a free statewide virtual training on how lived experience can influence policy, strengthen advocacy, and advance SB 626. Whether you’re a parent, provider, advocate, researcher, student, or policymaker, you’ll leave with practical tools for sharing your story in ways that create meaningful systems change.
Past Convenings
From Pain to Power 2.0: Los Angeles (2026)
On May 20, 2026, CPWA and partners hosted From Pain to Power 2.0 at Wellnest in South Los Angeles during Maternal Mental Health Awareness Month. Building on the momentum of earlier convenings, this survivor-led gathering brought together parents, providers, advocates, policymakers, and community leaders to deepen dialogue, strengthen cross-sector collaboration, and advance equitable perinatal mental health systems across California.
CA Roundtable to Align Systems on Perinatal Mental Health (2026)
In partnership with CA First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom, CA Surgeon General Dr. Diana Ramos, the CMQCC, and El Camino Health, CPWA convened state leaders, healthcare systems, and community partners in Mountain View, CA. The Roundtable marked a shift from fragmented awareness to coordinated action across California’s perinatal mental health system—centering lived experience to strengthen screening, follow-up care, and system-wide accountability.
From Pain to Power: Los Angeles (2024)
Our inaugural From Pain to Power Convening in Los Angeles united over 200 survivors, birth workers, and policymakers to confront California’s maternal mental health crisis, especially its disproportionate impact on Black and marginalized communities. The event catalyzed CPWA’s formation, and launched a growing movement to center lived experience in systems change.
From Pain to Power: Advocacy Day (2025)
In April 2025, CPWA and partners brought 25 survivors among 40 advocates to the State Capitol for the From Pain to Power Advocacy Day. Together, we shared stories, met with legislators, and built momentum for SB 626 to strengthen screening, treatment, and accountability across California’s perinatal mental health system.
Beyond these events, CPWA is cultivating a broader movement to transform California’s perinatal mental health ecosystem—creating spaces where survivors, providers, and cross-sector leaders align strategies, share stories, and spark collective action. By connecting health care, behavioral health, early childhood, and community systems, we’re building a unified statewide voice for prevention, equity, and care.
