A new Hawaii treatment program is opening a gap in care for mothers with serious postpartum mental illness, good news for families who until now had few local options.

• One in five women develop a mood or anxiety disorder after childbirth, and the rarest and most dangerous form, postpartum psychosis, causes hallucinations and paranoia.
• Oahu mother Kristie Shintaku was hospitalized 12 days after giving birth and found no care tailored to new mothers, even while still nursing.
• Postpartum psychosis is likely under-diagnosed, and most people had never heard of it before the Lindsay Clancy trial.
• Hawaii had none of the 45 perinatal mental health programs found across 25 states until "The Village," an intensive online outpatient program, launched in August.
• The Village meets three times a week and fills the gap between one-on-one therapy and hospitalization, since doctors screen for these conditions but often have nowhere to send patients.

Outlook: Hawaii mothers now have a local treatment option covered by HMSA and UHA, and awareness of postpartum psychosis is expected to grow.