Steven D'Achille spent five years holding weekly meetings, sketching an idea on paper, and meeting with board chairs across Allegheny Health Network and West Penn Hospital, all in pursuit of a center he believed might have saved his wife. Alexis Joy D'Achille died by suicide six weeks after giving birth to their daughter, Adriana, in 2013, after the couple visited at least seven psychiatric facilities and crisis centers searching for help that never came in time.
The center that bears her name, the Alexis Joy D'Achille Center for Perinatal Mental Health, opened at West Penn Hospital in December 2018 and is described as the first of its kind in western Pennsylvania, according to WTAE. It offers a mother-baby intensive outpatient program for women during or after pregnancy, according to Allegheny Health Network, housed in a 7,300-square-foot facility with rooms for individual therapy alongside space dedicated to the intensive program. The Alexis Joy Foundation, which D'Achille founded and now leads as president, is based inside West Penn Hospital, per the same account.
A Search That Ran Out of Time
According to WTAE's reporting, Alexis developed postpartum depression, anxiety, OCD and eventually psychosis, and was also diagnosed with PTSD from childbirth. She was aware of her own condition before her death and, per D'Achille, begged to be admitted but felt unheard. At one facility, staff told the couple that psychiatrists had already left for the day and promised she would be prioritized when she returned on a Monday. She was gone by then.
“We have to build a place that I believe could have saved her,” D'Achille has said, describing why he pushed to build a program that would treat mothers before they reached that same breaking point. He has said he created the center both to honor Alexis and with his own daughter in mind, since she is genetically predisposed to postpartum depression.
What Treatment Looks Like Now
The intensive outpatient program runs three hours a day, three days a week, according to Allegheny Health Network, combining individual therapy, group therapy and outpatient medication management with behavioral therapies. Psychiatrists are part of the center’s team, and the program includes outpatient medication management, the network notes. The stated goal, per AHN, is to strengthen the bond between mother and baby while building maternal self-confidence.
Dr. Sackey, medical director of the Alexis Joy D'Achille Center and medical director for women's behavioral health at West Penn Hospital, has said Pittsburgh has higher levels of maternal mental healthcare than many other places. Since opening, the center has served more than 18,000 patients and handled more than 24,000 referrals, according to USA Today, and is one of only a few programs nationally offering intensive mother-baby outpatient care. D'Achille has said he hopes the model can spread to other health systems, and that the program aims to “evolve, learn and do more.”
Why the Story Resonates Beyond Pittsburgh
USA Today's report ties renewed attention to the center to the trial of Lindsay Clancy, a Massachusetts mother whose case centers on the deaths of her three children, with her defense arguing that postpartum psychosis impaired her criminal responsibility. Postpartum depression and postpartum psychosis are different conditions but share similar risk factors and causes, including childhood abuse, personal history of depression, family history of postpartum depression and broader social factors. Postpartum psychosis is considered a medical emergency, and severe maternal mental illness can involve thoughts of dying, while both conditions can bring low interest in previously enjoyed activities, disinterest in the baby, or a feeling of being unable to parent.
National figures cited by Pittsburgh City Paper put postpartum depression's reach at 15 to 20 percent of women who give birth, per the CDC, with the condition able to surface up to a year after childbirth — yet the same report notes only about 15 percent of women with a perinatal mood disorder ever receive medical treatment. Separately, the baby blues affect up to 70 percent of new mothers but typically clear within a week or two, unlike postpartum depression, according to a 2015 report from The Spokesman-Review. People.com has separately reported that an estimated one in eight new mothers nationwide are affected by postpartum depression.
D'Achille has said that women and families deserve the kind of care the center now offers, care his wife could not access in time. The Alexis Joy Foundation maintains resources for mothers experiencing perinatal mood and anxiety disorders, and anyone in crisis can reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988 or using its online chat.
