Last week (23–29 November) was Perinatal Mental Health Week, acknowledging the 1 in 5 new mums and 1 in 10 new dads who experience perinatal depression and anxiety.

That’s around 100,000 Australian parents each year.

Almost four years ago, Canberra Mum, Katharine, was one of them.

She is now speaking out to help other parents feel less alone in their mental health struggles after the birth of their child, or children.

“When you first see those two lines, you’re straight onto your prenatal vitamins, and you’re having blood tests and, you know, it’s about your physical health … and how many kicks you can feel… and that’s important,“ she says.

“But no one sort of says…’What about your mental health?’“

Katharine’s daughter Izzy will be four in March.

Izzy was a much-wanted pregnancy and her birth was eagerly anticipated by Katharine, her husband Joseph, and what Katharine describes as an extremely supportive extended family and social network.

Izz’s delivery and much of the initial post-delivery experience for Katharine and Joseph however, was traumatic.

It involved emergency surgery, a coma, intensive care admission and lasting emotional scars.

Katharine struggled with anxiety and panic attacks.

“When I went back to the hospital to have a blood test, all of a sudden there was kind of this smell and I started panicking and hyperventilating,” she says.

“But it really took time for me to understand that something wasn’t quite right.”

Katharine explained that her awareness that she had such a supportive family and network, was ironically a barrier for her in seeking more help much earlier.

“It took a lot for me to be able to even reach out for help. You know, you constantly hear, especially in Canberra, how strained all of our resources are,” she says.

“So, I didn’t want to take up a space that I thought someone else might have needed, when I already had so much.”

Katharine remembers going to mothers’ groups in those early days and feeling badly because she was not ‘gushing about how wonderful motherhood was’.

However, she realised she may genuinely be in trouble when she came across her discharge summary

“In it, they flagged that I was at high risk for postnatal depression and anxiety,” she says.

Katharine then called the number for the Perinatal Wellbeing Centre in Canberra, which was on one of the brochures she was given.

Their counselling and community programs helped her process trauma, manage emotions, and rebuild confidence.

“They do these fortnightly phone calls,” she says.

“And often it was just enough to see for me, even a missed call of someone saying, ‘Hey, you know, just checking in, how are you going this week?’

“A lot of it was about sitting with other mums who were going through this and just being able to be a bit honest about what being a mum was like,” Katharine says.

Perinatal Wellbeing Centre (PWC) CEO, Dr Yvonne Luxford, says that current data reflects the experiences of many ACT families.

“Too many parents tell us that they felt no one checked in during the early days of becoming a new mother or parent,” she says.

Katharine’s story highlights the importance of perinatal mental health, as brand new national figures reveal shocking insights into the reality of perinatal health support in Australia.

While awareness around perinatal wellbeing is growing, support is still falling short.

Sleepless nights, financial pressure and relationship strain continue to take a toll, particularly on parents in the early years. 

This reflects trends in the ACT, where PWC’s telephone counselling programs, mental health support groups, education and awareness sessions and community-based programs continue to play a vital role in helping parents feel less isolated across districts, including Woden, Tuggeranong, Belconnen, and Gungahlin.

Dr Luxford wants new parents to know that they aren’t alone.

“I think the most important message is that there is help out there and new parents don’t have to do this alone,” says Dr Luxford.

“You can just call us directly and one of our amazing counsellor will have a chat with you.”

Katharine can’t stress highly enough the difference the Perinatal Wellbeing Centre made to her and her family.

“They encouraged me to be myself, and to be kind to myself,” she said.

For more information, visit perinatalwellbeingcentre.org.au