"I've got to do something about this because I'm not coping at all."
"When I first heard about the Mater Family Wellbeing Service, I just thought that this was the most fantastic thing to ever happen for Queensland.
I had postnatal depression after two of my three children. With my first born, four weeks or so before she was due, I’d been in the mad rush finishing up work and it was the first time going through a pregnancy and leading up to having a baby.
I knew things weren’t quite right. And it was amazing how quickly things descended from that not feeling right to thinking, “I’ve got to do something about this because I’m not coping at all.” I had become so desperate that I wanted to take my own life.
That was the hardest point where I was really at the end and wanting it to be the end. I wanted to not wake up and have another day like this. I ended up being induced two weeks early with my daughter so that we could start some medication and start intensely focussing on my health, as well as my baby’s health at the same time."
Mary-Anne Richardson
A Queensland mother with lived experience of
perinatal depression
Mary-Anne is one of many women among us who are strong, capable and loving—but whose mental health can be profoundly affected by pregnancy and birth.
By supporting Mater Family Wellbeing Service, you can make the experience of a mental health crisis so much easier for women like Mary-Anne. You can give them best-in-class healthcare, in a setting that is warm, supportive and healing. You can help make sure their little babies get the nurturing they need to thrive.
And, best of all, you can send them home healthy, happy, and looking forward to the joys of family life together
Help establish a dedicated perinatal mental health and wellbeing service
Choose your way to support
Fundraise
Create a fundraising page and host your your own fundraiser
Choose a date for your event, invite your friends and have some fun.
Donate
Make a gift in support of mothers, bablies and families
Your donation will contribute to the development of this much needed service
