Cradling her five-month-old baby tight, Helena’s main priority is keeping her son and herself safe.
“Coming from a place of being a child in care myself and domestic violence while I was pregnant with my son, I could have ended up on the streets or my son could have ended up being in care, which was something that I definitely didn’t want,” she said.
The 24-year-old Kamilaroi woman from Western Sydney was referred to a support service for women and their children and got in.
“It’s been good to be able to have a place to call my own for the first time. I’ve always been a couch surfer, living with friends or family and I didn’t want that for my son,” she said.
There are many women like Helena who are desperate for a lifeline, as they struggle with motherhood.
But some are being turned away from perinatal support services, due to a surge in demand.
At least 60 per cent more referrals than before the pandemic to not-for-profit, Flourish Australia, can’t be accommodated, according to women and children’s program manager, Nicole Charles.
“We’re constantly getting calls from people who are desperate and living on the streets, living in their cars and had nowhere to go. So that is devastating for all of us to take those calls on a daily basis,” she said.
“There’s just not a lot of programs out there that we can say, ‘look, we can’t support you right now, but we can refer you to another program that can help’.”
For young mothers like Helena — who do get support — living at the service provider for the past few months has turned her life around.
“For women, it’s empowering. I’ve learned so many things. I’ve got certificates … on parenting on, women’s choice and change and DV [domestic violence] programs,” she said.
“You meet other people who have bubs who are in a similar situation, so you don’t feel so alone.” She’s moving into her own home soon and is confident they’ll have a “prosperous future”.
“I have cried a few times, not thinking that I would make it this far, especially with mental illness,” she said.
“You can’t always have that fairytale dream … but I just know that as long as he’s got a happy, healthy mom, then he’s going to be a happy, healthy baby.”
For women who miss out, the consequences are sometimes detrimental to their children, Ms Charles said.
“A lot of the children that aren’t able to come into the program might go into the out-of-home care system or might not be able to return to their biological mother,” she said.
“So obviously that’s a major issue for the government and funds.”
Professor Hannah Dahlan from the School of Nursing and Midwifery at Western Sydney University said the issue also had implications for child development.
“We’re not just looking here at perinatal mental health for the woman’s sake, which of course is critical, but the impact this is having potentially on neurodevelopment and the baby in the future is a really serious issue.”
Mother-of-two Krystal got her son back from out-of-home care, with her daughter to be returned soon, after receiving support.
She has been clean for 21 months, after the death of both her parents — when she was a child — led her to drugs.
“I was in and out of jail and I went to rehab … I had to come here if I wanted my son back, so I willingly came,” she said.
“I didn’t think I was going to do it. I didn’t think I was going to get out of that lifestyle … I needed a push.” She’s now living on her own after “learning how to take care” of her son in a “safe environment”.
“From rock bottom, I got back up. If I can do it and so many other women out here can do it,” she said.
“The love you have is just the most amazing feeling you have with your children.”
Gidget Foundation Australia, a not-for-profit perinatal support service provider, has recorded a dramatic surge in demand
It’s seen a 53 per cent increase in the number of appointments delivered across its services between January and June 2022, compared with the same period last year.
Its telehealth program has seen a 118 per cent increase in demand, with its waitlist standing at 14 weeks for some locations.
Another national not-for-profit, Perinatal Anxiety and Depression Australia (PANDA), said it is averaging 500 missed calls per month already this year.
A spokesperson for NSW Mental Health and Women Minister Bronnie Taylor said the government had funded 25 extra specialist community mental health clinicians to support new parents with mental health problems in the perinatal period since 2015.
It has also opened a state-wide mother-baby inpatient mental health unit at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, and was building a new one at Westmead, they said.
“To assist mothers experiencing challenges in the early parenting period, we have rolled out 11 new Tresillian Family Care Centres, six Tresillian 2U vans and 16 Gidget Houses,” they said.
“Our partnership with Gidget Foundation has seen waiting lists for post and perinatal support drop by 80 per cent and has not only changed lives, but saved them.”
Krystal wants more access to services for women, in the hope they’ll get a chance to turn their lives around as she has.
“I think it’s very important for people that lost their way [or] have been through the struggle. They need this,” she said. “There is a very long waiting list … people have to wait months. “There needs to be more services.”