PANDA (Perinatal Anxiety & Depression Australia) supports parents and families during pregnancy and throughout the first year of parenthood. PANDA operates Australia’s only National Perinatal Mental Health Helpline for individuals, their families, support people and health care professionals.
PANDA recognises that becoming a parent is a time of profound change in personal identity, family dynamics and relationship to self, baby and others.
Our phone and online services provide access to counselling and information to support mental health and wellbeing, informed by evidence and the expertise of those with a lived experience. The Helpline is staffed by qualified counsellors and peer support workers (practitioners and people with lived and living experience.).
In addition to the National Helpline, we offer training for health care providers, free online and printed resources, secondary consultation services and community education.
Our free services play an important role in assisting people becoming and being parents, and supporting those around them during this transition. We support all families, especially those facing barriers to support including language, location, discrimination and people managing complex and ongoing mental health conditions.
Many PANDA Helpline callers do not have a perinatal mental health diagnosis, yet may be seeking support to manage a broad spectrum of challenges. PANDA supports all aspects of perinatal mental health and wellbeing, including self-managed care and low intensity care, through to high support needs and acute care. Our team also support parents experiencing perinatal sucidiality, birth trauma, difficult experiences during pregnancy and perinatal loss.
We also support parents with social, wellbeing and lifestyle factors including parenting, self-care, relationships, and social networks. Our stepped-care model extends throughout pregnancy and includes dads and non-birthing partners.
All our work is delivered through quality clinical and peer practice, evidence, and the expertise of the lived experience community.
Learn more, panda.org.au
