Maternal mental health is a predictable vulnerability due to the inherent nature of motherhood.

Maternal mental health requires understanding and empathy, both preventative and responsive strategies, structural support, and a holistic approach.

I am a mother of two little boys, and it’s my own struggles in motherhood and the resulting implications on my own mental health that compelled me to work with mothers.

Some of us come to motherhood familiar with mental illness, and for some of us, it’s the perinatal experience itself that leads to our first encounter. Some of us are more prone to mental health struggles than others. My husband, for example. Steady as a rock. Cool as a cucumber. He has the same children as me, the same lifestyle, the same constant pile of crumbs on the floor, and he rises to every challenge with equanimity. Whereas I am doing all the things every day to feel balanced, positive, and present.

The problem with how we handle maternal mental health

It takes strength to recognise and communicate that you’re struggling, because mental illness is still somewhat taboo — considered a weakness, a failure, or even dangerous.

And yet, the social systems in which we mother today make that necessary and place the onus on a struggling mother:

• To first of all, reach crisis point
• To recognise she’s struggling
• To overcome stigma
• To communicate her need for help
• To find time and money
• To access a GP
• To wait for a psychologist with whom she feels comfortable
• To medicate

We pathologise maternal mental illness, make it a medical problem, and an individual’s burden.

The hill I will die on

Having worked in this space for five years, I believe that:

• Maternal mental health is a societal responsibility, not an individual’s failing
• Maternal mental health must be protected proactively instead of reactively
• While psychology and medication can save lives, they can be inaccessible, and myriad other practices are just as, if not more, effective
• A mother’s wellbeing is non-negotiable simply because she is a human being, not for her capacity to be of service

Understanding maternal mental health

What is it?

Mental health exists on a spectrum. It’s not binary — you’re not either fine or broken. Most of us move along that spectrum throughout our lives, and motherhood tends to push us further along it. Mental health refers to our emotional, psychological, and social wellbeing — how we think, feel, and function. Good mental health doesn’t mean feeling happy all the time. It means having the capacity to cope with life’s normal stresses, maintain relationships, and function day to day.

When that capacity becomes consistently compromised, we start to talk about mental illness.

What Does Mental Illness Look Like?

Depression is more than sadness. It’s persistent low mood, loss of interest or pleasure in things you used to enjoy, exhaustion that sleep doesn’t fix, feelings of worthlessness, and in its most serious form, thoughts of self-harm or that life isn’t worth living. In mothers, it often looks like apathy, irritability, and the inability to feel bonded to your baby or present in your own life.

Anxiety is the most common perinatal mental health condition. It’s excessive, persistent worry — a nervous system stuck in threat-detection mode. Racing thoughts, physical tension, difficulty sleeping, and catastrophic thinking.

Other perinatal mental illnesses include trauma and PTSD, psychosis, OCD, and grief.

Perinatal Mental Health in Australia

In Australia, 1 in 5 mothers and 1 in 10 fathers experience perinatal depression or anxiety.

The Ripple Effect on Families

A mother’s mental health doesn’t stay with her. It moves through the family. Maternal depression and anxiety affect child attachment, emotional dysregulation, behavioural difficulties, and mental health challenges later in life.

This is not to burden mothers further. It is to make the point that maternal mental health is intergenerational. Investing in a mother’s mental health is investing in our children.

Why Motherhood Is a Risk Factor for Mental Illness

So many aspects of motherhood impact mental health. Not exactly just a chemical imbalance in the brain.

• Sleep deprivation
• Isolation
• Trauma
• Chronic stress, worry, and hypervigilance
• Lack of continuity of care
• Hormone fluctuations
• Loss of control, structure, and coping mechanisms
• Loss of independence
• Less access to the things that bring you joy
• Relationship strains
• Undervalued care work and internalised misogyny
• Unmet needs and expectations
• Mental load and burnout
• Mum guilt, mum rage, judgement, comparison, and shame
• Nervous system dysregulation
• Cultural expectations

Proactive Mental Health Strategies — What We Can Do as Individuals

I never want to add to the load. Think of these as tools in your mental health toolbox — to pick up when you have an opportunity, and to prioritise within your lifestyle, not as tasks on your to-do list. Some aren’t in your control, but knowing they impact your mental health can help you have some self-compassion and potentially create changes to make them more feasible.

• Sleep — protect it fiercely and ask for help to get it
• Nervous system regulation practices — breath work, yoga, cold water, somatic movement, singing
• Community and genuine connection — a sense of belonging
• Movement that feels good
• Reducing mental load
• Identity maintenance — holding onto parts of yourself that exist outside motherhood: your interests, your ambitions, your relationships
• Reducing what drains you — social media, over-committing, constant busyness
• Nutrition and self-care
• Language and context — understanding what you’re going through, knowing you are normal, and reducing shame

Three Areas I Work Through With Mothers

As a Perinatal Practitioner, I work with mothers to help make their motherhood better, by giving them language, context, strategies, and practices for the challenging parts of pregnancy, postpartum, and motherhood that can impact mental health.

Physical Health and Postnatal Depletion

We cannot separate physical and mental health in motherhood. Pregnancy, birth, and breastfeeding place enormous demands on the body. Postnatal depletion is a syndrome caused by nutrient, hormone, stress, and sleep deficiencies that can last for years — it feels like you’re climbing a mountain just to get through the day. I was hospitalised with pregnancy sciatica and could barely walk with pelvic girdle pain, and it took a toll on me mentally. Not feeling confident or capable in your body erodes your sense of self.

I work with mothers in one-on-one yoga coaching to move safely in pregnancy, manage perinatal conditions, and rebuild core and pelvic floor function, strength, and mobility postpartum so they can feel confident and have a physical outlet that supports their fluctuating body.

Matrescence — The Identity Shift of Becoming a Mother

Matrescence is the developmental process of becoming a mother. Like adolescence, it involves physical, neurological, and social transitions and a profound identity shift. You are no longer who you were, but you are not yet sure who you are now. Without understanding, perspective, and guidance, this in-between place can feel disorienting, shameful, even grief-like. Many mothers describe a loss of self that is deeply destabilising.

I work with mothers in one-on-one motherhood consultations to process those matrescence changes, nurture a sense of self, and find acceptance in the newness.

The Mental Load and Burnout

The mental load is the invisible cognitive labour of managing a household and family — the planning, anticipating, remembering, coordinating, and worrying that largely falls to mothers. It is relentless and it is largely unseen, which means it is undervalued. Over time, it produces burnout — a state of chronic exhaustion, detachment, resentment, and reduced capacity that goes beyond tiredness.

In motherhood consultations, I help mothers make the invisible labour visible, give them language to communicate what they’re carrying to their partner — and navigate the resistance that can come with that — and develop practical strategies to create more domestic equity.

What Needs to Change — Social and Systemic Support for Mothers

Mothers are led to believe that it’s their responsibility to be mentally well, and if they aren’t, it’s their own problem. But the social systems within which we mother have a huge impact on maternal mental health, and there is enormous scope for improvement. I advocate for:

• Extended, well-paid parental leave for both parents — so that fathers get to participate more in family life and share the load
• Accessible, affordable, and proactive mental health care
• A continuity of care model for maternal health — one practitioner, through the whole journey
• Normalising shared domestic labour
• Structural valuing of care work — economically, socially, politically
• Community infrastructure — localised and mother-centred
• Destigmatising maternal mental health in clinical, social, and cultural spaces
• Media and cultural narratives that stop perpetuating unattainable standards
• Funding and resources for postpartum recovery

Every Mother Deserves to Feel Well

Motherhood is one of the most significant psychological, physiological, and social transformations a human being can undergo. It is a human experience that requires human support.

Motherhood is hard. Those who are struggling aren’t weak — they’re carrying an unfair burden, often without the support, education, rest, or recognition they require. Then we wonder why maternal mental health is a growing crisis.

My work is built on one belief: that every mother deserves to feel good in her motherhood.

Save the mother, save the world.

PANDA offers a free national helpline for parents navigating perinatal mental health — 1300 726 306, Monday to Saturday, 9am–7:30pm AEST.

Beyond Blue is available around the clock on 1300 22 4636.

And if you’re ready to go deeper — to understand what’s happening and build something sustainable — I’d love to work with you.