When the message is not landing...

Trigger Warning: Maternal Mental Health & Suicide

A few months ago, I received a text I didn’t want to read.

It shook me to my core.

Another mother had taken her life.

And for the first time in my advocacy journey, I felt truly triggered. Because I know that pain. I have been in it. I have felt the crushing weight of postnatal depression and the distorted logic that convinces you your children would be better off without you. That your love is not enough. That your presence is the problem. It is not selfishness, it is unbearable pain. And sometimes, it is love in its most desperate form.

t wasn’t the first time I had received a message like this and I knew it wouldn’t be the last. But this time, it overwhelmed me. In that moment, after all these years of advocacy, I felt like I had failed her. Her child. Her partner. Her family. 

Because no matter how many speeches I gave, how many posts I wrote, how many stories I shared,

the message still wasn’t landing 

and we lost another mother, even though maternal suicide is preventable.

So I stepped away.

Not from the fight but from the pain.

I needed time to reflect, to feel, to steady myself and find a new way to be heard.

Since then, I’ve been working quietly, but fiercely and strategically.

Because I knew I couldn’t get us where we need to be on my own.

I have joined forces with other incredible organisations who are just as committed to improving perinatal mental health in this country. 

At Villagehood Australia, we have been pushing our work further than ever: supporting more mothers, partners, and families; advocating for system reform; and building the case for early, preventative, lived experience-led and innovative solutions.

Because we already know what works:

✅ Screening and early intervention

✅ Accessible, culturally safe, stigma-free mental health care

✅ Peer-led programs that build trust, connection, and hope

✅ Education for families and communities to recognise the signs

These aren’t radical ideas.

They are life-saving solutions.

And we need more people at the table to help make them happen.

🧭 If you’re a policymaker ready to listen

🤝 A funder or partner looking to create impact

📢 A leader willing to help carry this message into new rooms

Please reach out.

There is so much happening behind the scenes and so much more we can do, together.

Because no mother should feel the world is better off without her.

Because every child deserves to be held by their mum.

And because we already know how to save lives, we just need the will to act.

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Author: Dinah Thomasset | Founder & CEO at Villagehood Australia

Contact Details: dinah@ villagehoodaustralia.com | 0411 270 169

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To learn more about Villagehood Australia and our Peer Support and Mother-Centric programs, please check our website www.villagehoodaustralia.com. Villagehood Australia is a registered charity with the ACNC and is endorsed as Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR). Tax-deductible donations can be made here.

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