General News
5 April, 2023
Boost for struggling mums
THE launch of Meals for Mums and White Cloud’s Tele-mental health service in Cairns and Hinterland will mean mums suffering from prenatal and postpartum depression can access free support from the comfort of their homes.
White Cloud Foundation and major sponsor Ireland family of Cairns have launched the two critical services in the region that will support the mental health of mums and mums-tobe.
The programs, supported by Queensland Health, are already operating across maternity hospitals, private maternal health care and welfare providers.
Meals for Mums delivers practical mental health support to new and expecting mothers struggling with perinatal depression through the home-delivery of meals.
Westcourt resident Alexis Carroll was the first woman in the region to receive a meal from the Meals for Mums service. The mum of twins Ruby and Chiomi struggled when her girls were born prematurely.
“We don’t have a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) in Cairns, so I was flown to Townsville, and there I had these guys at 27 weeks,” Ms Carroll said.
“The midwifery program in Townsville referred me to Whitecloud’s Meals for Mums.
“After four months in NICU, I was lucky to eventually come home and having free meals waiting for me was one less thing to think about, so I was grateful.
“Having two babies makes everything really difficult; it makes things like cooking and shopping for food a lot harder, so any help makes a difference.”
Meals for Mums operates under a referral system where medical professionals and carers refer mums at risk of perinatal depression; then the foundation contacts the mums.
“This (Meals for Mums) was great because it was referred to me by the midwives within the hospital, and I didn’t have to do much to qualify for it; I just had to send a text message, receive a text message, and that’s it,” Ms Carroll said.
Queensland Health senior psychologist Laura Love said the services could make a great difference during a challenging time like motherhood.
