As a child care worker and mum of two little boys already, Lisa Carrick thought she had everything sorted when she was pregnant with her third baby.
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"It was our third son, third pregnancy, so I thought I had this in the bag to be honest," she said.
"And I really just wanted to just soak up every moment and really try to enjoy it."
But then a week before she gave birth to her son Beau, who is now 2, Ms Carrick's grandmother died, leaving her to grapple with a strange combination of death and new life.
"I was grieving the loss of a loved one while also celebrating the birth of our son," she said.
"It's meant to be a happy and exciting time but I just didn't have time to process everything. I was acting like everything was okay, and I was actually okay for the first few days after Beau was born.
"But then it was my son William's fifth birthday, and we had a birthday party because we didn't want him to feel left out - and around that time that I remember I started to really fixate on little details in our home and notice my anxiety started to worsen."
She said she initially tried to hide her feelings, especially when surrounded by family and friends.
"I would have moments where I would just hold Beau and just feel empty," she said.
"There was no love, no happiness and I just didn't feel that connection and I just couldn't look at him or hold him.
"I also just started having intrusive thoughts about harming myself.
"It was becoming harder to pretend that I was okay, and I was convinced that my family was better off without me."
For help contact:
- Lifeline 13 11 14 (24/7) or text 0477 13 11 14.
- Mental Health Line 1800 011 511.
- PANDA National Helpline (Monday to Saturday) 1300 726 306 or website. PANDA's National Perinatal Mental Health Helpline is Australia's only free national helpline for people affected by changes to their mental health and emotional wellbeing during the perinatal period.
Ms Carrick finally visited her GP, who asked her how she had been coping.
"I just let everything out and could not stop crying," she said.
From there, she was referred to Gidget House in Shellharbour, where she was able to access counselling and learn strategies to cope with her mental health.
"I felt a sense of relief, not only over the fact that I didn't have to hide anymore, but also I was going to get help," she said.
"I was finally open with my family and friends, and they really just supported me and I was able to just be open and honest with the clinician."
This week, the perinatal mental health charity Gidget Foundation, has released new data showing that more than 3,000 expectant and new parents accessed its free psychological counselling sessions in 2023, a jump of 30 per cent since 2022 and 132 per cent since 2020.
So far in 2024, 2,168 parents have used these services via a combination of face-to-face and telehealth appointments.
Despite the increase in people accessing support, new data commissioned Gidget found more than half of expectant and new parents experience perinatal mental health symptoms.
And only two in five of these people have sought professional help.
As a recipient of help, Ms Carrick said she wanted to urge any struggling new parents to speak up.
"After opening up to my family and friends about what I was going through, I was just blown away by the amount of others that said they had gone through something similar," she said.
"I really want to emphasise that PNDA and mental illness does not define who we are, and I want others who are struggling to know that they're not alone.
"There is support out there and I just really encourage struggling parents to reach out whether it's to a trusted friend, a family member or a GP and they can help support them in finding the right help because there is help out there and they don't have to go through it alone."
Gidget Foundation CEO Arabella Gibson, says it can cost up to $3,000 for a to get complete care over 12 months, which includes up to 10 individual counselling sessions with a specialist perinatal clinician.
"Community donations allow us to continue initiatives such as the Gidget Training Institute and our Workforce Development Program which addresses the shortage of specialist perinatal mental health clinicians nationally," she said.
To help GFA meet the increasing demand for perinatal mental health services, every donation made on Gidget Giving Day, held on June 19, will be doubled for 24 hours.
For more information, please visit gidgetgivingday.org.au.