A first-of-its-kind specialist mental health clinic for expectant and new parents has opened at Berry Springs, near Darwin, aiming to address what experts describe as a critical shortage of perinatal mental health services across the Northern Territory.
The service is run by Gidget Foundation Australia — a charity that operates 34 similar clinics in other states and territories — and has been jointly funded by the federal government and the foundation itself. It plans to see 700 patients a year through a combination of face-to-face and telehealth appointments, with sessions available under Medicare subsidy.
Why the NT Needs Perinatal Mental Health Support
The Northern Territory records some of the highest rates of parental depression and anxiety in the country, yet its mental health workforce is the nation's thinnest. Federal government data shows the NT has just 83.9 psychologists per 100,000 people — less than half the rate of the ACT, which has 178.7 per 100,000. The Territory also carries the highest suicide rate in Australia at 17 per 100,000 people , more than double the ACT's rate of 7.7.
Gidget Foundation Australia chief executive Arabella Gibson said the scale of perinatal mental illness in the NT made the new clinic urgently necessary. "There's over 3,500 new births in the Territory every year, and of those parents having babies, at least 1,200 of them will be diagnosed with perinatal mental ill health, so it's really significant," she said.
Ms Gibson noted that nationally, around 100,000 Australians are diagnosed with perinatal depression and anxiety each year — roughly one in five mothers and one in ten fathers — with Territory figures sitting at the higher end of that range.
A Mother's Story: How Specialist Care Made the Difference
For Queensland mother-of-two Natalya Wallace, access to a Gidget Foundation service proved life-changing. Three years ago, Ms Wallace suffered a uterine rupture during the birth of her second daughter, an ordeal she narrowly survived. While her physical recovery was relatively swift, she was left with PTSD, flashbacks, panic attacks, anxiety and severe sleep disruption .
Ms Wallace said the experience of living in a rural area compounded the problem. "Being in rural and remote [areas], where you don't have that access straight away to healthcare, you sort of have to put up with it and think: Maybe it is baby blues?" she said. "But sometimes it's not, and you do need that extra support."
After a GP referral to a Gidget Foundation clinic in her region, Ms Wallace was introduced to Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy — a treatment that uses guided eye movements or visual tracking to help the brain process traumatic memories. "It helped me to separate the fear behind my symptoms, it helped desensitise it all," she said.
Federal Funding Backs Broader Perinatal Mental Health Push
The Berry Springs clinic is part of a wider national effort to improve access to perinatal care. The federal government has committed $40 million to fund additional perinatal mental health services across Australia, recognising persistent gaps in coverage — particularly in regional and remote communities where health support needs have long gone unmet.
Ms Gibson said the Medicare-subsidised model was central to ensuring the service reached those who needed it most, removing financial barriers that can prevent new parents from seeking help.
What Comes Next
With the Berry Springs clinic now open, the Gidget Foundation says it hopes the service will grow to meet demand across the greater Darwin region and potentially expand its telehealth reach further into remote NT communities. The foundation is encouraging expectant and new parents — as well as their partners — to seek a GP referral if they are experiencing symptoms of depression, anxiety or trauma in the perinatal period, emphasising that early intervention leads to significantly better outcomes for both parents and children.
