More than a third of South Australian parents have experienced perinatal mental health symptoms and never asked anyone for help. Almost a third say they don’t know how.
Not knowing how is a fixable problem. So here is how.
Two free clinics now open in South Australia
Gidget House Elizabeth opened in April 2026, the state’s first. Gidget House Murray Bridge followed in August, the second. Both offer face-to-face and telehealth psychological therapy with clinicians who specialise in the perinatal period.
Elizabeth sits inside the Elizabeth City Centre shopping complex, in partnership with United Way South Australia. Walking into a shopping centre is a very different proposition to walking into a mental health service, and for a lot of people that difference is everything.
Murray Bridge operates from the Murray Bridge Community Centre, so families in regional SA don’t have to drive to Adelaide for specialised support.
What it costs
Nothing, for up to ten individual sessions per calendar year. The sessions are funded through Medicare bulk billing, with no out-of-pocket cost.
That ten-session cap is worth knowing up front, because it shapes how you use it. It’s a course of therapy, not an open-ended arrangement.
What you need to get in
A referral from a GP, plus a mental health treatment plan. In practice that means one appointment with your GP where you talk about how you’re actually coping.
Book a long consultation. Say on the phone that you want to talk about your mental health. It gives the receptionist a reason to give you more than fifteen minutes, and it means you don’t have to raise the hardest thing at the end of a rushed visit.
Or ring Gidget first. You don’t have to start with the GP. Gidget Foundation’s Client Experience Team is on 1300 GIDGET (1300 443 438), and they’ll talk through what suits your situation before you book anything. If the idea of explaining yourself to a doctor is the thing standing in your way, start with the phone call instead.
Who it’s for
Gidget supports parents from pre-conception through to early infancy, which includes people still trying to conceive. And it’s not only for mothers. One in five mothers and one in ten fathers experience perinatal depression or anxiety. That’s roughly 100,000 Australian parents a year, and a great many of the fathers have never once been asked how they’re going.
If you’re in regional SA
Gidget also delivers the same psychological therapy via telehealth, with the same referral requirement and the same cost of nothing. There are also free group programs, run in person and online, including one specifically for dads. Those sit outside the ten-session individual cap.
You don’t have to be in crisis
Only 27 per cent of parents who had symptoms didn’t seek help because they didn’t think what they were experiencing was severe enough. That’s the one to argue with.
You do not have to be in crisis to qualify for this. Ten free sessions with someone who specialises in exactly this is not an emergency measure. It’s the sort of thing you’re allowed to use when you’re coping, badly, and would rather not be.
If things are urgent right now
Gidget House is not a crisis service. If you need immediate support:
- PANDA (Perinatal Anxiety & Depression Australia) 1300 726 306
- Lifeline 13 11 14 (24 hours)
- Beyond Blue 1300 224 636
- In an emergency, call 000
PANDA is the one to put in your phone. The people answering it will not be surprised by anything you tell them.
Where to go
Gidget House Elizabeth
Shop 4, Raleigh Chambers, Elizabeth City Centre, 50 Elizabeth Way, Elizabeth
Gidget House Murray Bridge
Murray Bridge Community Centre, 2 South Terrace, Murray Bridge SA 5253
Bookings and enquiries: 1300 GIDGET (1300 443 438) or gidgetfoundation.org.au
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