Aiming to improve outcomes for mothers and their families, Fiona Stanley Hospital (FSH) is participating in an Australian-first maternal mental health promotion pilot project, called Space for You.
The project officially launched today at the FSH Family Birth Centre during Perinatal Mental Health Week. It will trial the use of evidence-based, co-designed health promotion resources to optimise new mums’ mental health within FSH antenatal settings.
While current maternity care provides standard screening to detect risk or presence of mental illness, there are no specific interventions that focus on the promotion of mental health and wellbeing during pregnancy.
“While we will continue the current practice of screening women’s mental health during pregnancy, the Space for You resources seek to strengthen and optimise a women’s individual mental health before and into motherhood by actively promoting mental health and wellbeing,” said FSH Midwifery Manager Sara Veness.
“The project aims to raise awareness amongst maternity consumers at FSH to identify and prioritise mental health and wellbeing in the way midwives commonly address physical health promotion in pregnancy such as safe sleeping, and smoking cessation.”
The Space for You resources have been co-designed by pregnant women, mothers and midwives nationwide, as well as an obstetrician, in conjunction with a multidisciplinary public health advisory group, including South Metropolitan Health Service (SMHS) Area Director Nursing and Midwifery and Adjunct Associate Professor Peta Fisher, and FSH Midwife Unit Manager Kathy Cross.
The resources feature lived-experience storytelling of WA women and their families and apply participatory research to a health promotion intervention.
Curtin University School of Nursing PhD candidate Lesley Pascuzzi, supervised by Associate Professor Zoe Bradfield, developed the project with support from SMHS staff Sara, Peta, Kathy and Midwife, Justine Rosevear.
“This project shifts the conversation from avoiding mental illness, to encouraging pregnant women to develop knowledge, awareness and skills to understand and communicate what it means to be mentally healthy mothers,” said Ms Pascuzzi.
“The relationship birthing women develop with their midwives over the course of their pregnancy journey make them well placed to facilitate access to the new Space for You resources, which aim to strengthen the women’s agency to identify her own mental health and develop a vocabulary to communicate this amongst partners and family members.”
Birthing families at FSH will be able to access the resources directly with posters linking to video resources, displayed in the maternity wards, the birthing centre, and clinics.
“Following the pilot project, we hope to better understand if it is feasible for midwives to facilitate access to mental health promotion resources within antenatal care and establish pregnant women and mothers’ perspectives of this opportunity within routine care,” said Ms Pascuzzi.
The project which will run from December 2025 to May 2026, is based on findings following a scoping review demonstrating it is an Australian-first.
