Clinical psychologist Frances Bilbao first realised that the mental health support system for new mothers in Australia wasn’t sufficient during her early training in the public sector in the perinatal area.
This is the time in a woman’s life when she’s most likely to experience a mental health disorder, Bilbao tells Women’s Agenda, noting that 1 in 5 women will experience a mood disorder during their pregnancy or in the first year after birth, and 1 in 5 maternal deaths can be attributed to suicide.
The lack of affordable support services also caught Bilbao’s attention, as she says she “saw women struggling to access free public services with minimal spaces, and unable to afford expensive private services”.
“Their suffering was difficult to witness. I thought there must be a way to provide an affordable private service if we set it up right.”
So Bilbao did just that. She created an accessible and affordable perinatal psychology service called Mums Matter Psychology. The service operates using only Medicare bulk-billing, by creating a lean administrative base and partnerships with local councils. This means there’s no cost to women who are seeking support.
Bilbao leads a team of 80 clinicians and says she feels proud of their work everyday.
“Although they have lots of opportunities to work in higher paying organisations, they choose to do this work because they love the impact they can have for families and our future generations.”
At the recent 2024 Cartier Awards in China, Bilbao was recognised for this often undervalued but extremely important social impact entrepreneurial venture. She came in third place amongst a strong field of women from the Oceania region, who all received financial support and tailored mentoring from the program’s community.
Along with Cartier’s global award, Bilbao has been recognised as the 2024 Telstra Business Awards Championing Health VIC State Winner and 2020-2021 Allied Health Awards Psychologist of the Year for her establishment and operation of Mums Matter Psychology.
Far-reaching impacts of Mums Matter Psychology
Bilbao has over 10 years of clinical experience working with mothers in the transition to parenthood and has authored and presented at various Perinatal Mental Health and Maternal & Child Health conferences.
She’s also a full member of the Australian Psychological Society (APS) where she is the National Convenor of the Perinatal and Infant Psychology Interest group and Fellow of the College of Clinical Psychologists.
“Maternal mental health is often overlooked,” Bibao says, adding that this is because “the focus is usually on the baby.”
“We tend to overlook the needs of the mother in general, even physically. It is also seen as a time of joy and many find it difficult to think that there may also be feelings of fear, disappointment, or unhappiness.”
“I think there is a common shame around finding motherhood difficult as we equate this with not being a good enough mother, and fear judgement from others.”
Mums Matter Psychology specifically addresses these misconceptions and lack of support by normalising the need for help.
“We also find bringing women together in groups helps people share stories to recognise that they aren’t alone and many of their struggles are shared, ” Bilbao says.
The team also provides mums with educational sessions on common struggles to provide information about why these things happen and how their brains work during the postpartum period, as this is different to other times.
“The woman’s brain changes more when becoming a mother than going through adolescence,” says Bilbao.
With the national costs of perinatal depression and anxiety estimated at USD $585 million annually, according to Bilbao, the problem impacts everyone.
“In the last 12 months we have seen 2915 women and saved the economy approximately $43 million in health, wellbeing and economic costs,” she says.
“When women are depressed they are unable to contribute to society and engage with their children in the best way. This has consequences for workplace productivity and utilisation of health services. It can also have an impact on their children’s mental health.”
Bilbao understands firsthand the challenges of motherhood, as she raises children alongside growing Mums Matter Psychology. But thankfully, she says the support from her husband and family make the work much more manageable.
“Having my own experience just makes me more passionate about providing support to others during this critical time.”