Midland Women's Health Care Place

Our short term, one on one therapeutic counselling service is charged at approximately 5% of commercial cost.Realising that financial hardship has a negative impact on health, and that women are especially affected.The significantly reduced cost of counselling enables women who are financially disadvantaged to access sorely needed support and guidance from a professional, qualified counsellor. The significantly reduced cost of counselling enables women who are financially disadvantaged to access sorely needed support and guidance from a professional, qualified counsellor.MWHCP provides counselling services for women of all ages from 16 to 100. In the past year most commonly our services were required by women aged 25 to 35 years.MWHCP provides one-to-one short-term counseling services to all women in the Eastern region. We provide a place where all our clients’ concerns are taken seriously whatever they may be. MWHCP provides counselling services for women of all ages from 16 years and onwards. The data collected over the past year indicated women aged 25 to 44 years made up to 45% of the total counselling clients (refer to pie chart below).Over the past year, the most common issues identified during counselling were anxiety, depression, relationship and grief & loss - refer to the chart below. Depression is known to be common among people who are economically vulnerable or those who live in poverty, and this is mainly women (Victorian Women’s Health Services, 2010)

Midland Women’s Health Care Place provides a specialist program addressing the needs of families who are experiencing stress, anxiety and/or depression during pregnancy and after the birth of a baby.

The Perinatal Depression Program was established to enable women to seek health information, access health resources, meet and discuss issues and receive support in decision making. Our aim is to empower and enable women to take control of and make decisions about their health and lives in a confident and informed way in an environment which is comfortable and caring.

Women who come to MWHCP who fit the criteria for PND are booked in for an evaluation with a counsellor. A decision is then made, between client and counsellor, whether the woman requires individual counselling, therapy group or the support group. individual counselling may be weekly, fortnightly or as determined by the client and can be run in conjunction with either of the groups.

The PND Therapy group runs for nine weekly sessions and addresses a wide range of issues associated with anxiety, stress and depression during pregnancy and after the birth of a baby. In addition to weekly therapeutic support the group also incorporates three partner’s evenings during the 9 weeks. Partner’s evenings are an opportunity for the Parent’s to have their issues addressed as a family unit and also foster better communication between couples and encourage support networks among people experiencing similar challenges in life.

The PND Program has experienced significant growth over the past 12 months and as such MWHCP has now taken on a new PND Coordinator to help develop the program, increase community awareness and raise funds to help continue this vital community service.