LORETTA RYAN, HOST: Now, for many, becoming a parent can be as daunting as it is exciting. And if you live in the Moreton Bay region, there's some good news coming.
CRAIG ZONCA, HOST: Yeah, a new perinatal mental health centre is set to open today, I think, offering services and support at such a crucial time. To explain how it'll work, it's a very good morning to federal Assistant Minister for Mental Health, Emma McBride. Good morning to you.
ASSISTANT MINISTER EMMA MCBRIDE: Good to be with you.
ZONCA: So is it today, the official opening?
MCBRIDE: So, we'll be doing the announcement today with the official opening coming soon. And we know that in Australia about 100,000 new or expectant parents are likely to experience perinatal anxiety or depression. It's about 1 in 5 women and 1 in 10 men. So we've partnered with the Gidget Foundation who have started up these Gidget Houses. And what they provide is free support for new or expectant parents in that first 12 months of their child's life. And that support is crucial to parents, but also to their newborn and to their families.
RYAN: What does that support look like?
MCBRIDE: Well, what it is, it's very specialist support from experienced psychologists who have lots of expertise in working with new or expectant parents. So someone would go to their GP to get a mental health care plan and then have free sessions with a psychologist, either face-to-face if that's their preference or telehealth over the phone or online if that works better for them and is more convenient.
RYAN: How do you know what's normal and what's not? When you bring a baby home, there are emotions that go around and there will tears, there will be no sleep. How do you know what's normal?
MCBRIDE: And these are important questions to ask, and supporting women or families, parents in our lives. People who have experienced depression or anxiety themselves before are much more likely to experience perinatal depression or anxiety. Someone who has had a difficult pregnancy or traumatic birth is also more likely to experience perinatal depression or anxiety. And often it's noticed by someone close to the parent and sometimes also by, you know, a midwife doing a follow-up visit. But if someone is feeling just uncertain and not sure, I would encourage them to reach out, whether it's to their midwife or their GP to have that initial assessment to be referred to this type of support and care because it can make an incredible difference for parents and their new babies.
RYAN: Just that feeling of being overwhelmed by it all as well. There's $13 million that's been allocated to produce 8 perinatal centres. And why was Moreton Bay chosen?
MCBRIDE: We've looked at places where there is a particular demand to make sure that we're filling gaps in services to make sure that any new or expectant parent gets the support that they need. I also opened one in Greenslopes previously. There's one in Burleigh Heads and one that I opened in Rockhampton. And when we choose or when the locations are chosen, we also look at places that are accessible and convenient. So the Greenslopes one is in a hospital. The one in Rockhampton is in a shopping centre. So we try to make them as accessible for new or expectant parents and as convenient for them to access.
ZONCA: Yeah, and that's the key part here, being easy to access, no stigma attached to it. Go in, ask for that help because you're not alone in this journey that is parenthood, let me assure you of that. The Assistant Minister for Mental Health, Emma McBride, in studio this morning here on 612 ABC Brisbane.
As the assistant minister with that portfolio for mental health, I also want to ask about back to school. Students have gone back, there's been a change in the new world order, you might say, with the loss of social media for under-16s. Some saying, and we've heard from parents, that is putting a degree of mental health strain on their youngsters because they may not have the connections they had previously. What are you aware of in that space? What are you doing about it, Emma McBride?
MCBRIDE: This is such an important question, and we know it has impacted so many parents and younger teenagers. So what we worked to do before it was introduced was to work with the very established mental health providers, including headspace, to make sure that they had the resources they need to support young people. So if young people are experiencing distress with this adjustment period or if their parent or caregiver is looking for more support, we boosted funding for eheadspace, so that's available to them; ReachOut, Orygen. So there is support available in this adjustment period because we know for many young people it is a period of change, and that for young people it was a source at its best for connection.
But why we had to act, and we've spoken about this with your listeners before, is that social media or big tech must be responsible for social harm. And we know that 7 in 10 young people have seen something online that they shouldn't, and that distress amongst young Australians has doubled in the last 20 years, and that social media is part of – one of those drivers of that distress, including the toxic popularity meters, the predatory algorithms that are really targeting content to vulnerable young Australians. But we've made sure that there is additional support and mental health support, so I would encourage your listeners to access that. Many parents aren't aware that they can also access these youth services to help them guide their young person, and particularly eheadspace is a national program with a very large footprint. I would encourage listeners to go and have a look at the resources that are available.
RYAN: Yeah, it's going to be hard to navigate, though, for all families when, you know, some kids have it and some kids can access it as well. I mean, what sort of – as well as what you've given advice to parents though, how they navigate that?
MCBRIDE: It is very complicated, and in some homes – well, some households, it's been particularly challenging. I've got 14 nieces and nephews from 1 to 26, and some of them, you know, just turned 16, so they're not impacted by it, but their younger sibling who's 13 or 11 is. And I think it's having these open discussions with children that are age-appropriate about social media literacy, being equipped with the skills that they need to be able to navigate what is an online world and an online environment that is age-appropriate.
And having many of these conversations, not just with young people in my life but across the country, many young people have said to me, I chose to pause my social media because I noticed it was impacting me. Or I had my final exams coming up and I chose to have a break. And what I've also noticed is that when fewer young people are online, there's less of that fear of missing out or not being connected. And also young people for the first time are telling me they're having to get their friend's phone numbers because they haven't had their phone number before.
RYAN: Well, that's good. It's using your mind to remember that phone number.
ZONCA: Yeah, pick up the phone instead. And I know – like, this is still, it's only a month or so old, the social media ban, and those discussions are happening right across Brisbane, right across Queensland, right across the country. Emma McBride, really good of you to join us this morning. Thanks so much.
MCBRIDE: Good to be with you.
ZONCA: Federal Assistant Minister for Mental Health, Emma McBride, on 612 ABC Brisbane.