Prevention as Key: Solutions for Women's Wellbeing in Regional, Rural, and Remote Contexts
Tracks
Karrie Webb
| Friday, November 6, 2026 |
| 11:55 AM - 12:15 PM |
Overview
Bianca Blackmore, Women's Health And Equality Queensland
Three Key Learnings
1. Identify drivers of women's mental health outcomes in regional and rural settings.
2. Gain skills to apply prevention and early intervention approaches that support women's wellbeing.
3. Take away practical, transferrable examples of community-informed, strengths-based initiatives that can be embedded locally.
Presenter
Bianca Blackmore
Health Promotion Team Lead
Women's Health And Equality Queensland
Prevention as Key: Solutions for Women's Wellbeing in Regional, Rural, and Remote Contexts
Presentation Overview
Gender is a significant social determinant of mental health. As a social construct, gender shapes how individuals interact with systems, societies, and services. For women, mental health is shaped by a complex interplay of gender inequality, caring and social roles, socioeconomic disadvantage, experiences of violence and trauma, biological factors, political and cultural factors, and the responsiveness of systems of care.
In regional, rural, and remote contexts, the impacts and experiences of mental health are amplified by isolation, limited service availability, workforce shortages, cost, and stigma. As a result, women in these settings are more likely to delay help seeking, manage distress alone, or only engage with services when mental health concerns become severe. These factors highlight the critical importance of prevention and early intervention approaches that address mental health before distress escalates to crisis or acute service need.
In this presentation, Women’s Health and Equality Queensland explore how prevention and early intervention improves women’s mental wellbeing. The presentation will showcase the development and early outcomes of a statewide women’s mental health promotion program, designed to respond to community needs and complement the specialist support service, 1800 4 WOMEN.
Drawing on 12 months of community engagement across, regional, rural, and metropolitan Queensland, the presentation will share key themes arising from women’s lived experiences. These include barriers to help-seeking, unmet needs during life transitions, and the importance practical, strengths-based initiatives that address both individual and community wellbeing and the social determinants of mental health.
The presentation will outline how WHEQ’s health promotion team is translating these insights into a suite of evidence-based and innovative initiatives. Attendees will gain practical examples of how prevention and early intervention can be embedded in communities and systems to improve equity, accessibility, and mental health outcomes for women living in regional, rural, and remote geographies.
In regional, rural, and remote contexts, the impacts and experiences of mental health are amplified by isolation, limited service availability, workforce shortages, cost, and stigma. As a result, women in these settings are more likely to delay help seeking, manage distress alone, or only engage with services when mental health concerns become severe. These factors highlight the critical importance of prevention and early intervention approaches that address mental health before distress escalates to crisis or acute service need.
In this presentation, Women’s Health and Equality Queensland explore how prevention and early intervention improves women’s mental wellbeing. The presentation will showcase the development and early outcomes of a statewide women’s mental health promotion program, designed to respond to community needs and complement the specialist support service, 1800 4 WOMEN.
Drawing on 12 months of community engagement across, regional, rural, and metropolitan Queensland, the presentation will share key themes arising from women’s lived experiences. These include barriers to help-seeking, unmet needs during life transitions, and the importance practical, strengths-based initiatives that address both individual and community wellbeing and the social determinants of mental health.
The presentation will outline how WHEQ’s health promotion team is translating these insights into a suite of evidence-based and innovative initiatives. Attendees will gain practical examples of how prevention and early intervention can be embedded in communities and systems to improve equity, accessibility, and mental health outcomes for women living in regional, rural, and remote geographies.
Biography
Bianca is the Health Promotion Team Leader at Women’s Health and Equality Queensland, where she drives the development of initiatives programs that support the health and wellbeing of women and girls across Queensland. Bianca brings expertise in equity, systems change, prevention, and gender-transformative health promotion to guide high impact initiatives from design to delivery. Bianca holds a Master of Women’s and Children’s Health, and a Bachelor of Public Health with First Class Honours. She is known for thoughtful leadership, collaboration, and a commitment to creating lasting change that supports women and communities to thrive.
