PANDA is a national telehealth service supporting families in the perinatal period. Our service is available to all families, however we focus on supporting those who face larger barriers to accessing mental health care including rural and remote families.
We know that families face additional challenges included limited access to pregnancy and postnatal health care, relocation expenses leading up to birth, stigma in small communities, lack of available support networks and social isolation.
In 2024, 22% of callers to the PANDA Helpline were outside the major cities of Australia, 7% of these live in outer region or remote Australia. This is underrepresented from the 28% of the general population who live outside of major cities according to AIHW.
PANDA supports many remote and rural families and can offer practice and lived experience insights into the benefits of specialised, person-centred care for rural and remote families. Our Helpline is staffed by peer and clinical practitioners and peer volunteers, offering collaborative lived-experience informed care.
In our presentation you will take away:
• Insights from the PANDA Helpline about remote and rural families
• Strategies for using specialist services that offer remote ongoing care including peer support
• How families can advocate for the pregnancy and postnatal care they deserve, e.g. requesting telehealth for a range of health services and claiming for pregnancy care travel costs
• Accessing and finding virtual parental support networks
• Engaging dads and partners in the perinatal conversation and health system
• Integrated digital mental health tools and insights from PANDA