Ready Steady Family

The Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care’s 2018 Needs Assessment Report indicated a low uptake of mental health referrals among new parents, despite the significant prevalence of mental health difficulties within the postnatal period. To address this, NWMPHN implemented an evidence-based service providing an appropriate level of support, based on need.

In 2019, NWMPHN commissioned Drummond Street Services to implement a program called Ready Steady Family (RSF). Based on the success of its initial iteration, it was re-commissioned and expanded in June 2023.

RSF is for parents in the antenatal and postnatal periods. It aims to enhance parental mental health and wellbeing, and prevent the onset, relapse or exacerbation of perinatal mental health difficulties during the transition to parenthood. The service prioritises culturally and linguistically diverse communities, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families, LGBTIQ+ families, refugee families and people with disability.

The program is a stepped-care model that provides tailored services based on specialised intake risk assessment with all parents and caregivers in each family. The family is allocated a brief, medium or intensive intervention. Each intervention is tailored to the family’s needs according to known evidence-informed wellbeing domains including mental health and wellbeing, connected family relationships, safe family environment, confident caring, material security and community connections.

A specialised screening tool utilised during the intake assessment is being widely promoted among primary health professionals in our region. The RSF team works with universal and specialist services (including GPs, midwives, maternal child health nurses, and mother-baby units in hospitals) to undertake ongoing risk screening and assessment throughout the antenatal and postnatal period.

As of July 2024:

• 773 clients engaged with this program for individual and family support since July 2019.
• there have been more than 6,700 attendances (including babies) in group programs and information seminars.

Further outcomes expected for this activity are:

• increased access to wellbeing and mental health services
• increased family functioning
• increased positive parent—child interactions
• increased mental health wellbeing for parents and carers
• improved coordination of services
• workforce development for identifying and responding to mental health risk factors for new and expecting parents
• improved capability for health professionals to provide quality care for people transitioning to parenthood
• strengthened protective factors for health parenting, such as health partner and family connections and social connectedness.

The program evaluation is led by Drummond Street Service’s Centre for Family Research and Evaluation in partnership with Murdoch Children’s Research Institute. A 2023 evaluation report showed improved mental health and wellbeing among program users. Target cohorts are being reached, with a third of parents and caregivers in the program born overseas, and one in five speaking a language other than in English in the home.

Page updated 30 September 2024.