How country mums are helping each other

Kate Brow has faced her own personal health battles, and is now helping other country mums to face their own.

Basic health and support services for rural mums are more often than not, inadequate, and the disparities between what is offered in the city compared to the bush glaring.

Kate Brow found that out the hard way but her rollercoaster ride to overcome post-natal trauma has helped forge a path to help others.

Originally from Geelong, the foreign aid worker met her future husband John Murdoch while studying at university in Canberra before moving to John’s family farm at Ando – a 2200 hectare sheep and cattle property in the NSW Monaro region.

Unaccustomed to farm and rural life, Kate struggled with undiagnosed post-natal anxiety, sleep and feeding issues after the birth of the couple’s first daughter Harriet.

This was followed by a miscarriage and a traumatic birth with their second child Frankie, who was born five weeks premature via emergency caesarean in Canberra at the height of the Black Summer bushfires.

“John missed the emergency caesarean then we were stuck at hospital in neonatal care, tube feeding and away from my 2.5 year old and John was away from our farm and the fires. It was so traumatic,” Kate said.

She was offered psychological help in Canberra but on returning home, the service ran out.

“They said we have a counsellor that comes once a month to Bombala but there is a three month waiting list,” Kate said.

Kate Brow at the Motherland fundraiser in Goondiwindi. Picture: Alisha Reading

At this time, Covid hit, borders closed and Kate was also shut off from her family at Geelong – her mental health deepening to despair.

Fortunately she discovered a free telehealth service via the Gidget Foundation where she was able to work through her post-natal rage and birth trauma.

“Once I saw how amazing that organisation was, I became very passionate about spreading the message to others,” Kate said.

She is now a Gidget Foundation Angel, volunteering, fundraising and advocating for new parent support.

New data from Gidget Foundation Australia’s Regional Parents’ Mental Health Report reveals one in five regional parents (21 per cent) have emotional support but not practical support from family or friends, while one third (36 per cent) struggle to connect with other parents. Almost half (47 per cent) of regional parents don’t know how to spot the signs of peri-natal depression and anxiety.

Kate is passionate about creating awareness and addressing the inadequacies in support for country mums.

Along with her foreign affairs work and being a mum of three following the birth of her youngest daughter Georgina, 1, Kate also works as an ambassador and facilitator for Motherland Village Australia, an online mother’s group, connecting and supporting rural women, many who have faced similar challenges to herself.

“My Motherland group is a huge source of support. They are the people I feel most comfortable opening up to whether it’s about kids, the farm or work – they are my biggest support network in the absence of having the old fashioned village women had in the old days,” Kate said.