Our Gidget House locations provide free individual psychological counselling services delivered face-to face. Gidget Houses are accessible and provide compassionate holistic care for expectant and new parents and their families.

A safe haven where expectant and new parents are respected, and the needs of each unique family are paramount. Payment for services provided by Gidget House is covered by Medicare bulk billing. A referral and a mental health care plan from a GP are required in order to access this funding.

Download a Gidget House brochure.

Parents referred to Gidget House will receive:

• Initial assessment – meeting with the client to explore needs, concerns and solutions.
• Individual therapy – one-to-one therapies or counselling for perinatal mental health issues.

If your GP has sent a referral directly through to Gidget House, please contact us on 1300 851 758 or via email: contact@gidgethouse.org.au so that we can discuss next steps.

Gidget House does not provide crisis support. If you are in need of urgent help, please call your local hospital or Lifeline on 13 11 14.

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How to refer a patient

Are you a GP who has a patient experiencing perinatal depression and/or anxiety and are wanting to refer a patient to Gidget House? Health professionals, GPs and partner hospitals can visit our Access Services page to refer clients, discover referral template options and access further information.

If you are a GP referring a patient to our service for the first time under Better Access, please complete the online GP Initial Referral and Mental Health Treatment Plan. If you are a Third-Party providing your client's information to access our services, please complete the online Third-Party Referral - For Collaborative Care* form. These are both available from the Health Professional Referral page.

^{*This form is not sufficient for clients to receive our Better Access service; a GP referral and Mental Health Treatment Plan will still be required.}

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Testimonials

"My psychologist from Gidget House was my life saviour through this hard time. She was there for myself and for my family and I will always have a special place in my heart for her. The assistance Gidget House offers to families that are struggling is priceless."

Sally
Gidget House Client

"Expanding the Gidget Foundation Australia footprint across the greater community is incredibly important, it’s the ability to reach more perinatal, expectant, and new parents that may be struggling and often do so in silence. Bringing the incredible staff and services of Gidget House to the community of the Northern Beaches allows even more families access to compassionate, holistic care in a safe space."

Tara Rushton
Gidget Ambassador

"Last year, my 2nd little darling was born in November, coincidently the day Gidget House was opened in Dubbo. After some seriously hard months juggling my two kids, a visit to the GP had me diagnosed with postnatal depression.

I felt a huge sense of relief just being diagnosed, and she promptly referred me to Gidget Foundation Australia.

I only ended up having one face to face session with the lovely, kind, and talented Clinician at Gidget House Dubbo. Then COVID life hit and we had some more telehealth sessions over video from her house to mine.

She was fantastic to talk to and my life and my whole family’s life is richer because of this critical help."

Joanne
Gidget House Client

“Last year I saw a Mum of two young children as a patient. She had a toddler and a newborn and in her words “everything had unravelled”.

She was feeling overwhelmed, anxious, cranky, frustrated, depressed, that she wasn’t coping well, feeling that she “couldn’t remember when she last felt happy” and that she was having “no good days”. I was very concerned about her – to the point where, (with her permission), I rang her mother to engage a team to support her.

I called Gidget House and was very fortunate to be able to get a cancellation appointment for her the next day.

With wonderful supportive counselling, advice and strategies from her psychologist at Gidget House, regular follow up with myself, a period of medication and great family support she made a rapid improvement and I was delighted to hear her report her improvement – she felt she was coping better, her low mood and anxiety had greatly improved, she was less harsh on herself, she was getting out of the house more to exercise, see friends and go to play group, she felt more connected to the baby and was enjoying motherhood and her kids much more.

I was very grateful to Gidget House for their brilliant and very supportive care of her."

‍Dr Rebecca Overton
GP, Lindfield