Gidget House supports expectant and new parents at Merrylands

At Stockland Merrylands, we have partnered with Gidget Foundation Australia to support expectant and new parents by opening the first Gidget House in Western Sydney. Almost 100,000 Australians experience perinatal depression and anxiety (PNDA) every year, equating to one in five mums and one in ten dads. Gidget House provides free counselling and psychological services to new parents who are experiencing PNDA, and the partnership aligns with our strategic objective of supporting the health and wellbeing of our customers and communities.

Gidget House employs local psychologists, including specialists proficient in languages other than English, to help meet the needs of the Merrylands community, which comprises people of more than 120 nationalities. At the opening in August 2018, Stockland representatives joined Gidget Foundation Australia CEO, Arabella Gibson, and Ambassador and former PNDA sufferer, Antoinette Lattouf, to officially open Gidget House with NSW Minister for Health and Medical Research, the Hon. Brad Hazzard MP.

Ms Lattouf, a journalist who grew up in Merrylands, said: “It is a really valuable and important service for local families, especially those who would otherwise struggle to pay for specialist psychological counselling. Speaking about mental health issues remains taboo among many different cultural groups and hopefully Gidget House can help to break the stigma with the support of psychologists who have language and cultural understanding,”

Partnering with Gidget House enables us to provide a valuable community service to our customers that enhances health and wellbeing in the community. Community development initiatives driven by local centres such as Stockland Merrylands are integral to our work in creating thriving communities, part of our purpose of creating a better way to live.