E tūtaki ana ngā kapua o te rangi, kei runga, kei runga te Mangoroa e kōpae pū ana | The clouds in the sky close over, but above them spreads the milky way

One woman, Rosie Smith, saw a gap and had a vision.

There was no national organisation for perinatal mental health in Aotearoa New Zealand.

A brainstorming day was held in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington in June 2009.

This was attended by 30 representatives connected with perinatal distress issues from around Aotearoa New Zealand.

A working group was formed and the Perinatal Mental Health NZ Trust was born on 3 Feb 2011.

Thank you to Rosie Smith, Susan Goldstiver, Harald Breiding-Buss, Donne McKelvey, Helen Ferguson, Denise Garcia for having the insight and ideas which enabled PMHNZ to become a registered Charity on 13 April 2011.

Thank you to all these amazing people who have donated their time over the past 10 years on the volunteer board:

Rosie Smith, Denise Garcia, Laurette Longman, Kathryn Jenner, Justine Pack-England, Dr Kirsty Furness, Brendon Smith, Nimisha Waller, Jan Klausen, Kiri Hannifin, May Zhang, Bice Awan, Dr Carrie Barber, Leigh Bredenkamp, Joanne Rama, Clare Barnett, Dr Rona Carroll, Dr Mathanki Vivekandanda.

On 15 October 2015, PMHNZ rebranded to ‘PADA – Perinatal Anxiety & Depression Aotearoa | Te mate Tuatea, me te mate Pōuri o Aotearoa’ and shifted in to the office in Johnsonville, Wellington.

Thanks to the amazing staff who work tirelessly behind the scenes; Treena Cooper, Denise Graham, Stefanie Dixon, Sharon Vaka, Liora Noy.

And past staff, Melanie Byrne, Olivia Neveu, Maka Bgoni, Lesley Withell, Gillian Ransom.

PADA has held 47 training seminars around Aotearoa New Zealand which is training over 2000 health care providers who are supporting parents during pregnancy, childbirth and early parenting.

Watch the full video HERE, or go to our PADA Video Gallery for this and all our video resources

💙
💚
💜

E tūtaki ana ngā kapua o te rangi, kei runga, kei runga te Mangoroa e kōpae pū ana.

The clouds in the sky close over, but above them spreads the milky way.