When Stephanie Lewis' baby was born, she had no network of other mothers to share experiences with.
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"I live 230 kilometres from Katherine on a cattle station but knew no one within 500 kilometres that had young kids," the young mum said.
A national charity that offers online mother's groups for women living in remote locations across Australia stepped in, and via the Motherland Village program Ms Lewis and her new baby received critical support.
"Motherland Village gave me a wonderful bunch of rural mothers who understood the day-to-day highs and lows of being isolated and farming life with kids," she said.
"They're women to bounce ideas around with, vent and share our wins."
Now the charity has partnered with Katherine Hospital to offer a scholarship program enabling rural mums across the region to access its program for free.
With funding made possible from the Humpty Dumpty Foundation, the five year partnership will unlock 50 scholarship places for Northern Territory mums to participate in the Motherland Village program.
Rural mothers in the Big Rivers region will be able to directly apply for a scholarship through Katherine Hospital maternity and child health referral streams.
Motherland Village is Australia's first online rural mothers group program that connects women to their own personalised support group via a six week virtual program. The initiative launched in September 2021, with nearly 300 rural women from across Australia having participated in the program so far.
"We are so grateful to the Humpty Dumpty Foundation for facilitating this partnership which will ensure our services can reach the most vulnerable rural women in the Katherine region," Motherland founder and CEO Stephanie Trethewey.
Motherland's mission is to reduce isolation and improve mental health outcomes for rural mothers.
The Motherland Village program facilitates connections and enables participants to build meaningful connections and friendships with rural mums from around the country, in the comfort of their own home.
Ms Trethewey said the program had improved the mental health of 95 per cent of participants who noted that they were struggling before joining the program. Motherland Village had also improved loneliness for 85 per cent of rural mums who joined, she said.
"Motherland's work supporting women in rural and remote areas and providing a safe community for them to share about the trials and joys of motherhood is amazing and Humpty, through the generous donation of Katherine local Bob Holt, is so very pleased to be a supporter," Humpty Dumpty Foundation CEO Claire Reaney said.
While Motherland Village focuses heavily on supporting rural mums with children aged up to three years of age, the innovative program also offers online mothers groups for rural women with children aged four to ten years and 11 to18 years old.
"Access to connection for all mothers is vital, but it's particularly important for mothers who are physically isolated from their communities, making virtual programs such as Motherland so valuable to families who live in our remote region," Renae Daniel, Director of Nursing and Midwifery at Katherine Hospital, said.
"At Katherine Hospital, we are looking forward to supporting more mothers in the Big Rivers region to access support through Motherland Village."
