Perinatal Mental Health Needs Assessment: Healthy Minds Healthy Lives Partnership
Client: Healthy Minds Healthy Lives Partnership (commissioned by Darling Downs West Moreton PHN)
Status: Completed July 2025
Background
Healthy Minds Healthy Lives is a regional mental health and suicide prevention partnership led by Darling Downs and West Moreton PHN. The partnership brings together primary care, hospital and community mental health providers to improve mental health and wellbeing outcomes. Beacon Strategies was engaged to undertake a needs assessment focused on perinatal mental health.
Approach
We completed a substantial policy review to ground the work in national and state direction. We engaged with primary care providers, perinatal mental health care providers, community service providers and tertiary health services, as well as service users within the community. While we did not engage directly with First Nations communities, young parents or people from CALD backgrounds, the assessment drew on existing literature and datasets to reflect known disparities.
We delivered a comprehensive needs assessment that included an overview of the policy environment, a summary of risk factors, prevalence and impact on parents, infants and the community, together with national, state and local data analysis, stakeholder engagement insights and a comprehensive overview of local knowledge.
Outcome
The deliverable was a detailed Perinatal Mental Health Needs Assessment Report. The report consolidates data and insights into a single reference point that can be used to guide future planning and service responses across the Darling Downs and West Moreton regions. The document provides a foundation for decision-making and shared understanding among partners.
Link to our vision of ‘a more impactful social purpose sector’:
This work contributes to our vision by supporting a regional partnership to understand and respond to unmet needs in perinatal mental health. It promotes data-informed decision-making and creates a platform for coordinated, place-based action to improve outcomes for parents, infants and families.
Explore more of our work
Beacon Strategies supports PHNs and HHSs to understand community needs, strengthen service planning, and respond with targeted, evidence-informed action. Explore more of our work in Health Planning here.