Mama Base Therapeutic Services
Connection
Care
Community
Mama Base is committed to strengthening relationships between family members and amongst community. Mama Base is committed to forming a safe base for parents to seek support, facilitating joyful and confident parenting during the perinatal period.
Mama Base supports people from the time they are planning for conception right through to postpartum and into parenthood.
Our Mama Base Therapeutic Team offerings
-
Funded partly with Medicare Rebates (10 x 50 minute sessions per calendar year), Private and NDIS
Preparation for & Adjustment too Parenthood
Infant Development
Parental Mental Health &Wellbeing
Parent & Child Attachment
Birth Trauma
Perinatal Grief & Loss
Parent Support
Child Development & Behaviour Concerns
-
Funded partly by Medicare ( 3 x 30 minute rebated sessions), Private, or NDIS.
Mama Base Therapeutic Team Offers the following as a part of this service;
- Postnatal Needs Assessment:
The PNA aims to provide education around the range of support options available during the perinatal period and how these may benefit you during the perinatal period and beyond.
Assess the need for specific supports using a set range of screening based questions from a range of different health professions.
- Psychology Intake Consultation
- Waitlist Support: At Mama Base Therapeutic Services, we recognise the importance of timely engagement after the brave step of reaching out. We endeavour to keep our waitlist as short as possible, but for clients who are awaiting their first appointment with a psychologist, we offer a Waitlist Support option.
Waitlist Support is a safe space to offload emotions and stories that are weighing heavily. Our Intake and Holistic Support Worker, facilitates non-clinical phone support sessions - a time to express, to reflect, to be heard, and to be met with warmth and understanding. Waitlist Support can also include exploring practical supports that may be of assistance prior to engaging in psychological therapy.
- Preparing for parenthood 3 part series (Including information about topics such as Matrescence, The Perfect Mother Myth, Coping with Change)
For further information, please contact:
-
Meet the Team
-
Rachel Bridge
PSYCHOLOGIST, AUTHOR, DIRECTOR & FOUNDER OF MAMA BASE ILLAWARRA
In person & Telehealth Sessions Available
Introducing Rachel, Mama Base Director, Founder - Perinatal, child & family psychologist - Children's Book Author - Free Lance Writer brings you our 2025 Conference
Rachel has been working with children and their families for ten plus years. As a mama of three, Rachel describes herself as a person who loves to love, and values strong, honest and authentic connections with others.
Through Rachel's work of sharing in the journey of motherhood, as well as her own experiences as a mother, she has become deeply passionate about working to improve parental wellbeing whilst also fostering infant and child development.
Rachel supports families therapeutically through her private practice at Mama Base Psychology, which is part of a collective of perinatal services known as Mama Base Illawarra, of which she is the founding and director.
Through Mama Base, Rachel works collaboratively with local community organisations to provide holistic and evidence-based support to families. Rachel is dedicated to connecting practitioners who work in this space. Acknowledging that these practitioners and services function as a safe base for the families of our community. Rachel is passionate about ensuring these practitioners also have a safe base and are supported. Professional Development Conferences, Peer Supervision and Small Group Mentoring are a few of the ways Rachel is working to honour this.
-
Alana Moore
PSYCHOLOGIST
In Person & Telehealth Sessions Available
Alana is a warm, compassionate and supportive therapist. She has been working as a Perinatal and Infant Psychologist for more than 10 years.
Alana completed the Graduate Certificate in Perinatal and Infant Mental Health at the NSW Institute of Psychiatry while working full-time demonstrating her passion and commitment to supporting the wellbeing of parents, infants and their families.
Alana works within a biopsychosociocultural model. Her therapy is largely influenced by attachment theory and family systems theory.
Alana aims to provide a safe and nurturing environment for caregivers to navigate the journey to parenthood, including those that have had problems with conception, grief and loss, birth trauma, adjustment to parenthood, antenatal/postnatal depression and parent-infant relationship issues. -
Janelle Gullan
OCCUPATIONAL THERAPIST
Janelle is a Sunshine Coast based occupational therapist who supports women to get out of their head and connect to their body to support occupational engagement and participation throughout mothering and feminine transitions.
With an integrated focus on pelvic health, mental health and menstrual cycles, she explores how matrescence and rite of passage impact roles, relationships, identity and joy. Her work brings together wellbeing for the head, heart and womb using a range of educational, psychological, somatic and soft tissue approaches.
Janelle will be offering tele-health support for our Mama Base Community. Janelle also visits Wollongong to support women and mothers in the Illawarra.
Janelle offers an energetic and passionate approach to the sharing of her in-depth knowledge and experience. -
Meg Helson
PSYCHOLOGIST
In person & Telehealth Sessions Available
Meg Helson is a Psychologist and Associate member of the Australian Psychological Society (Assoc. MAPS). Meg has a lived experience with infertility, multiple miscarriage and IVF, and is passionate about helping individuals and their families to cope with infertility, miscarriage, child loss and its associated anxiety and grief; as well as a broad range of other perinatal presentations.
-
Courtney Brown
Telehealth Sessions Available
Compassionate and integrative Registered Psychologist with several years' experience working in the field of mental health, supporting children, youth, and adults through evidence-based, trauma-informed, and holistic care.
Deeply committed to person-centered practice that honors the mind-body connection and fosters meaningful change. Passionate about perinatal mental health, with a growing focus in this area informed by both clinical work and lived experience — supporting parents through the complex and transformative journey into parenthood.
Referral process
Our fees
Intake Consultation - $130
Individual Mental Health/Psychology Session - $230
Medicare Rebate of between $82.30 and $92.90 applies for clients with a current Mental Health Treatment Plan
NDIS Funded Psychological Intervention - $230
Non Directive Perinatal Counselling and Needs Assessment - $100
Medicare Rebate of $68.45 applies for clients with a current Mental Health Treatment Plan
Reports (cost dependant on length of report)
The therapeutic services provided can be partly funded under Medicare, Private Health, Family & Community Services, and NDIS.
Cancellation policy
Mama Base Psychology kindly asks for 48 hours or more notice of appointment cancellations. This allows us enough time to offer the scheduled time to another client, awaiting service.
For notice of cancellations between 24 and 48 hours notice, a half session fee will be charged,
For notice less than 24 hours, a full session fee will be charged.
Cancellation fees do not qualify for Medicare rebate.