Mental health screening is a routine part of pregnancy care, just like ultrasounds and blood tests. You may be offered a screening questionnaire to complete. This questionnaire can’t be used to diagnose a mental health condition, it will assist you and your maternity care providers to understand if there is an area where you need more support and what support may be the most helpful for you.
These check‑ins help your maternity care provider understand how you are feeling and make sure you are offered support if you need it.
Mental health check‑ins are offered to everyone. It does not matter:
- if you have had mental health concerns before or not
- how you seem during an appointment
- whether you raise concerns yourself.
You do not need to wait for a screening appointment to ask for help.
If you are feeling worried, overwhelmed or not yourself, you can talk to a maternity care provider or seek support at any time.
What these checks involve
Questions about how you’re feeling
You may be asked a few short questions about your mood, stress levels and how you’ve been feeling emotionally. There are no right or wrong answers, the questions are there to help start a conversation and see how you’re going.
Questions about your life and support
You may also be asked about things in your life that can affect emotional wellbeing, such as:
- feeling safe at home
- relationships and support from others
- past or current concerns.
This helps your maternity care provider understand what support might be helpful for you.
Online and translated options
Some questions may be completed online or on a tablet, and translated versions are available. This helps make screening easier and more comfortable for people who prefer to use another language.
You can request an interpreter if you prefer to communicate in a language other than English. Your maternity care provider can arrange this, or you can access an interpreter through Translating and Interpreting Service (TIS National).
The National Relay Service is available to those with hearing impairment or who are deaf.
Learn more
Health and wellbeing self-checks | COPE
Aboriginal culturally safe options
For Aboriginal women, screening can be done in a way that recognises culture, strengths, family, and lived experiences, as well as the impact of past trauma.
Screening tools such as the Kimberly Mum’s Mood Scale and Mt Isa Postnatal Depression Scale are culturally safe screening options for Aboriginal women.
Inclusive and culturally safe wellbeing screening
Inclusive and culturally safe wellbeing screening
Women from multicultural, refugee and asylum seeker backgrounds can experience mental health concerns during pregnancy and early parenting just as often as Australian-born women. However, some women may face additional barriers to getting support, such as language differences, difficulty navigating the health system, concerns about privacy, stigma, discrimination, or worries about their visa or migration status.
If you belong to a community with diverse needs
You have the right to care that is safe, respectful and responsive to your culture, language and experiences.
You can ask your maternity care provider for:
- a professional interpreter
- translated information and resources
- support from a bicultural worker, where available
- help finding culturally safe mental health and wellbeing services.
If you have concerns about your emotional wellbeing, mental health, or the support available to you, speak with your maternity care provider. They can help connect you with services that meet your individual needs.
Learn more
Embrace Multicultural Mental Health - Translated Information