In this SAFE SPACE episode, Jess sits down with Steph Trethewey to explore what it’s really like to be a rural mum, isolated, without support, and raising a newborn in the middle of nowhere.

Former TV journalist Steph left her high-profile career behind to raise a family on a remote Tasmanian farm, but what followed was a brutal mental health spiral into postnatal depression. Cut off from her community, career, and sense of identity, she found herself deeply unravelling, an experience shared by many rural mothers across Australia.

In this powerful conversation, Steph shares the unseen toll of rural motherhood, including staggering statistics: over 70% of rural mums say isolation is the hardest part of parenting, and half don’t have access to a mother’s group. This is a must-hear episode about resilience, breaking down, and the strength it takes to ask for help.

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LINKS:

Out of Steph’s darkness came Motherland, a community for bush mums that has became a lifeline for rural women across Australia.
Listen to the Motherland Australia Podcast here
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CREDITS:
Host: Jessica Rowe
Guest: Steph Trethewey
Executive Producer: Nic McClure
Audio Producer: Nat Marshall
Digital Content Producer: Zoe Panaretos

The Jess Rowe Big Talk Show acknowledges the Gadigal people, Traditional Custodians of the land on which we recorded this podcast, and pay our respects to their Elders past, present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders peoples here today.

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