Village Voices – Lived Experience Stories from Our Village
Village Voices is Motherhood Village’s lived experience storytelling initiative. Here, mothers and parents share what they experienced during pregnancy, postpartum, or early parenthood - and how our Motherhood Village support helped them through mental health challenges, isolation, and supported them in finding their community - their village.
Many parents tell us they were nervous, unsure, or afraid to reach out for support. Reading another mother’s real experience can be the moment someone realises: “It’s not just me,” and “It’s okay to ask for help.”
By sharing your story (if you choose to), you may help another parent feel seen, reduce stigma, and take that first step toward support.
You are only invited to share what feels safe and comfortable — you do not need to share your name, photos, or identify your baby or children.
Our Why
How Motherhood Village uses your story
With your consent, we may share stories (or short excerpts) to:
encourage other parents to reach out for perinatal mental health support
raise awareness and reduce stigma across our community
advocate for improved perinatal and early parenthood mental health services
demonstrate impact for reporting, funding, and sustainability of free services
Note
We will always follow your preferences about anonymity, wording, and what is included.
What to Share
If it helps, you can write about:
what you were experiencing (e.g., anxiety, depression, intrusive thoughts, grief, overwhelm, isolation)
what led you to reach out (or who helped refer you to our support)
what Motherhood Village support felt like for you - your experience of our support groups
what changed for you (even small shifts matter)
any message you’d want another mum/parent to hear
Gentle reminder:
You don’t need perfect words. You don’t need to share details you’d prefer to keep private. Your story can be short, simple, and still meaningful.
Your story. Your choice.
You can share anonymously or use a pseudonym.
You do not need to share photos.
You do not need to name or identify your baby or children.
You can set boundaries about what we include.
You can withdraw consent at any time.
Ready to share your story?
If you’d like to contribute to Village Voices, we’d be honoured to hear from you. Your experience may be exactly what another parent needs to read today.