Volunteer Simone Short has been recognised for her work in starting the Gidget Foundation, named in honour of her late sister
Simone Short, co-founder and chair of the Gidget foundation, has devoted herself to volunteer work for two decades, raising awareness for perinatal depression and anxiety (PNDA). Now, she has been recognised as a Warringah Mall Westfield Local Hero finalist.
“I grew up in Terrey Hills, I had all my Santa visits at Warringah Mall,” says Simone. “It’s somewhere that I’ve always been going to. And so it’s been really nice to have that opportunity to shine a light on the work we do.”
Westfield Local Heroes is an awards program that recognises individuals who make significant contributions to their local area, and offers a $20,000 community grant to the winner’s organisation. Simone, who lives in Mosman, is one of three Warringah Mall finalists and has been nominated for her work at the Gidget House in Frenchs Forest, creating a space to provide accessible care for expectant parents and their loved ones. Services at the Gidget House are free, and can be accessed through referral from a GP.
Simone hopes that being a finalist can help raise awareness for Gidget’s mission. “We’ve found at all of our Gidget Houses that when you launch them, there’s a spike in awareness in the local community,” she explained. “But then, like most things, that initial excitement can taper off. And you really need to get out into the community and talk to people and let them know that a program is available.
“I saw that firsthand while I was down at Westfield, spending time talking to people. There were a number of people who were new parents or expectant parents that didn’t know about the work we do. It heightened my excitement about the possibility of increasing awareness in this community.”
Gidget Foundation was titled after the nickname of Simone’s sister, who passed due to PNDA, highlighting the lack of support services available at the time. “Having gone through such a devastating loss like that, her closest friends and my other sister and I were really determined to try and make sure that what had happened to her wouldn’t happen to others.” The gerbera in their logo is also a memorial to Gidget, as well as an acknowledgement that ‘not everything is perfect, particularly when it comes to parenting.’
Starting as a fundraising group for ‘organisations that had programs addressing this illness,’ Gidget opened its first Gidget House in North Sydney. “We recognised straight away that we had a lot of work to do because we always had such a significant waitlist, and we still do now at all locations.” After piloting an initial program, the Gidget House initiative was then duplicated and rolled out to other locations through fundraisers and grant funding, with Simone noting they were ‘only were able to employ anyone as a team member once we received a grant, because all of the funds that we’d raised historically were going straight into trying to initiate programs.’
Simone Short (left) at the Gidget Lunch earlier this year
Should she win the community grant, Simone, who lives in Mosman, has said the money will go towards training within the Northern Beaches Gidget House, particularly focusing on screening and earlier intervention and support. Furthermore, she also plans to run a community campaign raising awareness for the Gidget programs and resources.
These resources spread beyond just supporting mums, with Gidget having resources for all parents and their loved ones who support them. “We don’t want anyone to feel that they can’t access our program, knowing that one in five mums struggle and one in 10 dads struggle.” Simone said. “Also, we’ve got some diverse community working groups that meet quarterly and advise us around support for parenting with disability, First Nations people, and LGBTQIA+ communities. So, we try to ensure that everything we do feels accessible to anyone who needs it.”
The winners of the Westfield Local Heroes community grants will be announced on 14 October, but Simone is glad to have Gidget acknowledged, regardless of whether she wins. “To me, it’s always about raising awareness. Because that’s something that we were lacking all those years ago.”
For more details on Gidget’s work, see gidgetfoundation.org.au
