Beyond beds and referrals: Addressing the root causes of women's mental distress

The AAWAA Women’s Advocate · May 28, 2026 · 11m

When governments design mental health strategies, they focus on systems: beds, referral pathways, integration models. But what about the structural conditions actually driving women's mental distress? In this episode, Emma and Amber discuss AAWAA's five submissions to Tasmania's 'Rethink and Beyond' mental health strategy, examining the evidence on male violence, perinatal mental health gaps, the mental health crisis facing girls and young women, the invisibility of women in prison and older women, and the erosion of female-only services. Mental health policy can't fix what it won't name —…