Postpartum Care Project
Where mothers are held, wisdom is remembered, and the threads of culture and care are re-woven for future generations.
The Gulagbi Foundation is preparing to launch an innovative and deeply rooted program in Far North Queensland – providing culturally appropriate, trauma informed and holistic postpartum care. This project is designed to honour and restore the wisdom of traditional postpartum care, while bridging it with modern maternal health services to create a holistic, culturally respectful support system for mothers and families.
At its heart, the project recognises that caring for mothers is central to caring for communities. Too often, women in regional and remote areas face gaps in healthcare, isolation, and the loss of traditional knowledge around birth and postpartum recovery. This initiative responds by weaving together community, culture, and care in a way that uplifts mothers and strengthens family and community resilience.
The program will encompass four key streams of care:
Bodywork & Physical Support – nurturing recovery through pregnancy and postnatal massage, pelvic alignment, exercise classes, and traditional healing practices.
Emotional & Mental Health Support – mother’s circles, yarning spaces, creative expression, and rites of passage to process grief, fear, and transition into motherhood.
Education & Empowerment – practical guidance in birth preparation, postpartum planning, breastfeeding, infant care, and family inclusion.
Health, Wellbeing & Continuity of Care – access to private midwives, lactation consultants, doulas, nutritionists, natural therapies, meal services, and support in hospital for women with complications.
A vital aspect of the project will be cultural continuity and ceremony. Local elders, grandmothers, and village aunties will be invited to share stories, wisdom, and ceremony, ensuring that ancestral knowledge is revived and passed down. In this way, mothers are not only cared for but also reconnected with lineage, land, and community.
The project also looks ahead to building a sustainable local workforce. By training and mentoring doulas, bodyworkers, and peer supporters, the program will ensure that women in Far North Queensland have access to care led by trained and skilled women within their own communities.
Through grants, partnerships, and community fundraising, the Gulagbi Foundation is committed to making this vision a reality. This project will create a safe, nourishing, and empowering environment where mothers are truly held – body, mind, and spirit.
This is not just about postpartum care. It is about reweaving the threads of motherhood, culture, and community for generations to come.
