How My Postpartum Loneliness Started a National Movement of Mums

Like many first-time mums I entered the world of motherhood riddled with self-doubt and uncertainty. Becoming a first-time mum in the peak of COVID lockdowns, I felt completely alone, with no one to ask, “is this normal?”.

No mother’s groups. No café catchups. No family support. It was just me and my partner, our very colicky baby and the glossy snapshots of motherhood on my phone screen. Unsurprisingly I spiralled into postnatal depression and wasn’t sure I could crawl out of it.

As the world opened back up, a simple walk and talk with a local mum shifted everything. As we walked and chatted, we both could see how hard we were finding motherhood. Knowing I wasn’t the only mum struggling through the newborn season lifted a huge weight of shame and guilt.

Two years later, when I found myself pregnant again, in a brand new city where I knew no one, I knew I didn’t want to do early motherhood like that again. I didn’t want to just survive postpartum — I wanted to enjoy it! I knew the way to do that was finding local connections to help fill my days with chatter and swapping stories about the chaos of early motherhood.

Despite lockdowns being long gone, I didn’t get a government-assigned mothers group. They don’t do that for second-time mums. I tried online apps but swipe culture made me feel more disconnected. Paid mums groups or classes always came with a price tag I couldn't afford while on maternity leave. All the community services on-offer like playgrounds or rhyme time were focussed on the baby and conversation between mums wasn’t initiated or facilitated. I’d often leave those spaces feeling even lonelier.

90% of mums report feeling lonely after birth, and 64% say they feel completely friendless.

So, I did something that felt both brave and a little desperate. I posted in a local Facebook group asking if any other mums wanted to meet for a walk and coffee. Within hours, dozens of mums had responded, and the first Mum Walk was born, in Mordialloc, Melbourne. It turns out, I wasn’t the only one feeling this way. Every day, local Facebook groups are filled with posts from mums desperate for connection.

Mums who feel let down by traditional services or too intimidated by friendship apps to make the first move. I noticed too many mums falling through the cracks of loneliness.

As I looked into it more, I learnt that 90% of mums report feeling lonely after birth, and 64% say they feel completely friendless. Those numbers broke my heart. This wasn’t just me; it was a generational crisis in connection.

I wasn’t the first mum to start a social walking club while on mat leave, but I noticed why they too often failed or fizzled out. They didn’t have the technology or centralised platform to support them to grow, change and thrive.

So, during my maternity leave, I decided to use my 15 year career in mission-led tech-backed movements to build a solution.

That’s how Mum Walk was born, a mum-led charity running free weekly walks and stay-and-plays across Australia to help solve the motherhood loneliness crisis. We’re on a mission to make sure no mum walks through motherhood alone.

What started as one small post on a Facebook group has grown into a nationwide movement. There are now over 50 Mum Walks happening every week, with more than 500 mums applying to start their own. And it’s working. Our intentionally built program of being out in nature, guaranteed social connection and gentle, postpartum movement is an antidote for mums.

Research shows that walking with others, simple social strolls, are more effective at reducing postnatal depression symptoms than traditional mum groups. And the messages I get from mums each week say it all:

“These weekly walks have changed my entire postpartum experience. Having experienced PPD with my first, having access to the Mum Walk community with my second was a game-changer” — Carrie.

“I didn’t know how much I needed this village.” — Mira.

“This is by far the best way I have made friends as a mum!” — Rhiannon.

At Mum Walk, we believe mums deserve more than being stuck in survival mode. We want to bring the joy back to motherhood and create a space where mums can swap stories, share the load, and build their village one step at a time.

Because motherhood isn’t meant to be done alone.

From the moment I launched Mum Walk I had one non-negotiable: our walks must always be free. I knew that our mission to make sure no mum walks through motherhood alone couldn’t be met if we put a price tag on it.

That meant I had to find brands and businesses who believed in Mum Walk as much as I do to partner with us to keep Mum Walk running (well, walking). Phoebe Simmonds and her team at The Memo got it right away. Since she learned about Mum Walk, she has become our biggest cheerleader and champions our mission so passionately.

“We love our community, we love supporting mums and we love to be able to change the way motherhood is experienced and felt in Australia. What better way to show this than to partner with Mum Walk. We look forward to supporting Mum Walk to offer more free walks to more mums in more communities, so no mum walks alone. It’s important work,” says Simmonds.

The power of this partnership is that Mum Walk can not only continue, but scale our impact to massively too. Our hope is that together we can grow to 100 weekly walks in 2026, impacting tens of thousands of mums across Australia.

The fact that one of my most painful chapters, those long and lonely lockdown days, has turned into something that’s helping mums across Australia still blows me away. I never want another mum to feel the kind of loneliness I once did. My vision for Mum Walk is simple: that every mum who’s ever felt a niggle of loneliness can find her local Mum Walk, push that pram beside another mum, and realise she’s not alone.

FIND YOUR LOCAL MUM WALK