ForWhen

Connecting new parents to stigma-free support

Yesterday

Struggling with mental health in the wake of a new pregnancy is more common than many realise. One in every five mums, and one in every ten dads, suffer from perinatal depression and anxiety. And yet, myths around pregnancy being a time of mental and emotional wellbeing for parents continue to exist.

The ForWhen helpline is a national navigation service connecting new and expecting parents to non-judgemental mental health support. It was initiated by Karitane, a 100-year-old nonprofit based in NSW that supports parents in the first 2,000 days of their child’s life, based on their deep understanding of the realities of this time and the unmet needs of families and communities.

Karitane approached us to brand, launch, and promote the initiative, normalising perinatal mental health and assuring all Australians that the new helpline would be a readily available source of support whenever new parents find themselves in need.

Today

Through subject matter research and consultation with key sector stakeholders, including lived experience voices, we learnt about collective trends and individual experiences, and synthesised key insights into a brand strategy and narrative to reflect what we had heard about the realities of the perinatal mental health landscape and ForWhen’s place in it.

Born through consultation, the new name – “ForWhen” – is an expression to address stigma and open the door to progress the conversation forward. It reframes receiving support as a matter of when, not if.

ForWhen’s visual identity system reflects non-judgment, acknowledgement of the realities of parenting, and inclusion.

To assure new parents that confident professionals are at the ready to assist, we applied thoughtful colour, mature typography and carefully optimistic, culturally sensitive messaging and imagery. At the centre of the brand is a focus on the parents, without resorting to images of cute babies, toxic positivity, or childish design elements.

We designed a series of brand elements to represent ForWhen’s values, and worked with the Karitane team to refine these to three core elements: Family, Growth and Empowerment. Their variable grid patterns evoke natural and humanistic elements. Deconstructed geometric shapes symbolise the diverse lived experiences of parents and the many service providers connected to the ForWhen network. Finally, the confident yet soft and caring colour palette of forest and lavender hues represents safety, growth and relief.

ForWhen is already having impacts at the sector level, with Karitane’s thought leadership and commitment to a national service creating a rising tide for organisations supporting expectant and new parents. In an industry that was traditionally siloed by state and organisation, ForWhen has strengthened industry connections, built capacity, increased the visibility and credibility of consortium partners, and helped put a spotlight on the importance of increasing sector-wide government funding.

Most importantly, the navigation service has contributed to greater public awareness of the prevalence of perinatal mental health challenges throughout Australia, and directly provided assistance to over a thousand expectant and new parents at the time of writing. This is only the beginning.

This work was made at DrawHistory, which is now part of Today

I didn’t realise that when I was calling a helpline I’d get actual, honest to goodness help and I’m blown away. I’ve called a few helplines to have someone to talk to and I am so grateful that I found you and you’ve been able to set me up with ongoing resources.
Jane, QLD Parent