Women and wellbeing
How do we recognise stress, anxiety and emotional strain in ourselves and the women around us?
Evidence & Community Insights
Useful evidence, translated into everyday language.
Australian research on women's mental health, culture, relationships and finding support.
Evidence made useful
Mental health matters at every stage of womanhood.
Here we explore research relevant to women across different stages of life, including women from multicultural and refugee backgrounds. We look at mental health, cultural identity, relationships and knowing where to find support.
Culture and conversation
How can we talk about mental health when family expectations, language or stigma make it difficult?
Relationships and support
How can we recognise unhealthy or unsafe relationships, and know where to turn for support?
What Australian research tells us
Why these conversations matter.
These findings help explain why mental health education needs to be relevant, respectful and easier to access. They describe Australian research, not outcomes from Palm Tree participants.
10%
of Australian women aged 15 and over reported very high psychological distress in 2025. This measures distress, not mental health diagnoses.
38%
of Australian women aged 15 and over said they always or often felt rushed for time in 2025.
23%
of Australian women had experienced physical or sexual violence from an intimate partner since age 15. This latest national prevalence estimate comes from the 2021 to 2022 ABS Personal Safety Survey, as reported by AIHW in February 2026.
Sources: Australian Bureau of Statistics, General Social Survey 2025 (released 6 May 2026); Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Intimate Partner Violence (updated 24 February 2026, based on 2021 to 2022 survey data).
Why culture and access matter
Victorian research with migrant and refugee women describes how language, cultural expectations, discrimination and unfamiliar support systems can affect mental health and access to care. These are research insights, not a national prevalence estimate for multicultural women.
Source: Multicultural Centre for Women's Health, Building Bridges research (2022 to 2023).
What this means for Palm Tree
We make space for practical conversations about mental health, womanhood, family responsibilities, relationships, safety and seeking help. Our approach reflects the Australian Government's National Health Literacy Framework (2026), which calls for trustworthy information that people can find, understand and use.
What we check in our learning
We ask whether people understood the information, found the examples relevant, felt respected, could choose how to take part and know a useful next step. We use feedback to record what needs to change.
Looking for something practical now?
Browse the Resource Library for guides you can read, download and share.