Perinatal depression and anxiety took this alumna to her lowest point — and inspired a powerful new purpose.
Tracey Tyley’s career has taken her from high kicks at the Moulin Rouge to the world of high finance. But what should have been the peak of happiness for the now 39-year-old – starting a family – led to one of her lowest points.
One in five Australian mothers is affected by perinatal depression and anxiety (PNDA) and, as Tracey discovered, it doesn’t discriminate. Even with all the right tools at her disposal – a supportive partner and parents, a community network and access to the right medical professionals – the PNDA that had affected Tracey since the birth of her first child reached breaking point.
“I didn’t actually seek help until six months after having my third child. I just didn’t think it would happen to me,” she says.
“But my story is not unusual, it happens to one in five mums and one in 10 fathers. The numbers are probably much higher – those are the ones who have been recorded as seeking help. So many mums don't seek help. They just suffer in silence and think they have to carry on and end up feeling so alone.”
Tracey with her youngest child Spencer.
Tracey with her youngest child Spencer.
“I didn’t actually seek help until six months after having my third child. I just didn’t think it would happen to me,” she says.
“But my story is not unusual, it happens to one in five mums and one in 10 fathers. The numbers are probably much higher – those are the ones who have been recorded as seeking help. So many mums don't seek help. They just suffer in silence and think they have to carry on and end up feeling so alone.”
Tracey with her youngest child Spencer.
Tracey with her youngest child Spencer.
“I didn’t actually seek help until six months after having my third child. I just didn’t think it would happen to me,” she says.
“But my story is not unusual, it happens to one in five mums and one in 10 fathers. The numbers are probably much higher – those are the ones who have been recorded as seeking help. So many mums don't seek help. They just suffer in silence and think they have to carry on and end up feeling so alone.”
Removing that sense of isolation is at the heart of Tracey’s fourth ‘baby’ – Motherhood Village, a community hub which brings together in-person mental health peer support and services for parents who are struggling.
Her own journey back to health, through the support of the Gidget Foundation, a nationwide charity providing specialist care and free counselling for those dealing with perinatal depression, highlighted a clear service gap in her hometown.
“I noticed that the Gold Coast, even though we're a major city, we didn't have any in-person peer support that’s available in other major cities," Tracey says. "Brisbane, for example, has over three permanent locations that have full time, free, in-person support available to their community. There was nothing like that available here on the Gold Coast. That’s why I started Motherhood Village and took the steps to transition it into a registered charity.”
After a few years of volunteering for the Gidget Foundation and raising awareness in the field of perinatal mental health, sharing her story and participating in research forums, then leaning on her background as a professional accountant and auditor, Tracey established Motherhood Village in early 2023.
Tracey combined her own postpartum mental health experience with accredited training from COPE, The Maternal Mental Health Alliance, and PANDA. She then used this knowledge to facilitate peer support groups for Gold Coast mothers, offering a safe space for connection and support, free of charge. Within a year she knew the unmet demand was much greater than she had imagined, and much broader than perinatal depression and anxiety.
People started seeking support for a variety of parenting struggles including infertility, postpartum psychosis, antenatal anxiety and child loss, so Tracey looked for ways Motherhood Village could connect the dots.
“Our goal is to be a hub – we don’t want to duplicate existing services and that’s why we collaborate so closely with other organisations," she says.
“People can come to us and find a support group that's right for them. And if we don't have that support group as part of our core services, or have a peer leader with that lived experience, we work with another charity who does.
“Sometimes it’s as simple as offering up the space and saying to another charity, ‘We have a need, we have the space, we need you to bring that lived experience and expertise in this issue’.
“We have this incredible network that feels like a big family and we're all looking after the mums together and I just love it. It's so good. But it's challenging.”
“Our goal is to be a hub – we don’t want to duplicate existing services and that’s why we collaborate so closely with other organisations," she says.
“People can come to us and find a support group that's right for them. And if we don't have that support group as part of our core services, or have a peer leader with that lived experience, we work with another charity who does.
“Sometimes it’s as simple as offering up the space and saying to another charity, ‘We have a need, we have the space, we need you to bring that lived experience and expertise in this issue’.
“We have this incredible network that feels like a big family and we're all looking after the mums together and I just love it. It's so good. But it's challenging.”
“We have this incredible network that feels like a big family.”
Tracey’s shift from ballet shoes to balance sheets, first as an auditor and now a CEO, may seem an unlikely pivot, but both require a steely resolve, resilience and flexibility.
“It’s the same mindset – you need to have that driven, motivated mindset. Once I set a goal, it’s about how do I get there and making sure I do that in the very best way for myself and those around me,” she says. “I never want to settle for just a pass, I always want to strive for the distinction and I think I have had that high-achieving work ethic and goal-setting frame of mind since I was young.”
It’s how, during high school, she ended up in the same swimming development squad as Olympic stars Grant Hackett, Daniel Kowalski and Giaan Rooney.
“Ballet was my ‘treat sport’ - I did one class a week and I just loved it,” she says. “One day we were all getting ready to get in the pool and I was doing plies instead of my swimming warm-up. I wished out loud that I could dance seven days a week instead of swimming. It was actually Daniel Kowlaski who said to me, ‘Well, why don’t you?’. I went home and told my parents I wanted to give up swimming and pursue dance.”
Tracey says the spirit and passion she brought to all her pursuits was nurtured at Bond where she studied commerce and accounting as a mature-age student after retiring from dancing in 2012.
The intimate classes and access to her lecturers was a far cry from her first tertiary experience completing distance study while dancing on cruise ships.
"I had to take my exams at the universities in whatever country we landed in, so there I was with the stress of trying to find the local university in Italy so that I could pass my assessments,” she says.
Bond’s sandstone campus and the multicultural make-up of the student body made her feel right at home after so many years abroad.
“But what I loved most about Bond was that everybody there was so dedicated to excelling. They wanted to be better people and wanted to achieve great things. Everyone was really motivated and committed to doing well. I loved the smaller class sizes and that more intimate feel that Bond gave. It was a real community approach.”
Published on Wednesday, 7 May, 2025.
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