“My mum was the most caring and beautiful person and I didn’t get long enough with her — she unfortunately passed away when I was 19 from cancer,” Ms Leeson said.
But finding a group of women in similar situations has made a big difference.
Ms Leeson came across not-for-profit organisation Motherless Daughters Australia (MDA) while scrolling on social media and decided to attend one of the organisation’s events.
“I cannot stress how significant it is, and when you lose that connection, it’s just horrible … it’s been a really big challenge and I think it’s a grief like no other,” Ms Leeson said.
“It’s just lovely having that community to be able to … really relate with what’s happening for you.”
At an MDA high tea, she met co-founder, Danielle Snelling, who created the organisation to support and connect women after the loss of her own mother at 23.
“To be able to provide a platform that does connect women where they feel seen and heard, is really rewarding and humbling, and in many ways, a really beautiful legacy to my mum,” Ms Snelling said.
Providing support network for bereaved Australians
According to MDA, almost 4 million women around the country have lost their mothers, and about 1.2 million of those women experienced mother loss before the age of 44.
Ms Snelling said MDA provided a peer support model.
“We offer a range of both in-person and online initiatives to connect and unite women and girls who have experienced that same loss to connect and develop meaningful connections and friendships, and a network of support,” she said.
She said the impact of mother loss was profound and lifelong, and hoped further research would help women experiencing it.
“We found there was a real gap in research that covered off the Australian landscape of mother loss grief and we really needed that to help shape and direct our organisation to ensure that we are able to respond and tailor our support to the needs of women in our community,” Ms Snelling said.
Now, the organisation has teamed up with researchers from Deakin University to formally study mother loss.
Researcher Elesha Parigi said while there was little research into the impact of mother loss specifically, the effect of significant grief was well-documented.
“There’s a higher risk of impact on physical health and psychological health, higher diagnosis of depression and anxiety, there’s an impact on self-esteem, school attendance and school academic performance,” she said.
“It can also impact on social outcomes and relationships, and also, there’s a high risk of developing high-risk coping strategies such as substance abuse and suicidal ideation.”
She said she hoped the study would help the researchers and MDA better understand the impact of mother loss and how to best support women dealing with their grief.
