About Us

Welcome to The Fourth Connection.

We are a Canberra-based not-for-profit that helps new mothers to maintain social connection during the first 12 weeks of motherhood (the ‘fourth trimester’). We focus on the needs of single mothers as they are at higher risk of social isolation and loneliness.

Our Vision
All mothers have access to appropriate social support in the early stages of motherhood (also known as the ‘fourth trimester’).

Our Mission
Provide social support and companionship to single mothers during the postpartum period to reduce loneliness and social isolation.

Our Values

Integrity: we do the right thing for the right reasons, even when no one is watching.

Respect: we recognise the dignity and rights of all and we make time to listen, to be courteous, and to be responsive.

Compassion: we are compassionate towards our program participants, our volunteers and our supporters

Ethical: we are committed to being ethical and professional, making cost effective use of time, skill and finances

Simplicity: our approach is simple and straightforward

Our Services

We provide companionship and social support to single mothers in the Canberra region during the fourth trimester (from birth to 12 weeks post-partum).

Our friendly volunteers provide support through phone and video calls. In future, we also hope to offer in-home visits. Our services are provided on a voluntary basis and there is no cost to our participants.

We support participants from their expected due date (or from birth if bub arrives early!) until the baby is 12 weeks old. Participants are able to self-refer to our services at any time during their pregnancy and during the 12 weeks after birth.

To request support, please use the request form below.

What we do not do

Our services are focused on companionship and social support. We do not provide:

• household assistance (e.g., house cleaning, or grocery shopping);
• childminding services;
• mental health services; or
• health checks for mother or baby.

Eligibility

You are eligible to access our services if you are:

• A single mother or mother-to-be;
• Pregnant or with a child who is less than 12 weeks old; and
• Living in the ACT

Please fill out the below form to request our services. After we have received your form, we will be in touch for an intake discussion.

Volunteer with us

If you would like to volunteer with us, please get in touch!

To volunteer with us, you will need to:

• Be more than 18 years old;
• Have a Working with Vulnerable People card; and
• Be up-to-date with whooping cough (pertussis) and COVID-19 vaccinations

Attributes that we are looking for in our volunteers are:

• a genuine empathy and understanding of motherhood;
• good communication and listening skills;
• non-judgemental;
• uphold integrity, respect, and confidentiality; and
• ability to commit for 12 weeks at a time (to provide consistency of support to participants).