Mums of the Hills

03/11/2026

Cheers to this month's businesses

We've heard from so many of you about just how tough things are financially right now, and our local businesses are certainly feeling the pinch too.

Yet these businesses are so much more than the products and services they offer. They're part of the glue that holds our communities together. They create jobs, support local families, sponsor community events and contribute to the places we love calling home.

Throughout the month, we've been showcasing some of the wonderful businesses in our MOTHs Business Directory. What makes them especially amazing in our eyes is that, even when times are tough, they're choosing to support MOTHs too. Their contributions help us keep doing what we do for our community.

So, when you're looking for a product or service, please consider checking our Business Directory first. Supporting local businesses is one of the simplest ways we can support each other, and right now, that matters more than ever.

Visit our directory here:
https://www.mumsofthehills.com.au/directory

Send a message to learn more

24/10/2026

UPDATE!
I’m officially a pearant! 🍐😂

A week or two weeks ago I posted about asking MOTHs for help pollinating my pear tree. People suggested paintbrushes, a bee costume etc… Well, we have fruit!

Thank you to everyone who offered advice, pollen and questionable fashion choices. Apparently it takes a village to raise a pear. 🐝

23/10/2026

On behalf of the Mums of the Hills in Melbourne’s Dandenong and Yarra Ranges, I’ve lit a candle for Helen Haines MP, her family, friends, colleagues and the Indi community. We’re holding you in our thoughts tonight and the days to come.

20/10/2026

I’ve been sitting with the news from Wangaratta, and my heart is heavy.

Our thoughts are with Helen Haines MP, her family, her colleagues and the Indi community who love her. I’m hoping with everything I have for Helen’s recovery, and thinking about everyone who is waiting, supporting and holding each other up right now.

I know many of you are feeling this too. One of our members gave me some advice tonight that I’d like to pass on: be gentle with yourselves. If the news is weighing on you, it’s okay to step away from it.

There will be time for questions and answers. For now though we hold onto hope that Helen recovers, supported by her family, her colleagues and her community.

17/10/2026

$8,000 a year. And they’ve never made a claim.

That’s what one local of our MOTHs community told us they’re now paying for home insurance, following a 62% increase over four years.

Sadly they’re not alone. When we asked local families about their experiences with home insurance, we heard about soaring premiums, fewer insurers willing to provide cover, and even families discovering they’d been left uninsured.

For those of us living in the Hills, where storms, bushfires and falling trees are part of the reality of where we live, this is deeply concerning.

We’re interested to know whether things are getting worse.

Have your home insurance premiums increased significantly? Are you finding it harder to get cover?

You don’t need to share your insurer or personal financial details. We’re interested in understanding what’s happening across our community.

Read the experiences shared with us here:
https://www.mumsofthehills.com.au/news/insurance

16/10/2026

** SOUND ON **
A DAY IN THE LIFE OF RUNNING MUMS OF THE HILLS

I've been meaning to do a post like this since.... forever! Many people ask what I actually do all day running MOTHs/MOTHs charity? So last Friday I made an effort to video what I could...when I remembered.

Safe to say, no two days are ever quite the same, but you're guaranteed it will be on a Friday when it's my day off from my other amazing (paid $) community position.

So... one minute I'm wrangling candidates for our upcoming VIC election Candidates Forum (uhum... night of Nov 15.. be there ... online... in your jimmy jammies), the next I'm at the hub discussing research opportunities. Then I'm making my way through approving hundreds of membership requests, gardening and cleaning the MOTHs Hub or treating a mangy wombat. Throw in a bit of mum's taxi, a catch-up with friends, family time, and some late-night submissions and advocacy work, admin duties and moths committee planning and you've got a fairly typical day.

There's a lot that happens behind the scenes at MOTHs that you probably don't see. The Facebook group is just one tiny part of of my day which is 100% thanks to the incredible MOTHS Admins who go above and beyond for the MOTHs group. Show them some love whenever you can.

In MOTHs charity, there's research, meetings, community programs, grant, advocacy, marketing, promos and a whole lot of conversations with people working to make life better for families in the Hills.

Some days are incredibly productive. Other days I feel like I've spent the entire day answering messages and haven't crossed a single thing off my to-do list.

That's the thing about community work. It's rarely neat, it's certainly never boring, and I wouldn't have it any other way. So here's a little peek behind the curtain. Just an ordinary day juggling MOTHs, motherhood and whatever else the Hills throws my way.

ps... Wally the wombat is a little better but he's ready for another round of treatment.
pps... yes someone literally tried calling me via the messenger chat as I was doing that last bit of audio. You can't make that stuff up!

Send a message to learn more

14/10/2026

WHAT MADE YOU START?

I think it takes a lot of guts and grit to start and grow a business. There's always a "once upon a time" story and personally, I LOVE hearing them. Sometimes it's a lifelong dream, or a difficult experience, a gap that needs filling, or a moment when someone decides to take a leap of faith.

We asked some of our local business owners about their story asking them what made you start? What was the spark? Their answers remind us that behind every small business is a person with a story worth telling.

Arvinder | Healing Minds Therapy
A personal experience with hypnotherapy, a period of reflection during COVID and a desire to help others inspired Arvinder to retrain and take her business in a new direction.

Charlotte | Charlotte Ingram: Naturopath and Remedial Massage Therapist
A difficult pregnancy, birth and postpartum experience at just 21 changed Charlotte's direction. Determined that other mothers deserved better support, she turned her experiences into a passion for helping families.

Jenna | Natural Wellness Centre
A persistent shoulder injury led Jenna to explore Bowen Therapy, setting her on a new professional path. After years of imagining her own wellness space, she took the leap and opened one in Monbulk during the pandemic.

Three women with very different beginnings have each built something shaped by their own experiences, values and hopes for others. Swipe through to meet them and discover what made them start. 👉

We'll be sharing their full stories on the MOTHs website, where you'll get to know the people behind these local businesses.

Now, back to you. We'd love to know: If you've started a business, what was the spark that made you take that first step?

12/10/2026

679,000 women in Victoria.

That's the number the Australian Bureau of Statistics estimated had experienced physical or sexual violence, emotional abuse or economic abuse by a partner they had lived with, at some point since the age of 15.

That's 26% of Victorian women.

It's a figure that deserves attention, but so does what we're actually measuring. Family violence isn't limited to physical violence. Emotional abuse, economic abuse and controlling behaviours can also cause significant harm, sometimes continuing long after a relationship has ended.

During Family Violence Prevention Month, Mums of the Hills is sharing research and information from official sources to help our community better understand the different forms family violence can take.

These figures come from the ABS Personal Safety Survey 2021–22. They are population estimates, not the number of incidents reported to police, and they don't tell us how many women have experienced systems abuse specifically. What they do show is the scale of the broader problem.

We've explored systems abuse, the misuse of legal and other systems to control or harm someone, in our article, A Different Kind of Prevention. We're not the experts, which is why the article includes information from Victoria Police, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Victoria Legal Aid and other specialist sources.

Read the full article:
https://www.mumsofthehills.com.au/news/systems-abuse

If you need support, 1800RESPECT is available on 1800 737 732. In an emergency, call 000.

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics (2023), Personal Safety, Australia, 2021–22.

09/10/2026

Family violence doesn't always end when a relationship does. It's Family and Domestic Violence Prevention Month and we're looking at a form of violence just starting to acknowledged.

We often think of separation as the point at which someone can begin to move on from an abusive relationship. But for some people, the abuse doesn't stop. It simply takes another form.

One of those forms is systems abuse, where legal processes, courts or other services are misused to continue controlling, threatening or harassing someone. It's something that deserves more attention, particularly when the very systems designed to protect people can be used against them.

We're sharing information from official sources to help our community better understand the different forms family violence can take. We're not legal or family violence experts, and we're certainly not suggesting that every difficult separation or legal dispute involves abuse. However, we DO believe that understanding what systems abuse is, recognising the warning signs and knowing where to find reliable information matters.

We've explored this issue in more detail in our latest article, including research, official guidance and links to specialist support services.

You might not need this information yourself, but someone you know might.

🔗 Read the full article:
https://www.mumsofthehills.com.au/news/systems-abuse

If you or someone you know needs support, contact 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or Safe Steps Victoria on 1800 015 188. In an emergency, call 000.