The Royal Society for the Welfare of Mothers and Babies, now commonly known as Tresillian Family Care Centres, was formed in 1918 and incorporated into an ACT of NSW Parliament in 1919, to co-ordinate early childhood and maternal services in New South Wales. The Society was formed in response to the high death rate of children under the age of five years. Tresillian is now the largest early parenting service in Australia, providing parenting advice, support and treatment to families in the early years as well as providing leadership and support for other agencies and organisations.

Tresillian operates from twelve sites across NSW, which include Canterbury, Nepean, Willoughby & Wollstonecraft in metropolitan Sydney; and our regional centres in Lismore, Dubbo, Broken Hill, Taree, Coffs Harbour, Queanbeyan and Wagga Wagga; one centre in the ACT in Curtin; and one service in VIC in Wodonga.

Tresillian services include;

  • Residential Inpatient Units at Canterbury, Willoughby, Nepean & Curtin (ACT) with a total of 110 beds (for both parents and their babies).

  • Metropolitan Day Services at Canterbury, Wollstonecraft & Nepean.

  • Rural and Regional Day Services in Lismore (including Grafton – Northern Rivers NSW), Dubbo, Broken Hill, Taree, Coffs Harbour, Queanbeyan, Albury Wodonga (Southern NSW and North East Border Victoria) and in Wagga Wagga (Murrumbidgee).

  • Targeted services for families with vulnerabilities including Early Intervention Home Visiting program

  • A Parent Help Line (7 days a week), used by more than 25,000 parents each year throughout NSW & ACT and occasionally nationally and overseas. This service offers practical parenting advice as well as emotional support for parents with small children and also refers parents to other community services

  • Tresillian Live Advice – an after-hours Monday-Friday web based service providing parents with advice and support.

  • Comprehensive education and training resources, including dedicated staff

  • The Tresillian web site with a range of information and resources for parents and health professionals with over 35,000 visits per month.

  • Social media, including Facebook community of 40,000 and 13 `YouTube’ videos

The first years of life are vital to the positive trajectory of the life course and health outcomes of individuals, their families and communities. At Tresillian, our goal is to ensure all expectant families and those with young children, regardless of where they live, have access to parenting advice, mental health support and parenting services, enabling them to raise healthy families and build healthy, resilient communities.

Link to members organisation website

Link to Tresillian research