When parenting meets policing

Welcome to our Every Woman for Each Other series in which we celebrate pairs of women who, together, are the builders, nurturers and custodians of a community. 

The final duos featured in our series are the co-founders of Parents You’ve Got This – Christy Hopwood and Freya Owen – and Constable Allison Gamble and Senior Sergeant Kelly Christie from Victoria Police. 

Here, both pairs speak to FW about supporting their communities by listening to what they need – and how female friendship serves them, as leaders, behind the scenes.  

In the middle of Melbourne’s COVID lockdowns, Christy Hopwood and Freya Owen paused homeschooling their children (seven of them, collectively) to tune into a parliamentary speech announcing that, from then on, in-person maternal and newborn health checks would be an essential service. 

This was a change that Hopwood and Owen, the co-founders of Parents You’ve Got This, had fought hard for on behalf of their community. Their platform provides expert-led parenting classes, connecting expectant parents and families with evidence-based information and leading health professionals.

Founders of Parents You’ve Got This Christy Hopwood and Freya Owen

“Our whole community was saying to us that they weren’t getting [face-to-face] maternal and child health nurse physical checks. And this was becoming hard because all of the experts we work with were seeing issues that weren’t picked up,” Hopwood shares in Every Woman for Each Other.

“That support is also there for the parents. And someone’s not necessarily going to tell you, in one FaceTime [appointment], that they’re getting family violence at home. But they might tell you if they come in and you see them in person.”

The duo lobbied several politicians and media outlets with a campaign to classify maternal and newborn health checks as an essential service during the lockdowns. A campaign that ended, successfully, with that change-making parliamentary speech. 

“We helped hundreds of thousands of babies and mums and dads have this essential service which is so vital to the health outcomes of children and families – and we did that while we homeschooled!” laughs Hopwood. “So that was like a pretty cool moment in our business.”

“We wanted to build a community and a village. We felt so fortunate to have each other and we wanted other people to have that too.”

Melbourne-based Owen and Hopwood first met seven years ago, at the kindergarten attended by both of their eldest sons. “We had the same pram, so I immediately had great respect for her on that front – great taste – and our kids just felt in sync,” says Owen. 

The pair found they had a lot more than their prams in common. With a shared vision and complementary skill sets – Hopwood has a background in PR and communications, Owen in editing and design – they set about starting a platform that would cut through the digital clutter of parenting content. 

Today, Parents You’ve Got This works with more than 30 leading health and medical practitioners nationwide. The platform supports tens of thousands of families and, during the lockdowns, ran free virtual mothers groups for women across the country. 

“We wanted to build a community and a village,” says Owen. “We felt so fortunate to have each other and we wanted other people to have that too… For us, it’s always been about expert advice and friendships and how together, the parenting experience is so much better when it’s shared.”

So, too, is the policing experience – according to Senior Sergeant Kelly Christie from Victoria Police. 

“When I first joined 25 years ago, I was one of only two females in my squad of 26,” Christie tells Every Woman for Each Other. “My peer female squad member is like my sister and we still regularly catch up.” 

Things have changed since Christie earned her badge. “We see a lot more women joining Victoria Police,” she says. “We have amazing female leaders at all levels of the organisation.”

“Whether it be at the front counter or out on the front line, responding to jobs, I know I can rely on the females.”

Currently working at their Foundation Training Conduct unit, Christie talks about instilling a culture of open communication – which spans beyond their team to the public they serve.  

“We’re policing with the community’s consent… so we need to have that strong reputation with the community, they need to trust us,” she says. “It’s really important to listen to our community, listen to their concerns, take on board any feedback and to have that real, holistic approach.”

Constable Allison Gamble, a more recent recruit, remembers first meeting Christie at the training academy. “We have similar-aged children and I really admired [how far] she’d come along in the police force,” says Gamble. “Seeing a female in her rank as Senior Sergeant – I really respect that.”

When Gamble was new to policing, she thought she’d need to be a certain way – “to fit the police mould and be tough and strong, and it’s really not like that,” she says. “Being myself – really sharing myself and opening up to the community – I feel like that’s a good way to build trust. I don’t need to fit a mould. I can be me.”

Vastly unlike Christie’s experience, in Gamble’s graduating squad there were more women than men. “We all bring something different to the table and I think that’s what makes women in Victoria Police really stand out,” she says. 

“We’re very good listeners, we have empathy and we bring that to almost every job that we go to. But not only that, I feel like the women have each other’s backs. We want each other to do well. Whether it be at the front counter or out on the front line, responding to jobs, I know I can rely on the females – as well as the men – but females, we have a different bond.”

While serving their wider community, Gamble finds it incredibly rewarding to make a positive mark on what can be the direst of situations.  

“When someone is going through the worst day of their life… to be there with them so they’re not alone, I feel very honoured to be that person,” she says.

“Ditto to that, Alli,” adds Christie. “And it’s really important, as well, that we keep that support going the days after any critical event – that we stay connected with that person or that community. And you can soften the day, somewhat, even with just a smile or a hug.”