Our Story

The Debbie Gaunt Foundation was created to build awareness about perimenopause, an often-challenging life event that can have devastating impacts on a woman’s physical and mental health.

Perimenopause is a transition that women are expected to manage independently and in private – perhaps one reason it is poorly understood in the community. Medical research into complications of perimenopause is also surprisingly scant. 

Founder Craig Gaunt became aware of this knowledge gap after losing his wife, Debbie, to suicide in 2019. A much-loved wife, mother, friend, and colleague, Debbie became severely mentally unwell shortly before her death, an episode that has since been partially attributed to the hormonal effects of perimenopause.

To honour Debbie, the Gaunt family works to fund projects that aim to illuminate and better understand the mental health impacts of perimenopause and other conditions that affect women's mental health.

Today, the Foundation is at the forefront of addressing gender-specific issues that affect women during their transitional adult years by actively working to normalise and destigmatise these conversations and proactively educate the community about women‘s mental health.