Pregnant Pause is an initiative of the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education (FARE) and funded by ACT Health. Pregnant Pause has existed in the ACT since 2014. The campaign focuses on creating a network of support through friends, family and the broader community encouraging mums-to-be to have alcohol-free pregnancies for their own health and the health of their baby.

This year, Pregnant Pause is aiming to go bigger and create a ‘village’ that supports all ACT women have alcohol-free pregnancies. To help us do this, we are seeking Community Heroes to bring this vision to life.

As a Pregnant Pause Community Hero, you pledge your support for ACT mums-to-be and to help increase awareness and knowledge of the harm alcohol can cause during pregnancy by helping to build a community that accepts alcohol-free pregnancies as an undisputed social norm.  

As a Community Hero, you will help us promote the National Health and Medical Research Council’s (NHMRC) Alcohol guideline on alcohol and pregnancy. The guideline specifies, “To reduce the risk of harm to their unborn child, women who are pregnant or planning a pregnancy should not drink alcohol.”

Unfortunately, women who are pregnant or planning pregnancy are often exposed to mixed messages and misinformation about alcohol use during pregnancy. This can have devastating impacts on the outcome of the pregnancy, as well as potentially cause life-long harm to the unborn child. 

We need you to help build a village that supports women and their families to choose alcohol-free pregnancies. This will ensure that women who are pregnant and those around them receive a correct, consistent message about the importance of abstaining from alcohol use during pregnancy and instilling alcohol-free pregnancies as a core community value.

In return for becoming a Community Hero, Pregnant Pause will promote your business or organisation to the 7,000+ network of mums-to-be and their families through promotion on Pregnant Pause’s digital and social media channels and at Pregnant Pause events (where appropriate).

To assist you in assisting us, Pregnant Pause will provide you with a Community Heroes pack of resources, including flyers, postcards or posters for display.

We will also work with you to develop collateral, strategies and materials that suit your business/organisation to help spread the word about the importance of alcohol-free pregnancies. This may include (but not limited to):

• Designing co-branded assets you can share on your social media
• Assisting in logistics to host a meeting, seminar or webinar for staff or customers about alcohol and pregnancy
• Guiding you to start a discussion about alcohol-free alternatives among staff, customers and beyond
• Providing opportunities for you to participate in and/or promote Pregnant Pause activities such as competitions or giveaways, or online events on your social media or in other ways.

The terms and conditions below aim to help you be the best Pregnant Pause Community Hero you can possibly be! A member of the Pregnant Pause team will be in touch shortly.

Upon approval your business/organisation will be recognised as a Pregnant Pause Community Hero and will be expected to abide by these terms and conditions from registration until the end of May 2021.

Thanks for your interest!

As a Pregnant Pause Community Hero, I / my organisation/ my business will

help to prevent life-long harm to babies, and harm to pregnancies by:

• Displaying and promoting Pregnant Pause resources (which will be sent to you) to:
  • Raise awareness of the National Health and Medical Research Council’s alcohol guideline that states that women who are pregnant should not drink alcohol.
  • Provide information to the ACT community of the lifelong harm to babies alcohol use can have during pregnancy.
• Engaging in activities run by Pregnant Pause.
• Notify staff or personnel (if relevant) that the organisation or business will be a Pregnant Pause Community Hero and explain the campaign to staff/personnel (email/ templates can be provided)
• Follow Pregnant Pause on social media (if applicable) at:
  • Facebook – @pregnantpauseAU
  • Twitter – @pregnantpauseAU
  • Instagram – @pregnantpauseau

Alongside these conditions in order to list you as Community Hero please provide a copy of your:

• Business/ organisation’s website link and social media details
• Business/ organisation’s logo
• Short blurb on business/ organisation
• Ideas about what sort of support you think you may offer (feel free to contact us if you would like some examples of ways you can provide support).

If accepted as a Community Hero, your organisation/business logo will appear on the Pregnant Pause website and in social media posts to the Pregnant Pause network which includes mums-to-be, their families and their connections.

Pregnant Pause Community Heroes are expected to abide by these Terms and Conditions for the duration of the campaign. If you are a business whose primary function is to sell or promote alcohol products, you are ineligible to become a Community Hero.

Pregnant Pause reserves the right to review all Community Hero applications and approval will be at the discretion of the Campaign Team.