This week we mark Infant Mental Health Awareness Week (12^th to 18^th June). This is an annual opportunity to discuss the importance of babies’ mental health and wellbeing as well as some of the issues that affect it. Organised by the Parent-Infant Foundation, you can find resources that are downloadable from their website – see link below.

 

Infant Mental Health and the Third Sector

Last month, we hosted an online conference entitled, ‘Keeping the Baby in Mind: A Celebration of the Work of the Third Sector’.  Over the past 3 years, we have had the privilege and pleasure of working alongside an amazing group of workers from a variety of settings and agencies in the Third Sector where we have spent a half day a week, for 6 weeks at a time, thinking about Infant Mental Health and in particular baby observation. At the end of our series of free training courses, which were funded by the Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Fund set up by the Scottish Government and allocated through Inspiring Scotland, we welcomed back some our former students and their colleagues to celebrate and think about the journey we have had together.

 

Perinatal and Infant Mental Health

During the event, which was attended by 37 attendees from a variety of Third Sector organisations, we heard from Harriet Waugh, Head of Perinatal and Early Years Mental Health Team at the Scottish Government, who opened the conference. Keynote speakers included Dr Anne McFadyen, Infant Mental Health Lead for Perinatal Mental Health Scotland; Leanne Anderson, Fund Manager - Perinatal & Infant Mental Health at Inspiring Scotland; and Annie Baikie, our lead for the HDS Infant Mental Health training programme. During Annie’s keynote, we also heard from Elaine Waugh, Manager at Crossreach; Kathleen Mcleod, Senior Co-ordinator Home-Start East Highland; and Janine Ryan, Head of Childminding Services at the Scottish Childminding Association.  The keynote session by Dr Anne McFadyen was entitled, ‘Wellbeing for Wee Ones’ whilst Annie’s keynote was entitled, ‘Early years in all our minds: an opportunity for informing each other’s practice - experiences and reflections from the HDS Infant Mental Health course for Third Sector workers’. We are incredibly grateful to those from the field of Perinatal and Infant Mental Health who gave their time and shared their expertise which informed and greatly inspired our conference attendees.

 

Rich interchanging of ideas

Our conference provided attendees the opportunity to attend both morning and afternoon workshops.  Again we are grateful to those who gave their time and shared their expertise by leading the workshops.  Attendees who provided feedback about the conference agreed that was a wonderful opportunity for a rich interchanging of ideas that has informed their practice.  The  workshops were:

 

• Thinking about the impact participation in art can have upon the social well-being of young children and how shared art experiences may help to build strong attachment relationships. (Vicky Armstrong & Josephine Ross, Art at the Start)
• Thinking about the use of infant observation to inform work with parents and infants. (Joan Herrmann, Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist)
• Assessing Infant Mental Health in rural areas of Scotland. (Viviane Rodgers, trainee Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist)
• Thinking about the use of infant observation to inform work with parents and infants. (Carol O’Connor, Child Psychotherapist)
• Thinking about working relationships between NHS specialist Infant Mental Health services and Third Sector services, and how these could be developed and strengthened for the benefit of infants and their families. (Gillian Sloan Donachy, Consultant Child Psychotherapist and the lead for Infant Mental Health in the Glasgow specialist service)
• Exploring intergenerational trauma experiences of care experienced expectant parents and interventions, beginning in pregnancy that support the developing relationship between parents and their unborn child across the perinatal period. (Esther Congreave, trainee Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist)
• What we can learn through infant observation about the relational attunement of a mother and baby where the infant has visual impairment. (Laura Hancock, trainee Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist)
• "When Sense Does not Make Sense" Impact of the prolonged hospital stay on child development, how to ameliorate the impact and support the infant and the parents. (Nashwa Matta, Associate Specialist in Neonatology & Neurodisability)
• Hearing the ‘voice of the infant’ working as a child psychotherapist in an NHS infant mental health team. (Kasia Zych, Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist)

 

Crucial help for mothers, infants and their families

The conference (and training courses) would not have been possible without grant funding from the Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Fund set up by the Scottish Government and allocated through Inspiring Scotland.  During the conference, we heard from Leanne Anderson, Fund Manager - Perinatal & Infant Mental Health at Inspiring Scotland.  With Leanne’s help (and from her colleagues), many Third Sector organisations have benefited from their support. Most importantly, the fund provides crucial help for mothers, infants and their families who are in need of mental health support.  Research shows that up to 1 in 5 mothers experience mental health challenges and up to 1 in 10 fathers experience mental health challenges.  The fund supports Third Sector organisations so they can provide enhanced peer support, parenting support and perinatal counselling services during pregnancy and in the early stages of life.

 

Supporting the Third Sector

Since receiving the grant funding, our Infant Mental Health lead, Annie Baikie, has been pivotal to the organisation and delivery of our training courses and conference. Her expertise, commitment and passion for supporting the Third Sector has enabled HDS to deliver our hugely successful training courses and conference.         

Thank you to everyone who attended our Infant Mental Health training courses and our conference, and thank you to those gave their time and contributed to our online conference. 

 

Click here to find out more about Infant Mental Health Awareness Week 2023

Click here to find out more about Inspiring Scotland