Seminars & Training

AAIMH WA Seminar Series

The AAIMH WA Seminars are aligned to specific competencies from the AAIMH Competency Guidelines^®.

The seminars are held on a bimonthly basis and follow a developmental pathway to build skills progressively across the core areas of knowledge, skills and practice in Infant Mental Health.

Due to COVID-19 we are commencing the year with a webinar. Members and non-members in rural and remote areas are warmly invited to participate.

We will keep you informed on when we can again meet face to face and we will continue to offer on-line participation for regional practitioners, both members and non-members.

2021 Seminars

COMING UP: Thursday 22 April 2021

DOUBLE SEMINAR

with Dr Kelli MacMillan and David Ansell

Part 1:
'Maternal depression and trauma and the emotional availability of mothers at
six months postpartum: findings from the Mercy Pregnancy and Emotional
Well-being Study'
Dr Macmillan will first discuss the factors that can influence maternal interactions with the infant to provide an insight into infant development and mental health. Her research explores the quality of mother-infant interactions assessed using the Emotional Availability (EA) Scales coding system. The research will be discussed to highlight the importance of tailored clinical intervention for mother-infant dyads, with the presence of a maternal risk factor alone not sufficient to determine a woman’s capacity to be emotionally available to her infant at six months postpartum.

Part 2
'Using Geo-Spatial Maps and Life Course Research to Improve Child Health -
The Child Development Atlas (CDA)'
David Ansel will explore the Child Development Atlas (CDA). The CDA aims to be an innovative, free to access, on-line interactive mapping tool to identify and investigate spatial patterns in core population health, social and administrative data sets, and geo-locate services. The CDA maps WA Government agency data relating to children and youth, along with other data, such as relating to community, government, and business infrastructure, to provide a visual representation of the characteristics of community at a suburb or neighbourhood level. The use of geo-spatial data to improve child health, with a focus on interagency planning in each community will be discussed.

AAIMH Competencies addressed:

Direct Service Skills
Screening & Assessment
Intervention /treatment planning

Presenters:
Dr Kelli MacMillan is a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in Perinatal Mental Health and a Clinical Psychologist (Registrar). Kelli is interested in factors that influence child development from pregnancy and has published in peer reviewed journals regarding the development of the early mother-infant relationship. She has specialist training and experience in the observational assessment of mother- infant interactions, as well as of maternal mental health in pregnancy and the postpartum, and early childhood psychiatric disorders. Kelli currently practises clinically in the public sector in Perth with women in the perinatal period. She is passionate about perinatal mental health, and the possible impact we can have on maternal and infant outcomes by providing vulnerable women with clinical support from pregnancy.

David Ansell has worked as a senior research manager, teacher, Principal, leader in the not-for-profit sector and senior public servant. A focus of his work has been addressing disadvantage through education, youth at risk, early childhood s and public sector management. In 2020 David was employed by the Telethon Kids Institute as Co-Director of CoLab, a partnership between the Telethon Kids Institute and the Minderoo Foundation. A flagship project was the development of the Child Development Atlas.

Date: Thursday 22 April 2021
Time: 6.00 pm - 8.15 pm (WST) - Zoom
Cost: AAIMH members $10
Non - members $20
Student members $5
Student Non-members $10

Book via Eventbrite at: www.eventbrite.com.au/e/aaimh-wa-april-double-seminar-tickets-149098657097
Zoom Meeting details will be emailed 24 hours before the event.

Registration is limited, so book now.

Click here to download the flyer for this double seminar.
For any queries please email: aaimhiwatraining2@gmail.com or 0403 696 049

Past Seminars

Thursday 18 February 2021 - Online webinar

'First 2000 days: Aboriginal parents’ and children’s social and emotional wellbeing'

In this presentation, Professor Rhonda Marriott will explore research that focusses on the social and emotional wellbeing of Aboriginal parents and children in the critical first 5 years of life. Facts, myths and complexities will be considered and participants will have an opportunity to interactively consider how those and the research evidence, inform their practice.

AAIMH Competencies addressed:

Working with Others: building and maintaining relationships, collaborating
Communicating: listening, speaking
Reflection: curiosity, self-awareness, professional/personal development

Presenter: Professor Rhonda Marriott,

AM, PhD, Registered Nurse, Midwife, Inaugural Director of the Ngangk Yira Research, Centre for Aboriginal Health and Social Equity at Murdoch University. Professor Marriott brings strong cultural and scientific leadership to the Ngangk Yira Research Centre’s translation of maternal, early childhood and youth research outcomes into policy and practice with a focus on 'Aboriginal Families, Healthy and Resilient'.

----------
Date: Thursday 18 February 2021
Time: 6.00 pm - 8.00 pm (WST)
Cost: AAIMH members $10
Non - members $20
Student members $5
Student Non-members $10

Book: via www.eventbrite.com until 4pm on Thursday 18 February.

The Zoom Meeting details to be forwarded upon ticket purchase.

For any queries: aaimhiwatraining2@gmail.com or 0403 696 049

Registration is limited, so book now.

-------------------------------------

2020 Seminars

Thursday 11 June 2020 - Online webinar

Powerpoint presentation available to download here

Presenter: Professor Evalotte Mörelius, specialist in Paediatric and Neonatal Nursing, Professor of Nursing (Children and Young People) at Perth Children's Hospital and Edith Cowan University

'How the early-life environment affects the development of our stress system'
Professor Mörelius will explore how our early-life environment affects the development of our stress system. Parental closeness, a sense of security, emotional availability and nourishment support the development of a healthy stress system, while long-term sickness, pain and stressful emotional environment may impact it negatively. As a way of example, this lecture will focus on the preterm infant in neonatal intensive care.

AAIMH Competencies addressed: Theoretical Foundations: Attachment, Separation, Trauma & Loss. Disorders of Infancy / Early Childhood

Thursday 20 February 2020

Presenters:
the Hon Alana Clohesy MLC, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Health; Mental Health, who will provide an update on the State Government's perspective on perinatal and infant mental health, and
Ms Louise Lamont, Executive Officer, Phoenix Support & Advocacy Service (main presenter): 'Infant mental health and self regulation'
Louise's presentation will highlight the key components of self-regulation as developed by Canadian neuroscientist Dr Stuart Shanker. This framework is helpful for understanding the impact of stressors (often hidden) in infancy and childhood on an infant or child's ability to regulate.

2019 Seminars

21st November 2019 - Final seminar for 2019
"Churchill Fellowship: Forest Kindergartens and the use of nature in Paediatric Therapy" Presented by Griffin Longley.

8th August 2019
Dr Raffaella Salvo presented on 'High risk infants - promoting infant mental health in the child protection system.'

For presentation slides, click here

INFANT MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS WEEK 2019

13th June 2019
Lorraine Rose will present a seminar on 'Learning to Love: Normal Developmental Processes.'

See Lorraine Rose's slides on Normal Development here
and Early Primitive Processes - the baby in us here

16th May 2019
Anne Alvarez will join us via video-conference to present 'Developmentally-Informed Psychotherapy of Autism'.

21st February 2019
Anne Buist will join us vis video-conference to present 'mother-infant forensic psychiatry: the good, bad and the ugly'.

See Professor Anne Buist's powerpoint slides here

Training events

See Events Calendar for upcoming state, national and international events.