AAIMH National Event:

Speaking for the Baby and SMS4dads Collaboration

OVERVIEW 
A new series of free resources for Dads and perinatal health professionals: a suite of 19 illustrations and 10 accompanying handouts representing positive father-baby interaction based on SMS4dads messages. 

The Speaking for the Baby Campaign is a series of freely available parent-infant illustrations that bring voice to pre-verbal infant experience and depict helpful responses from parents. The illustrations can be used to help parents build relational competence as they get to know baby.

SMS4dads is a free, text-based service for fathers and fathers-to-be. SMS4dads supports men in their role as fathers and helps them understand and connect with their baby and partner. Many of the 200 text messages use the ‘voice’ of the baby. 

In this new collaboration, some of the SMS4dads messages that are in the voice of the baby have been developed into illustrations as part of the Speaking for the Baby campaign. Informative handouts have also been developed to encourage positive father-baby involvement.

Learn about this new suite of resources focused on positive father-baby interaction. These visual resources can be used immediately by perinatal health professionals, guiding psycho-education and discussion with parents about early relationship building with their baby.  Theoretical and research underpinnings to these illustrations will be shared along with exploration on how they might be used to help dads curiously wonder about the internal experience of their baby.

PRESENTERS 
A/Prof Richard Fletcher is an Associate Professor at the Fathers and Families Research Program (FFRP), School of Health Sciences, College of Health, Medicine and Wellbeing, The University of Newcastle, NSW. He has been conducting programs and research with fathers and families for over 30 years and was the co-convenor of the Australian Fatherhood Research Network for 10 years. His current research includes: Indigenous fathers’ strengths; Father’s role in families with PND; Father-infant attachment; eHealth and web-based support for fathers; and, Fathers’ role in maternal mental health and in the event of stillbirth.

Dr Bronwyn Leigh is Founding Director of the Centre for Perinatal Psychology, a national network of 100+ trained perinatal and infant psychologists providing in- person and Telehealth psychology services around Australia. An experienced educator, Bronwyn has developed and facilitated unique training courses and established the Perinatal Training Centre as a hub for quality professional development. With a psychotherapeutic practice spanning over 20-years, Bronwyn is deeply interested in the psychological aspects of becoming a parent, the emotional development of infants, and parent-infant relationships. She embraces relational and developmental frames of practice infused with trauma-responsive, neurodiverse- affirming, and strengths-led orientations.

EVENT DETAILS
This event is free to attend, supported by the Mental Health Professionals Network. The presentation is available for live attendance only and will not be recorded.

DATE:                       Wednesday 12 November
TIME:                        7-8.30pm AEDT
VENUE:                    Online
REGISTRATION:     Visit Website

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