The London Region AiMH Hub was launched in June 2018 with a presentation by Julianne Boutaleb on Birth Trauma. So far we have held 3 annual events with speakers (Jenifer Wakelyn on ‘Watch me Play in 2019) each presentation followed by informal networking over tea. Our 2020 event was of necessity our first online meeting. After a presentation by Dana Shai and Rose Spencer on Parental Embodied Mentalising members were able to spend some time reflecting on the impact of Covid-19 on their work. We look forward to seeing you at future events, and your participation in the development of the Hub.
The AiMH UK Infant Mental Health Hubs enable members to connect across professions and levels within geographical areas, to help to develop and co-ordinate our thinking and practice around Infant Mental Health issues in our work. If you would like something posted here, contact your Hub leads on the Hub Discussion Forum (big blue link below).
Sara Rance
AiMH Clinical Lead & Trustee. Consultant Child & Adolescent Psychotherapist, specialising in Parent Infant Psychotherapy. After 24 years in NHS CAMHS Sara now works in independent practice. Clinical supervisor and teacher for ITSIEY and the Anna Freud NCCF Psychoanalytic PIP training.
Gwen Kirkwood
Psychoanalytic Parent-Infant Psychotherapist working in a perinatal and early years service which she set up within a Specialist CAMHS clinic in East London. NHS Trust Perinatal Champion. Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist and Supervisor.
Julianne Boutaleb
Consultant Perinatal Psychologist and Clinical Director of the Parenthood in Mind practice, a specialist psychological services for parents, parents-to-be and their babies.
Discussion forum
Share insight, explore issues, and ask other professionals for their experience and expertise in the Hub discussion forum.
Posts from the London region Infant Mental Health hub
News and events below.
AiMH UK London Hub Online Event ‘Ways of seeing and being seen’
Gwen Kirkwood, the new Lead for AiMH UK’s London Hub will introduce the event, planned in the context of the latest MBRRACE-UK* report: ‘Saving Lives, Improving Mothers’ Care’. One of the key findings highlighted is that, ‘Maternal death rates were almost four times higher for women from Black ethnic backgrounds and almost two times higher for women from Asian ethnic backgrounds compared to white women’. (Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists – MBRRACE-UK report response, 14th January, 2021).
*MBRRACE-UK – Mothers and Babies: Reducing Risk through Audits and Confidential Enquiries across the UK.
Gwen Kirkwood is a Psychoanalytic Parent-Infant Psychotherapist (PPIP) and Child and Adolescent Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist. Gwen works as a PPIP in an NHS CAMHS clinic in London.
12.20pm – 1.00pm
Clotilde Rebecca Abe is the co-founder of Five X More – set up, after the 2019 MBRRACE-UK report was published, which stated that in the UK, Black women are five times more likely to die in pregnancy, or childbirth than white women.
Clo continues to campaign for better maternal mental health services for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) women.
Clo is also the founder of Prosperitys – a maternal well being social enterprise, supporting BAME women.
1.05pm – 1.45pm
‘I’ve always felt wrong’….Reflections on colourism in parent-infant psychotherapy.
Presented by Coretta Ogbuagu.
Coretta Ogbuagu is the Lead Child and Adolescent Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist and Psychoanalytic Parent-Infant Psychotherapist working in an NHS service in London.
1.45pm – 2.00pm – Break
2.00pm – 2.45pm
Networking event for AiMH UK London Members
2.45pm – 3.00pm – Rounding up the afternoon.
(Note: the slots for the main speakers will include time for questions and answers).
‘Babies & Young Children under Lockdown: Attunement and Adaptation’
On 5th March the AiMH UK London Region Hub welcomed 47 participants to its second online event, ‘Babies & Young Children under Lockdown: Attunement and Adaptation. The event was a welcome opportunity for London region infant mental health practitioners to connect with each other. Outgoing London Region Hub lead Sara Rance reviews the event below and invites suggested themes for future hub events from AiMH UK London Hub members.
Born In Lockdown ebook Project
#borninlockdownproject – Has already raised over £1000 for @SandsUK
Free eBook where 277 new mothers share their experiences of having a baby in lockdown.
Downloadable here http://mothershipwriters.com/borninlockdown
Little Stranger
A poem by London Region Hub Lead – Julianne Boutaleb parenthoodinmind
We expect ourselves to mother
Without stumbling
To fall in love instantly
To instinctively know
What our babies need.
Welcome to the London Hub
The London Hub welcomes you to AiMH UK. What we can post and share together in this space will help us more broadly understand the wide range of work happening, and the many different organisations or individuals working with babies and their families. Let’s join up our thinking and our work where we can! We look forward to hearing from you on the London Hub Forum.
Watch Infant Sleep Lecture and read Dilys Daws’ new book on Infant Sleep Problems
Dilys Daws with Sarah Sutton’s ‘Parent Infant Psychotherapy for Sleep Problems’ (Routledge 2020) is a wonderful addition to the literature on the subject of infant sleep. This book includes infancy research, a psychoanalytic perspective on infant sleep problems and case studies.
A lecture on ‘What is Normal Infant Sleep? A view from Anthropology’ was given on 11th Nov 2020 by Professor Helen Ball of the Durham Infancy & Sleep Centre and it is still accessible on YouTube, together with the Q & A.
You can find everything we do on our website, the Baby Sleep info Source where we have resources for parents and healthcare professionals, including downloadable information sheets and an infantsleep app. You can also find us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.