What We Do
Supporting Families
At Pregnancy to Parenthood, we know the path to healthy and thriving futures begins during pregnancy and the first three years of life through the connections babies have with their parents and primary caregivers.
Informed by evidenced-based research and years of clinical experience in parent and infant mental health our Mission at Pregnancy to Parenthood (P2P) is to support vulnerable babies under three years of age and their parents through any emotional challenges they experience.
What makes P2P unique is our early relational health approach recognising the baby and their parents as clients, rather than solely focussing on the mental health of parents. At P2P we place the baby and the relationship they have with their parent at the centre of our service, understanding that they, like older children and adults, experience a range of emotions but rely on their parents to nurture their emotional wellbeing.
Through our range of Programs, P2P walks side by side with parents and babies under the age of three to support them in establishing strong connections within their relationships, building confidence in parenting skills, and resilience to whether the storms of parenting and provide the best start to life for babies.
By intervening early, our Programs mitigate the risk of future mental health issues throughout life by creating the foundations children need to prosper emotionally, socially and academically.
We focus our support on vulnerable parents and babies up to three years of age who are most in need in metropolitan Perth and Geraldton.
Through our services and programs parents are supported to build a nurturing relationship with their baby to support optimal childhood development, whilst also empowering parents with skills to cope with the emotional demands of parenthood.
At no cost to families, P2P provides support to families experiencing any parent or infant mental health concerns, including:
- Concerns about not coping during pregnancy
- Perinatal mental health concerns
- Birth trauma
- Perinatal loss
- Difficult adjusting to becoming a parent
- Attachment difficulties within parent-baby relationship
- Developmental concerns for the baby
- Emotional, behavioral and/or social difficulties for the baby
- Regulatory difficulties including feeding and/or sleeping problems
- Dealing with perfectionism - “the good enough mother/father”
Our interventions help strengthen the emotional wellbeing of parents, and their babies to create a resilient and thriving family system.
Capacity Building our Future Workforce
A key aspect of Pregnancy to Parenthood is our Clinical Placement Program and specialised training for existing health professionals. This ground breaking approach ensures continuous training in the field of Parent and Infant Mental Health and maintains the quality of, and access to, targeted and effective services for families now and into the future.
Why is this critical?
In line with the broader workforce shortage in mental health, with a shortage of 32% of workers, forecast to grow to 40% by 2030, there is a lack of a dedicated parent and infant mental health professionals in Australia, and a lack of specialist training.
At Pregnancy to Parenthood, we actively build capacity and capability of our future workforce by:
- 1. Providing specialised training placements for postgraduate clinical psychology trainees
- 2. Professional development training in parent and infant mental health for medical and health professionals currently working in Western Australia’s healthcare system.
Research and Advocacy
At Pregnancy to Parenthood, we are committed to leading and shaping the field of parent and infant mental health, ensuring Western Australia’s healthcare system, and its allied health and medical professionals, are supporting babies and families with specialised knowledge and best practice interventions.
We advocate for a whole-of-government response to parent and infant mental health that spans all relevant sectors –including but not limited to health and hospitals, education and community services.
Parent and infant mental health challenges are critical national health issues:
- One in every five women and up to 10% of men experience depression, anxiety or stress during the perinatal period (pregnancy to a baby’s third birthday)1
- 15% of babies show emerging mental health concerns such as developmental concerns, behavioural dysregulation, and persistent distress.
- At least 20% of Western Australian children are developmentally vulnerable in one or more areas2
- Less than 1% of children aged zero to four received a mental health service3
- The cost of perinatal depression and anxiety in Australia is A$1.2 billion within two to three years after a baby is born4
- Around Australia approximately 60,000 mothers and 30,000 fathers/partners will experience perinatal anxiety and/or depression5
Australia’s parent and infant health system currently has:
- A critical gap in the mental health system with a lack of innovative and evidence-based clinical programs for targeted parent and infant mental health support for the most vulnerable families
- Inconsistent spread of existing funding both across and within States and Territories and many rural and regional areas have no access to services at all
- Workforce shortages in mental health forecast to grow to 40% by 20306 with severe shortage of dedicated and specialised practitioners in Australia
Investing in parent and infant mental health early makes a collective impact through:
- Every A$1 of investment in mental health prevention yields up to A$4.927 in savings to the community
- Investing in programs such as Child Parent Psychotherapy has a 96% chance of producing benefits greater than the program cost8
- A baby's mental health is tied to the world around them, more than at any other time in their lives.
[1] Australian Early Development Census (AEDC); [2] Australian Early Development Census (AEDC); [3] Segal, L., Guy, S., Furber, G. (2018) What is the current level of mental health service delivery and expenditure on infants, children, adolescents, and young people in Australia? Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, Vol. 52(2) 163–172; [4] PwC Consulting Australia. The cost of perinatal depression and anxiety in Australia. November 2019; [5] PANDA 2020/2021 Pre-Budget Submission to Treasury; [6] Department of Health and Aged Care. National Mental Health Workforce Strategy, 2022-2032; [7] Oppenheim et al 2022 referencing Washing State Institute for Public Policy, Benefit-cost results. Based on exchange rate of US$1:A$1.49 as of 22 July 2024; [8] Oppenheim et al 2022 referencing Washington State Institute for Public Policy. Child-Parent Psychotherapy. 2019
