World Association for Infant Mental Health

Dr Rebecca Pillai Riddell1 , Dr. Nicole Racine2

1York University, Toronto, Canada, 2University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada

Introduction: Pregnancy and the first year postpartum period provide a unique window of opportunity where the identification of infant-caregiver relationship difficulties and the provision of relational support can have impacts beyond early childhood. However, identification can be challenging as many families struggle with barriers to accessing primary mental health care.

Aim: This workshop will provide practical guidance to clinicians and researchers, grounded in the latest transdisciplinary evidence from primary medical healthcare. New approaches integrating trauma-informed practice and parent-infant relationship screening into primary care settings will be presented in an engaging and interactive workshop.

Description: The first presenter, Dr. Nicole Racine, will provide both quantitative and qualitative evidence for the importance of trauma-informed approaches in the maternity care setting. Based on an evaluation of the implementation of a trauma-informed care (TIC) initiative at a large low-risk maternity clinic, Dr. Racine will present data on the deleterious impacts of trauma on maternal mental health (Racine et al., 2022) and evidence of enhanced birth outcomes for mothers who receive trauma-informed care (Racine et al., 2021). Interactive discussion will be facilitated using a case-example to illustrate the key components of the TIC initiative. Based on thousands of vaccination appointments over the first years of life in the largest cohort of its kind (The OUCH Cohort), Dr. Pillai Riddell’s team created two tools to help primary care vaccinating professionals (The OUCHIE; Pillai Riddell, Gennis et al., 2018) and pediatric researchers (The OUCHIER; Badovinac et al., submitted) feasibly screen dyads who may have relational difficulties, by examining parent behavioural responses to their highly distressed child. Workshop participants will explore both tools through an interactive video-mediated activity.

Conclusion: Transcending disciplinary silos to create feasible mental health interventions that are integrated into primary medical care is an important way to get better support to families earlier.