Today marks the start of Infant Mental Health Awareness Week (9-15 June). Organised each June by the Parent Infant Foundation, this year’s theme is: Who is holding the baby?
Not everyone bonds easily with their baby. Parents who are overwhelmed by trauma or struggling with mental or physical health difficulties, need support. This #IMHAW will shine a light on gaps in services that support vulnerable babies and their families.
The Infant Mental Health team in CAMHS will be joining Dads Matter, our health visitors and Perinatal Mental Health team on the information bus next week to help spread the word to support parent and infant relationships.
They will be at:
- Monday 9 June: Dobbies in Tewkesbury
- Tuesday 10 June: Cheltenham Lido
- Wednesday 11 June: Pittville Park, Cheltenham
- Thursday 12 June: Rugrats and Halfpints, Cirencester
About the CAMHS Infant Mental Health team
The CAMHS Infant Mental Health team offers assessment and treatment for parents and carers for infants from pregnancy up until the infant’s second birthday, where a parent’s mental health or complex needs threaten the parent-infant attachment and the consequent social, emotional, behavioural, and cognitive development of the infant.
The team only works with the families with the highest level of need, focusing on specialist attachment-based interviews, aiming to improve the parent/infant relationship by helping the parent to become more in tune with the child and to address the risk factors that adversely affect the child-parent relationship and the child’s subsequent development.
In addition to this, the team provides training, consultation, supervision, and advice and signposting to other services and professionals involved in working with these families, ensuring we share our skills and expertise.
Find out more here: Infant Mental Health Service > CYPS Gloucester Health & Care
The First 1001 days
Every baby should have a loving and nurturing relationship in a society that values emotional wellbeing and development in the first 1001 days, from pregnancy, as the critical foundation for a healthy and fulfilling life.
We need to drive change by inspiring, supporting and challenging national and local decision makers to value and invest in babies’ emotional wellbeing and development in the first 1001 days.
We aim to:
- share the compelling evidence from research and insights from professionals and lived experience to inform decision making
- use our collective voice to engage, inform and influence national politicians and policy makers
- campaign for changes to national policies to improve outcomes for babies
- take action individually and collaboratively to drive local change
- create the context in which decision makers are more likely to act, by increasing wider awareness and understanding about the importance of the first 1001 days.
Taken from the Parent-Infant Foundation 1001 Days website.
