On the Frontline of Early Life Care: Advanced Clinical Skills for Breastfeeding, Parent Mood and Unsettled Infant Behaviour Challenges
The Possums & Co Conference, Thursday 9 September 2021
On the frontline: advanced clinical skills for breastfeeding, parent mood and unsettled infant behaviour challenges
Who can come: Health Professionals, students and interested consumers
Be part of our deep dive into what’s new in evidence-based clinical support of mothers and babies!
Hear research updates
* Changing baby sleep conversations in the UK - the role of DISC and Basis, Professor Helen Ball, Director, Durham Infancy & Sleep Centre (DISC), & Baby Sleep Information Source (Basis) Durham University, Durham, United Kingdom
* Reframing Temperament, Professor Stuart Shanker, Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus of Philosophy and Psychology and the CEO of the MEHRIT Centre, Ltd. Peterborough, Ontario, Canada
* Safe Infant Sleep in Focus: What can we do with what we know now?
Professor Jeanine Young, Professor of Nursing & Deputy Head of School - Research
School of Nursing, Midwifery and Paramedicine, University of the Sunshine Coast; Queensland; Member, Red Nose National Scientific Advisory Group
* Report on the pilot study “A brief gestalt intervention changes ultrasound measures of tongue movement during breastfeeding” Associate Professor (Adj) Pamela Douglas, GP-Lactation Consultant, Researcher, Medical Director of Possums, Brisbane, Queensland
* What does the latest research tell us about Insufficient Glandular Tissue (or mammary hypoplasia) and breastfeeding? Renee Kam, IBCLC, physiotherapist, NDC practitioner, PhD candidate, Melbourne, Victoria
* Why is basic health professional knowledge about tongue shape during suckling part of a holistic NDC approach to family well-being and infant development?
Associate Professor (Adj) Pamela Douglas, GP-Lactation Consultant, Researcher, Medical Director of Possums, Brisbane, Queensland
Learn about new programs
* Tuning into Toddlers Workshop, Associate Professor Sophie Havighurst, University of Melbourne, Victoria
* Neuroprotective Developmental Care Pathway Update, Ms Hayley McManus, Possums & Co, NDC Clinical Co-ordinator, Sydney, NSW
Think critically
* Why is basic health professional knowledge about tongue shape during suckling part of a holistic NDC approach to family well-being and infant development? Associate Professor (Adj) Pamela Douglas, GP-Lactation Consultant, Researcher, Medical Director of Possums, Brisbane, Queensland
* Is it normal for babies to cry and fuss a lot in the first months of life: a review of the evidence, Associate Professor (Adj) Pamela Douglas, GP-Lactation Consultant, Researcher, Medical Director of Possums, Brisbane, Queensland
Hear unique perspectives
* Fact and Fiction: Assessing and Writing Reports on Parenting in Women with a Perinatal Mental Illness Professor Anne Buist, Psychiatrist, Researcher, Novelist, Chair of Women’s Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Victoria
Hear Research Updates
Self-Reg in the Early Years, Professor Stuart Shanker, Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus of Philosophy and Psychology and the CEO of the MEHRIT Centre, Ltd. Peterborough, Ontario, Canada
Professor Helen Ball, Department of Anthropology; Durham Infancy & Sleep Centre, & Baby Sleep Information Source (BASIS) Durham University, Durham, United Kingdom (presentation title tba)
How do we keep babies close and safe? Translating theory and evidence into practical safe sleep advice.
Professor Jeanine Young, Professor of Nursing & Deputy Head of School - Research
School of Nursing, Midwifery and Paramedicine, University of the Sunshine Coast; Queensland; Member, Red Nose National Scientific Advisory Group
Report on the pilot study “A brief gestalt intervention changes ultrasound measures of tongue movement during breastfeeding” Associate Professor (Adj) Pamela Douglas, GP-Lactation Consultant, Researcher, Medical Director of Possums, Brisbane, Queensland
What does the latest research tell us about Insufficient Glandular Tissue (or mammary hypoplasia) and breastfeeding? Renee Kam, IBCLC, physiotherapist, NDC practitioner, PhD candidate, Melbourne, Victoria
Learn about New Programs
Tuning into Toddlers Workshop, Associate Professor Sophie Havighurst, University of Melbourne, Victoria
Neuroprotective Developmental Care Pathway Update, Ms Hayley McManus, Possums & Co, NDC Clinical Co-ordinator, Sydney, NSW
Think Critically
Why is basic health professional knowledge about tongue shape during suckling part of a holistic NDC approach to family well-being and infant development? Associate Professor (Adj) Pamela Douglas, GP-Lactation Consultant, Researcher, Medical Director of Possums, Brisbane, Queensland
Is it normal for babies to cry and fuss a lot in the first months of life: a review of the evidence, Associate Professor (Adj) Pamela Douglas, GP-Lactation Consultant, Researcher, Medical Director of Possums, Brisbane, Queensland
Hear Unique Perspectives
Fact and Fiction: Assessing and Writing Reports on Parenting in Women with a Perinatal Mental Illness Professor Anne Buist, Psychiatrist, Researcher, Novelist, Chair of Women’s Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Victoria
Suitable for healthcare professionals globally
Develop your knowledge of:
* evidence-based clinical support of mothers and babies
* breastfeeding
* mood and unsettled infant behaviour challenges
Learn about new programs
Hear research updates
Think critically
Hear unique perspectives
Professor Helen Ball trained in Human Biology and Biological Anthropology, obtaining her PhD at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst in 1992. She established the Parent-Infant Sleep Lab at Durham University in 2000, was promoted to Professor in 2007 and served as Head of the Anthropology Department 2013-2016.
Her research examines the sleep ecology of infants and their parents including attitudes and practices regarding infant sleep, behavioural and physiological interactions of infants and their parents during sleep, infant sleep development, and the discordance between cultural and biological sleep needs. She conducts research in hospitals, her sleep lab, and the community and contributes to national and international policy and practice guidelines on infant care.
In 2013 she received an ESRC award for Celebrating Impact, in 2016 she was appointed as Chair of the Scientific Committee for the Lullaby Trust, and in 2018 Durham University received the Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Further and Higher Education for Helen’s research and outreach work. She is a Board Member of ISPID (the International Society for the Study and Prevention of Infant Deaths), an Assessment Board member for Unicef UK Baby Friendly Initiative, and she directs the Durham Infancy & Sleep Centre (DISC) and Baby Sleep Information Source (Basis).
Dr. Stuart Shanker (D.Phil) is a Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus of Philosophy and Psychology and the CEO of The MEHRIT Centre, Ltd. His latest books “Reframed: Self-Reg for a Just Society” (University of Toronto Press 2020) and “Self-Reg Schools: A Handbook for Educators” (Pearson 2019) co-authored with Susan Hopkins is a follow-up to “Calm, Alert and Learning: Classroom Strategies for Self-Regulation” (Pearson 2012). His book, “Self-Reg: How to Help Your Child (and You) Break the Stress Cycle and Successfully Engage With Life” (2016), still garners enthusiastic reviews and media attention throughout North America and has been published in the UK, the US, Poland, Germany, China, South Korea, The Netherlands, and the Czech Republic.
In 2012 Dr. Shanker founded The MEHRIT Centre as a Self-Reg learning and information centre. Stuart commits considerable time to bringing the research and science of Self-Reg to parents, early childhood educators, teachers, educational leaders, health practitioners and communities through his writings, presentations, online courses, webinars, social media and a blog entitled, “The Self-Reg View”.
Dr Pamela Douglas is Founder and Medical Director of The Possums Clinic and Possums for Parents with Babies. She has been a GP since 1987, and developed the Neuroprotective Developmental Care (NDC) or Possums programs out of her clinical experience and 20 years of research with various Australian and international teams. She first qualified as an International Board Certified Lactation consultant in 1994, and established the Possums Clinic in Brisbane in 2011. Dr Douglas is also an ACT therapist and breastfeeding medicine specialist. She is passionate about supporting families who are facing breastfeeding, unsettled baby behaviour, and other early life challenges.
Dr Douglas continues to collaborate with various research teams including the Durham Infancy and Sleep Centre in the UK, the Hartmann Human Lactation Research Group at the University of Western Australia, and Mater Research, further developing the uniquely effective NDC programs which are delivered in the Brisbane Possums Clinic and by the growing numbers of NDC practitioners whom she educates, nationally and internationally.
Dr Douglas is also author of the best-selling The discontented little baby book: all you need to know about feeds, sleep and crying.
Professor Anne Buist is the Chair of Women’s Mental Health at the University of Melbourne and has thirty years clinical and research experience in perinatal psychiatry, including perinatal medicolegal work for Protective Services, Children’s, Family and Criminal courts. She is the author of a trilogy, with tart noir heroine, psychiatrist Natalie King, and stand-alone rural thriller set around a postnatal depression group, The Long Shadow. She has been married to Graeme Simsion for thirty years, and with him has written feel-good mid-age novel on the Camino and Chemin dÁssie/Via Francigena: Two Steps Forward, and Two Steps Onward to be released in June.
Professor Jeanine Young AM, is a Professor of Nursing at the University of the Sunshine Coast. She is a member of the Queensland Paediatric Quality Council and a ministerial appointment to Queensland Child Death Review Board reviewing infant and child deaths in order to inform future prevention initiatives. She works closely with Red Nose to ensure Safe Sleep recommendations are evidence-based and practical for parents to implement. Her research program focusses on innovative ways to support the translation of evidence into practical parenting advice and support, health professional education, and to inform and influence the development of effective policy and practice to reduce preventable infant deaths particularly in populations experiencing greater mortality.
Professor Sophie Havighurst is a child clinical psychologist who has led the development, research and dissemination of the Tuning in to Kids (TIK) suite of parenting programs both in Australia and in many countries around the world. TIK is an evidence-based program that aims to help parents and carers teach their children emotional competence (being able to understand and regulate emotions) as a way of preventing and/or treating mental health problems and promoting children’s optimal development. She works at Mindful – Centre for Training and Research in Developmental Health, Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne.
After debating whether to study veterinary science, dietetics or physiotherapy in high-school, Renee settled on physiotherapy, qualifying with a Bachelor of Physiotherapy from The University of Melbourne in 2000. After having her first child in 2006 Renee discovered that she knew little about breastfeeding and wanted to know more. So, in 2010 Renee obtained a Certificate IV in Breastfeeding Education with the Australian Breastfeeding Association and to this day continues to work in both volunteer and paid capacities with the Association. But she wasn't done. In 2011, her book, The Newborn Baby Manual was published. But she still wasn't done. In 2012 she became an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant. But, nope, she still wasn't done. Now, Renee is undertaking a PhD through La Trobe University investigating breast hypoplasia. Her PhD supervisors are Professor Lisa Amir and Dr Meabh Cullinane. Beyond a PhD Renee wishes to continue to work as a researcher.
