Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Interest Group
The Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Interest Group invites you to their September meeting
Program Overview
This is a free, member only session.
Please join the Perinatal & Infant Mental Health Interest Group Community via OTA Connect here before registering.
OVERVIEW
This special interest group is for Occupational Therapists working in or curious about working in perinatal and infant mental health settings.
The group aims to share information and exchange ideas relating to perinatal and infant mental health experiences occurring within the stages of preconception, pregnancy and infant loss, birth and the postnatal period, parenting, relationships and families within the first three years.
The objectives of these would be to;
- Share knowledge from practitioners, researchers and educators who are working within a variety of perinatal contexts.
- Provide opportunities for reflective practice
- Supported exploration of the perinatal and infant mental health occupational therapy scope of practice
- Specific topics of interest within the perinatal and infant mental health context include, but are not limited to;
- Application of developmental and attachment frameworks within dyadic and family systems
- How family systems and dyadic approaches support occupational therapy interventions the application of evidence based therapeutic approaches relevant to the perinatal period and occupational therapy
- Supporting mental health presentations that emerge during the perinatal period (anxiety, depression, OCD, eating disorders, relationship with the body, birth trauma)
- Supporting pre-existing mental health, trauma and co-occurring mental health and other presentations
- Supporting psychosocial diagnosis and disability within the perinatal period
- How a variety of mental health presentations may influence parenting, relationships and an individual's experience within their contexts.
- Keeping “baby’s experience in mind” and infant development
- The influence of reproductive technologies on perinatal experiences
- Supporting families with a prenatal diagnosis and other pregnancy related medical issues
- Pregnancy, infant loss and terminations for medical reasons
- Birth as a rite of passage, birth experiences (home and hospital births, NICU and Special Care stays)
- Perinatal trauma
- Early parenting skills, challenges and occupational adaptation, adjustment to parenthood/Matrescence/Patrescence Research within the perinatal and infant mental health occupational therapy area
MEETING DETAILS
TOPIC:
Perinatal Risk Assessment and Safety Planning
PRESENTERS:
Jane Brincat and Rebecca Morley-John
DATE:
Wednesday, 10 September 2025
TIME:
12:00pm - 1:00pm | NSW, ACT, VIC, TAS, QLD
11:30am - 12:30pm | SA, NT
10:00am - 11:00am | WA
MEETING PLATFORM:
Zoom: This session will be run on Zoom. Registrants will be sent separate login details one business day prior to the session. Please check all email folders for this information. This meeting will not be recorded.
Please also ensure you have created a Free Zoom account prior to meeting start time.
If you have questions regarding the Zoom system requirements please visit: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/categories/200101697-Getting-Started
REGISTRATION FEES & INFORMATION
OTA Member: Free
If you are a non member who wishes to attend please contact us via info@otaus.com.au to discuss your options.
Registrations close Monday, 8 September 2025 11.59pm AEST
MEETING DOCUMENTS & RESOURCES
Agendas, resources and meeting record form are available for members to download in the Community via OTA Connect, once we have received these from the convenors. This meeting will not be recorded.
You must be logged in to access this page.
DISCLAIMER
Any material, content, advice or resources shared and discussed at interest groups is general in nature and is used to guide peer discussion and support only. Occupational Therapy Australia encourages all participants to think critically and appraise the content for individual circumstances. Occupational Therapy Australia does not necessarily endorse content delivered in these formats and accepts no liability for any consequences resulting from adhering to the content shared at interest groups. All opinions expressed by the convenor or other participants are the opinions of those individuals and do not represent or reflect the views of Occupational Therapy Australia, its affiliates or employees.
Interest Group Participants
By registering to attend, participants agree to actively contribute and show respect to all other participants. We ask you to take personal notes and monitor the Interest Group webpage for meeting resources. Occupational Therapy Australia reserves the right to remove members from an Interest Group at its discretion.
Presented By
Rebecca Morley-John
Presenter
Rebecca is an occupational therapist specialising in perinatal mental health. With over twelve years of experience across both physical and mental health settings, Rebecca has focused her practice on supporting mothers since 2022, working in the state’s first public parent and baby mental health unit in Sydney. Rebecca provides both individual and group-based interventions, offering compassionate, trauma-informed, and strengths-based support to mothers navigating the challenges of early parenthood. She is particularly passionate about the practical aspects of parenting—helping women build routines, regulate their nervous systems, reduce overwhelm, and reconnect with a sense of satisfaction in daily life. A key part of her work also involves supporting the mother–baby relationship and promoting secure attachment through everyday interactions. Rebecca brings warmth and authenticity to her work, always aiming to recognise and build on the unique strengths each mother brings to her parenting journey. Outside of work, Rebecca is kept busy by her own two energetic young boys.
Jane Brincat
Presenter
Jane is a senior mental health occupational therapist with 7 years experience in both the public and private sectors. At Eastern Health Jane works as a mental health clinician in their access team which includes psychiatric phone triage, emergency department and the crisis assessment and treatment teams. At The Mindful Birth Movement Jane works as a mental health endorsed occupational therapist providing care for women across the spectrum of conception, pregnancy, post-partum, infertility and pregnancy/infant loss. Jane is passionate about building the occupational therapy workforce in the maternity and perinatal sector and believes that providing comprehensive matrescentric and family-oriented care in the perinatal period optimises health outcomes for life. As occupational therapists are often the 'outliers' in clinical teams Jane actively promotes the role of occupational therapy in her workplaces, with universities, and the broader public on social media, and strives to build public awareness of the unique skillset that we bring to healthcare.