Graduate discoveries in infant mental health

The 2020/2021 National Workforce Survey highlighted that across disciplines, there is still significant scope for developing infant mental health workforce capability. The transition of new graduates into the workforce is an opportune time to develop practitioners’ knowledge and confidence in working with infants and families to support infant mental health.

In this episode, we speak with two social work students, Rachael and Megan, about their aspirations and discoveries about infant mental health. The students (who have since graduated) reflect on their experiences working with infants and families in their placements and how peer learning has helped set them up for success.

Rachael and Megan participated in the Keeping the Infant and Toddler in Mind program at The University of Newcastle. The program was designed to promote infant mental health concepts, enhance undergraduates’ knowledge of infant mental health, and explore the importance of this stage in a child’s developmental trajectory.

Through a facilitated reciprocal learning environment, participating students were able to discuss case studies from their placement.

They gained a deeper understanding of the fundamentals of reflective supervision processes and what this looks like in practice. Students were then offered the opportunity to share their reflections through the Emerging Minds podcast.

In this episode you will learn:

• the importance of understanding psychosocial factors and advocating for both the child and their parent/s [04:24]
• how reflective practice and peer learning validates how you feel, encourages curiosity, and helps you to think outside the square [05:28]
• how exploring concepts in a curious or lighthearted way with parents can support them to understand their child’s needs [09:20]
• how infants use play to communicate and let you know how they’re feeling; and why simply being with a child and letting them lead the play is important [10:25]

Further information and resources:

Keeping the infant and toddler in mind online course (Emerging Minds)

Building blocks for children’s social and emotional wellbeing online course (Emerging Minds)

How holistic pregnancy care promotes infant mental health podcast (Emerging Minds)

Using play to nurture infant and toddler mental health webinar (Emerging Minds)