The team will aim to promote a loving secure relationship between primary caregivers’ and their infants, which lays the positive foundation for health and well-being that can last a lifetime.
The three strands the service will focus on are:
- Therapeutic Interventions
- Consultation
- Training for stakeholders
Delivering the service utilising these strands enables us to reach as many families as possible.
If a referral is accepted for therapeutic intervention then a member of the team will offer a comprehensive assessment, ensuring the family’s concerns and wishes are at the forefront of all care planning. All the information gathered will be discussed within the multi-disciplinary team to formulate a support plan.
The team will offer evidence based and practice-informed therapeutic interventions to strengthen the parent-infant/child relationship such as:
- Psychological formulation and integrative approaches
- Compassion focused approaches
- Solihull and trauma informed approaches
- Video Interaction Guidance (VIG)
- Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (NBAS)
- Circle of Security Parenting (COSP)
- As well as a range of other interventions, where indicated.
The intervention may be one to one or in a group, and will be offered in the family home and/or various community settings according to preference of the family and availability.
The team will work by embedding the principles of the THRIVE model using a ‘needs led’ approach.
Brain development is at its most rapid and malleable during the first few years of life and optimal brain development is highly dependent on interactions with carers. -Parent Infant Foundation
Infant mental health describes the emotional wellbeing of children during their early years. We know that babies are completely reliant on their caregivers and later development is heavily influenced by the loving attachment babies have to their caregivers, therefore early positive interactions with caregivers are vital to building healthy brains. There are lots of reasons why developing a relationship with a baby can be difficult for parents and difficulties in this period are more common that most people think.
We are a multi-disciplinary team with expertise in supporting and strengthening the important relationships between babies and their primary caregivers, predominantly in pregnancy until the child is age 2. The service is led by a Consultant Clinical Psychologist
As the service develops, We work collaboratively with the Primary Mental Health Workers who sit under the Children and Young People Primary Mental Health Services to ensure that families who need parent-child support beyond the age of two can access this including through co-facilitated Circle of Security groups for families with children up to their fifth birthday.
Referrals can be received from any services who are currently working with primary caregivers who would like therapeutic support to strengthen their relationship with their infant.
- They will be within the perinatal period and up to a child being 2 years old.
- The primary caregiver and infant must be registered at a GP practice in Blackpool and have a Blackpool address.
- Parental consent must be obtained.
The team provides consultancy support to all Blackpool services working with families who have concerns of parent-infant relationship difficulties. We would advise that you contact the team to discuss any concerns you may have prior to making a referral.
bfwh.
01253 958573
For group offer for families with children 2 yr up to 5th birthday – refer via Circle of Security parenting referral form.
- Primary caregiver currently being supported by the Specialist Perinatal Community Mental Health team (SPCMHT) and assessing parent-infant relationship support. In the first instance contact SPCMHT (01524 550887).
- When the primary caregiver’s mental health needs are the main concern and requires addressing first.
- Primary caregiver currently being supported by the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) for children 0-5 years. In the first instance contact the CAMHS allocated practitioner.
- Primary caregivers with a substance dependency, who are not currently supported by substance misuse services. In such situations careful considerations should be given to establishing a collaborative joint working relationship between services to ensure assessment of family lifestyle and capacity to identify and place baby’s needs as a priority. Further discussions between services should always be sought.
We aim to:
- Acknowledge the referral within 2 working days
- Triage within 10-15 working days: following outcome of triage we will offer an assessment or suggest an alternative course of action that may be more appropriate to meet the family’s needs.
- Following the outcome of assessment, we will formulate a care plan and if direct intervention meets the family’s needs, this will commence within 6 weeks or we may suggest an alternative course of action.
- The team will provide feedback of the assessment outcome to the referrer and if allocated, the name of the PaIRS practitioner.
- Once the intervention has been completed, we will send a discharge letter to the client and forward to the referrer and GP.
Training
We offer a suite of training packages to all stakeholders from a 30 min introduction to the PaIR service inc. referral pathway, to more in-depth training of Infant Mental Health and the importance of ‘The First 1001 critical days’.
For more information, please contact the team through bfwh.
Useful websites for professionals
Professional comments following consultation support
Q: How did you find the consultation process with PaIRS?
A: It was very useful. Have been struggling with this for a long time and it was a bit like having clinical supervision to talk through the challenges and get a psychological perspective. I do believe having a consultation (with PaIRS) will help health visitors focus on what support they can give. It gave me extra things to think about and helped me have a focus to the work I am offering the family. It was fantastic as it helped guide me on what I can cover.
Professional feedback from PaIR’s full day training
‘Infant Mental health and Parent Infant Relationship training'
I have found the training fascinating! Very Informative. It has made me want to learn more and I look forward to using it in practice.
Thank you for holding this training session. It has been very informative and allowed me to gain a deeper understanding of Parent Infant Relationships, how importance it this, how to support, encourage and refer.
Thank you, interesting and important training for every professional that work with families should complete.
Enjoyed it – very relevant and practical rather that theoretical.
Very informative. Great resources and further info/reading
