Raphael Service Blacktown Conference

24 Oct 2016

Titled, Very early intervention – the first 1,000 days, the event attracted a multidisciplinary audience of approximately 150 delegates from areas such as medicine, nursing, midwifery, allied health and child protection.

Raphael Services Blacktown Manager, Associate Professor Maya Drum said the theme of the conference reflected the current international emphasis on delivering early intervention, prevention and health promotion through parents and parenting in the earliest possible stages of development.

“There’s an abundance of scientific evidence that tells us key aspects of the brain and mind are established from conception up until a child is three years of age,” Maya said.

“Parents provide a child’s genes and are responsible for their environment so to have the greatest possible impact within that first 1,000 days of a child’s life, we need to be supporting and working closely with parents from the very early stages.

“The emphasis of Raphael Services is very much on very early intervention and a whole of family approach which was strongly reflected in this year’s conference program.”

Keynote speaker at the event was eminent child psychiatrist and family therapist, Professor Maurizio Andolfi who delivered a presentation entitled: Fathers: missing or neglected resources in therapy.

Seven other notable, highly regarded experts in their fields discussed a range of other topics including: comprehensive perinatal care at the frontline; infant gastro-oesphageal reflux and maternal mental health; and understanding anxiety in pre-schoolers.

“The feedback we received around this year’s program was extremely positive and there was a definite appetite to see the event repeated again next year, which is very encouraging,” Maya said.