It is our pleasure to invite you to the inaugural Mercy Perinatal Mental Health Symposium, to be held at the Park Hyatt Melbourne on Saturday, 19 August 2017.
The reason? Firstly, it’s common. The World Health Organization identifies major depression as the primary cause of years lived with a disability in women of reproductive age worldwide. Secondly, it’s important. In Australia, psychiatric conditions remain a significant contributor to maternal mortality and we are increasingly becoming aware of their lifelong impact on infants and children. Thirdly, all of us working with pregnant women need an accessible and engaging update: the all-important ‘what you need to know’ in the busy clinic.
The program has been developed with clinicians in mind: obstetricians, midwives, GPs, psychiatrists and all those working in maternity care.
Join us at the beautiful Park Hyatt Melbourne for a very special event in our education program. Places are limited so please register soon!
Registration rates
Midwives/ students rate - $200
General Admission rate - $250
Register
Prof. Anne Buist MBBS MMed MD FRANZCP is Professor of Women’s Mental Health at the University of Melbourne, Austin Health. For over twenty-five years she ran mother baby units in both the private and public sector. Currently she oversees a perinatal outreach program, and works with protective services and the courts in cases of abuse, infanticide and child murder. Professor Buist received a four-million-dollar grant and led the beyondblue postnatal depression program from 2001-15, screening over 40,000 women across Australia including the outback, CALD and indigenous women; recommendations from this study have been accepted by the Federal government and are being implemented across Australia. Other research has included the history of child abuse and perinatal depression, antenatal prevention, a cost analysis of perinatal depression, a qualitative study of why women delay seeking help and video feedback in the mother-infant relationship; all these projects had direct implications for clinical care as well as assisting in advising government and health services how to best ensure good outcomes.
Prof Sue Walker MBBS MD FRANZCOG CMFM DDU is a maternal fetal medicine sub-specialist and an academic clinical researcher. She leads the Perinatal Medicine Department at Mercy Hospital for Women, which has flourished into a tertiary referral site for some of the highest risk pregnancies in Victoria. In 2011 she was appointed to the Sheila Handbury Chair of Maternal Fetal Medicine, University of Melbourne. She is a co-director of Mercy Perinatal the 3-pillar centre of excellence in clinical care, research and education within Mercy Health.
Dr Gaynor Blankley MBBS MPM FRANZCP is a psychiatrist with over 20 years of experience working in perinatal mental health. She is head of perinatal psychiatry at the Mercy Hospital for Women Heidelberg and has a keen interest in integrating mental health services into maternity care. She has worked extensively with women with borderline personality disorders, substance use disorders and women who have suffered from stillbirth, neonatal and pregnancy losses.
Dr Martien Snellen MBBS MPM FRANZCP is a perinatal psychiatrist who works at the Mercy Hospital for Women in Melbourne and in private practice. He has published widely in the field on topics including: the relationship between schizophrenia, mental state, and mother-infant interaction, the function of specialist mother-baby units, postpartum sexuality, and the process of obtaining informed consent when prescribing in pregnancy. He is also the author of Rekindling Your Relationship after Childbirth (Text Publishing, Australia 2010).
Dr Matthew Roberts is a perinatal psychiatristand a Fatherhood Clinician, a role he has developed to promote healthy fatherhood in all its stages. Matthew works in private practice and at Mercy Health O'Connell Family Centre; he is also a passionate writer and speaker on perinatal and family health matters, and writes an internationally-praised blog. A working musician and (most importantly) father of three, Matthew openly admits that he probably needs to meditate more. Meanwhile, his kids bring him down to earth daily by complaining about his jokes.
Dr Jo Power MBBS MMed(Psychiatry) FRANZCP is a perinatal and consultation-liaison psychiatrist working at the Mercy Hospital for Women and Austin Health. She has published in the field of perinatal mental health and is working towards a PhD exploring the relationship between maternal depression and early cognitive development.
Dr Kristine Mercuri is an experienced perinatal psychiatrist working at Mercy Mother Baby Unit (MBU) and Royal Women's Hospital antenatal clinics. Of note she has undertaken training in mindfulness for the last 12 years and devised a successful group based intervention in pregnancy that has now been incorporated into an RCT. Presently in the MBU she is keen to develop mind body interventions in the post natal period and encourages staff to develop skills training in areas of interest. This enhances a diverse range of treatment options for perinatal disorders with emphasis on dyadic work.
