Events
Lessons from Infant Mental Health Service Implementation in South Africa. Webinar presented by Nicola Kathleen Dawson. December 11 10:30 am ET
Please join us for our Grants and Research IniTiative (GRIT) seminar/webinar series sponsored by the Research Program on Children and Adversity at Boston College School of Social Work. The RPCA GRIT seminar series aims to increase regional knowledge base and capacity for implementation research; build a stronger mutual learning network; and provide training and learning opportunities for partners tied to training grant objectives to receive formal training on data and implementation science.
About the webinar: Join us for a thought-provoking lecture on the implementation of infant mental health projects at Ububele, an NGO in South Africa dedicated to promoting optimal child outcomes and relational health. This talk will share South African lessons learned from the process of interrogating and adapting child development theories and interventions for the local context. Lessons from implementation research into the wellbeing of South African parenting interventionists will also be shared.
About the speaker: Dr Nicki Dawson is a clinician-research and Counselling Psychologist from Johannesburg, South Africa. She is the Research Development and Training Lead at the Ububele Educational and Psychotherapy Trust, a not-for-profit mental health service and training centre in Johannesburg, South Africa, where her work focuses on attachment, infant mental health, parenting and early childhood development. Nicki obtained her doctorate in psychology through the University of the Witwatersrand. Her doctoral research investigated the cultural and contextual applicability of sensitive responsiveness for the South African context. Nicki's research continues to focus on the contextual and cultural applicability of attachment and child development theory and research to South Africa and other Global South and Majority World settings. Through her research efforts, Nicki hopes to ensure that diverse ways of being, and diverse child socialization and development goals, are considered and their developmental trajectories understood. Nicki also works as the clinical lead for Ububele's Parent-Infant services, which includes a basket of locally developed and adapted infant and maternal mental health interventions. Drawing on her research to inform culturally and contextually relevant practice, Nicki has helped develop a series of interventions including a Neonatal Consultation Service, a Parenting Course and a hybrid psychosocial maternal and infant mental health consultation service. Her work also involves supervising and training practitioners in contextually-relevant Parent-Infant Psychotherapy. Nicki holds an honorary lectureship position at the University of Stellenbosch, as part of the Masters in Infant Mental Health Programme. She also runs a small part-time private practice in Johannesburg, with a focus on working with adoptive families.