On the 18th June 2015 several members of the pPOD team attended the Begin Before Birth Conference at Imperial College London. This one-day annual event was once again organised and chaired by Professor Vivette Glover. This conference is focused on the importance of pregnancy and early years for later mental health and this years presentations concentrated on potential interventions during this period.
Particular highlights from this years programme included a great talk from Professor Louise Howard from King’s College London about her current research on the effects of domestic abuse in the perinatal period. There were also three entertaining presentations from Dr Alain Gregoire from the Maternal Mental Health Alliance on pharmacological treatments in the perinatal period, how mental health services in mother and baby units could be improved and advertised the new Baby Buddy App developed by Best Beginnings.
Finally, our own Dr Paul Ramchandani and Dr Jane Iles gave a very interactive and lively presentation about our current study – Healthy Start, Happy Start – which is developing a programme to try and help parents with their children’s behaviour and development. Following their presentation, there was a lengthy discussion about the study and how this could be used on a national scale.
The next Begin Before Birth Conference is scheduled to take place at Imperial College London in June 2016.
Particular highlights from this years programme included a great talk from Professor Louise Howard from King’s College London about her current research on the effects of domestic abuse in the perinatal period. There were also three entertaining presentations from Dr Alain Gregoire from the Maternal Mental Health Alliance on pharmacological treatments in the perinatal period, how mental health services in mother and baby units could be improved and advertised the new Baby Buddy App developed by Best Beginnings.
Finally, our own Dr Paul Ramchandani and Dr Jane Iles gave a very interactive and lively presentation about our current study – Healthy Start, Happy Start – which is developing a programme to try and help parents with their children’s behaviour and development. Following their presentation, there was a lengthy discussion about the study and how this could be used on a national scale.
The next Begin Before Birth Conference is scheduled to take place at Imperial College London in June 2016.
Author: Lauren Capron