Resources

In WA, 20% of women experience a perinatal mental health disorder in the perinatal period and ~15% of infants show emerging mental health concerns.

Research demonstrates the profound negative impact this can have on lifelong child outcomes.

Despite this growing mental health crisis, there are only a few clinical services in Western Australia dedicated to perinatal and infant mental health (PIMH) in WA or training programs to build required skills to support families during this life stage.

Proof of the value of P2P to families and the community has been demonstrated. A 4-year pilot of P2P gathered comprehensive outcomes data for 140 families who completed P2P intervention, including 50 semi-structured interviews with families.

The outcome data demonstrated significant improvements across validated measures of parental depression, parental anxiety and parental warmth towards their baby.
Families’ feedback has provided compelling evidence for the value of the service and positive changes experienced in parental wellbeing and parent-infant relationships.

A parent reflection that typifies many responses: ‘This program should get ALL the funding. Saved the life of my baby and kept my family together through an incredibly rough time with PND’.

The next stage is to provide proof of value to a broader stakeholder network.

• Lim, I., Newman-Morris, V., Hill, R., Hoehn, E., Kowalenko, N., Matacz, R., & Sundram, S. (2022). You can’t have one without the other: The Case for integrated perinatal and infant mental health services. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 00048674221083874.
• Matacz, R., & Priddis, L. (2022). “Yes, the 'terrible twos' are full-on – but let's look at things from a child's perspective”. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/yes-the-terrible-twos-are-full-on-but-lets-look-at-things-from-a-childs-perspective-177633
• Matacz, R., Priddis, L., & Wedge, K. (2021). Shake, Rattle and Roll: Reorienting a System and Co-Creating a “Whole of Organization” Community of Reflective Practice. ZERO TO THREE Journal, 41(Supp.).
• Kiely, D. and Fitzgerald, H. and Matacz, R. and Priddis, L. and Bayes, S. and Barratt-Pugh, C. & Pooley, J. (2019) Better together: supporting perinatal and infant mental health services. Perth, WA.
• Matacz, R., & Aksakoğlu, Y. (2018) Knitting an International Network in the Infancy and Early Childhood Field: International Perspectives of the ZERO TO THREE Fellowship 2016–2018. ZERO TO THREE, 38(4), 67-69.
• Coo, S., Somerville, S., Matacz, R., & Byrne, S. (2018). Development and preliminary evaluation of a group intervention targeting maternal mental health and mother–infant interactions: a combined qualitative and Case series report. Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology, 36(3), 327-343.
• Matacz, R., & Priddis, L. (2016). Building Competency in Infant Mental Health Practice: The Edith Cowan University Pregnancy to Parenthood Clinic. ZERO TO THREE, 37(1), 14-21.
• Priddis, L. E., Matacz, R., & Weatherston, D. (2015). Building a Workforce Competency Based Training Program in Infant/Early Childhood Mental Health. Infant mental health journal, 36(6), 623-631.
• Matacz, R., & Priddis, L. (2015). Responding to the identified need to build workforce capacity in Infant Mental Health: Launch of the AAIMHI WA Competency Guidelines® in Western Australia. Perspectives in Infant Mental Health, 23(3), 15-18.
• Matacz, R., & Priddis, L. (2015). Responding to the identified need to build workforce capacity in Infant Mental Health: Launch of the AAIMHI WA Competency Guidelines® in Western Australia. World Association for Infant Mental Health, Summer, 15-18.