Camden Parent Infant Project

We are therefore no longer able to accept any referrals for long term individual Parent Infant Psychotherapy. We still have the possibility of offering a limited amount of  brief work for the next 2 months,  and  some video feedback therapy (ViPP)  at the Children’s centres. New referrals to the Anna Freud Centre may be considered for VIPP in the coming months, where they are deemed to be suitable.

We want to thank all our Camden referrers and colleagues. We are sorry if this impacts negatively on your work and the families you see. We are so grateful for the many years we have been able to collaborate with so many of you, and support one another’s’ work with vulnerable babies and their parents.

If you would like to discuss Camden’s commissioning priorities for 0-5 year olds, please contact Shema Begum at Camden for more information.

The service allows individuals to get support and advice from experienced child and adult psychotherapists and analysts, with specialist knowledge and skills in early intervention. PIP also offers support to practitioners who are seeking expert advice when working with babies and their parents.

The Parent Infant Psychotherapy intervention consists in weekly psychotherapy that lasts on average 6 to 9 months. ​ PIP is a free service for residents of Camden. If the clinical team has capacity, we are sometimes able to accept families from outside the borough. In this case, fees are charged on a sliding scale. Referrals are received from Camden early years practitioners and perinatal mental health teams. It is delivered in parent homes, Rodney Street and children centres. 

PIP is aimed at families with risk of disturbance in the parent-infant relationship. This may be linked to parental mental health problems and past and/or current trauma.

In particular, this approach is suitable for mothers and fathers who are:

• Finding being a parent hard to cope with

• Experiencing difficult feelings that have stirred up as a result of becoming a parent

• Worried about their relationship with their baby

• Concerned about their baby’s development

• An adoptive parent who would like support in developing their relationship with their new baby

Certain conditions are also known to place particular strains on the parent infant relationship – such as postnatal depression and other mental health issues, socio-economic stress, or domestic violence. The clinicians in the PIP service are sensitive to parents’ possible fears of being labelled, and of familial or cultural taboos.

The evaluation will use mixed methods combining descriptive statistics, attendance figures, outcome measures and a thematic analysis of qualitative interviews with participants.

Using routine outcome measure collection, the Quantitative evaluation will assess:

• If parental goals have been achieved

• Improvement in parental mental health

• Changes in parental perception of infant behaviour

• Changes in the infant’s physical, social, emotional and behavioural development

• Improvement in parental reflective functioning

Through parent interviews the qualitative evaluation will assess:

• Parents’ views and experiences of the therapy

Michela Biseo (Consultant Child Psychotherapist) and Claudia de Campos (Child & Parent-infant psychotherapist)​

To find out more about Camden Parent Infant Psychotherapy, or how to make a referral, get in touch at EarlyYears@annafreud.org.