A week with Dr. Deborah Weatherston
We had the pleasure and privilege of having Debbie Weatherston, an authority on the social and emotional development of children aged 0-3 and care and support to parents through infant mental health services in community settings. Debbie was joined in Ballymun by her close colleagues, Catherine McGuire and Rochelle Matacz, psychologists with North Cork HSE and mentors to us in youngballymun in the setting up of the Infant Mental Health dimension of Ready, Steady, Grow.
Debbie, Catherine and Rochelle delivered two two-day training programmes in infant mental health with over forty practitioners working with infants, babies and families in a variety of settings – maternity hospital, community care, public health nursing, mental health and community services.
Debbie also facilitated a parent’s workshop with a small group of eight parents, some with their babies and toddlers and led a practice to policy workshop with a large group of participants from Ballymun and much further afield.
The week also afforded youngballymun the opportunity to meet with some of the Infant Mental Health Network Ireland, including colleagues from Northern Ireland.
A full week closed with reflections with Debbie about how youngballymun might best structure its work to support the social and emotional development of infants, toddlers and young children and equally respond to the care and support needs of parents at this crucial stage in the life-cycle. These reflections were informed by Debbie’s direct engagement with a range of service providers and with parents and babies.
We are now really looking forward to consolidating our work with Debbie, Catherine and Rochelle in the coming months and providing a whole new range and depth of supports to parents, infants and young children right here in Ballymun.
