10th April 2026
This iHV Voices blog shares a podcast from Emerging Minds Australia, The National Workforce Centre for Child Mental Health, in which iHV’s Vicky Gilroy is interviewed on the iHV PIMH Champions Programme and its recent evaluation.
Since publishing the positive findings from the evaluation of our flagship iHV multi-agency Perinatal and Infant Mental Health (PIMH) Champions Training Programme (read our news story and evaluation report here), we have seen increased interest in our model, not least from colleagues in Australia.
We were delighted when Vicky Gilroy, iHV Director of Innovation and Research, was invited to share the evidence of the effectiveness of our model in building workforce capacity and supporting professional development in perinatal and infant mental health (PIMH) with Emerging Minds, members of the Australian Association for Infant Mental Health, alongside service leads and practitioners from the Statewide Child and Family Health Services in Salisbury, SA Health, Adelaide.
Our rationale for commissioning the evaluation of our PIMH Champions Training Programme was, in part, to understand the barriers and enablers to effective national and international scale-up of our Champions model. Vicky’s visit, to Adelaide, sponsored by the Australian Association for Infant Mental Health, was a timely opportunity to share the evidence that the iHV PIMH Champions Programme is a credible, scalable model for workforce and system-wide transformation in PIMH.
Vicky said:
“Our core mission at the iHV is to improve the lives of all babies, children and families through leading excellence in practice. When we have evidence of what works well, we want to share this widely. Our award-winning PIMH Champions programme has been developed and refined since 2013, with over 4,500 Champions now trained across our whole portfolio. Our recent evaluation shows that it is a clinically and cost-effective model that leads to better outcomes and reduced health inequalities for babies, children and families.
“We believe that there really is “No Health without Mental Health” and that a healthy parent and a healthy parent-infant relationship is the foundation for good mental health across the life-course and, in turn, a healthy society. So we really need a workforce that is skilled and confident to identify problems early and offer appropriate support or referral for specialist intervention. Our model trains Champions who become local leaders, driving improved care through enhanced knowledge, motivation, and collaborative practice, and we would recommend it to anyone who really wants to make a difference!”
A 2023 National Workforce Survey for Child, Parent and Family Mental Health in Australia1 found that workers rated themselves as having lower competency in infant mental health compared to other areas of mental health support. These findings correlate with a similar report from UK-based Parent-Infant Foundation in 2021, where nearly 30% of mental health professionals surveyed reported low understanding of infant mental health, with 26% receiving no training to work with children aged 0-2 years2. A particular finding of our evaluation related to practitioners developing a specific focus on early attachment, infant mental health and whole family wellbeing. This ‘perinatal frame of mind’ moved practice towards an emotionally attuned, preventative, and relationship-centred approach.
Vicky explored this further in an interview with Kathy Moar, Manager, Workforce Development at Emerging Minds, where they discussed the importance of developing and sustaining a skilled workforce to give babies the strongest foundation for their future, and how the iHV model enables this.
Kathy said:
“Your work has been influential for me and is guiding new programme planning here, to support targeted and cascaded workforce development.”
Our Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Champions training is open to anyone working with families in the perinatal period. Practitioners are trained as Champions and then equipped with the all the resources to cascade this training to colleagues in their local area. Participants will also receive access to our ongoing support and updates via our quarterly PIMH Bulletins and online Forums, a Community of Practice where Champions can network, reflect and share best practice.
We have a few final places available this term for practitioners looking to boost their knowledge and skills in this important public health priority – we have limited availability:
- 22 & 23 April 2026
- 13 & 14 July 2026
Now’s a great time to book your place!
Or for further information see our PIMH Champions training information page.
Hilda Beauchamp, iHV PIMH Lead, and Vicky Gilroy, iHV Director of Innovation and Research
References
- Emerging Minds. National Workforce Survey.2023. Summary of findings: 2023 National Workforce Survey – Emerging Minds
- Parent-Infant Foundation. Where are the infants in children and young people’s mental health? Findings from a survey of mental health professionals. PIF.2021 https://parentinfantfoundation.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/PIF-Where-are-the-Infants-in-CYP-MH-26-May.pdf
