Marcia is the Head of Safeguarding Children at Homerton Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.

Marcia has experience working in the NHS in a number of distinct roles in which she has successfully combined management roles (strategic and operational) and maintained clinical skills, which has given her a rounded view of services’ issues and what is important to frontline staff. Marcia has a proven history in providing sound leadership, addressing issues regarding diversity and inequalities which includes setting up a BME Staff Network, developing and managing award winning services.

Marcia was registrant panellist on Fitness to Practice Panels with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (Nursing Regulator) and is currently a Visiting Lecturer at City St George’s, University of London where she lectures on the Public Health and Specialist Community Nursing (Health Visiting and School Nursing) Programme. She is a member of the City and Hackney Safeguarding Children Partnership which commissioned and published, in March 2022, the Local Child Safeguarding Practice Review into the Child Q incident which has influenced national and local change in safeguarding practice.

Marcia is strong advocate for vulnerable children whose voices are often unheard. She loves learning, sharing what she knows, and writing about issues that she is passionate about – and encouraging colleagues to do the same.

Marcia has learnt several things – her favourite quotes are:

‘I cannot change what you think, but I can influence your behaviour’

‘Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.’ Courtesy of Eleanor Roosevelt

Barbara Fenyves, Conference and Events Officer

Responsible for:

• Coordinating and delivering iHV conferences and events
• Managing event planning, logistics, and liaison with speakers, sponsors, and venues.

Helen Smith is a SCPHN, International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) and UNICEF UK Baby Friendly Initiative Qualified Leader (BFIqL).

Helen began her nursing career in Plymouth, qualifying as an adult nurse in 1998 and then working in pre-and post-operative care on various surgical wards.

She completed her BSc in public health/ SCPHN qualification in 2006 at the University of the West of England and worked in Oxford and Swindon as a health visitor. Since 2009, she has led on breastfeeding and infant feeding for public health and health visiting in Swindon, which includes the successful implementation of the Baby Friendly Initiative (BFI) programme, achieving full accreditation in 2016. She currently works as the Infant Feeding Coordinator for Swindon Borough Council’s 0-19 Public Health Nursing Service.

Helen is passionate about breastfeeding as a public health issue and the impact that early infant feeding experiences may have on longer-term health. She recently completed an MSc in public health and, for her dissertation, did a scoping review linked to a collaborative QI project with maternity services and the Family Nurse Partnership on feeding support for teenage mothers, with outcomes pending.

‘Parents need individualised support with infant feeding and evidence-based information, delivered with kindness and compassion.’

Helen is keen for policymakers to understand that infant feeding is a public health priority, setting the foundation for future health. It is also linked to many other key areas of work, including perinatal mental health, oral health and healthy weight.

Kieran is 46 years old, dad to two adults and stepdad to 1 adult and 2 children. Live in Warrington, bit of a nerd, and extremely passionate about dads and their children.

As a dad, I’ve experienced a whole range of situations, from child loss, divorce, and poor mental health to being a registered foster carer for 4 years. I’m happy to talk about my lived experiences when appropriate.

I am a trustee for the Parent-Infant Foundation, and an honorary fellow of the Institute of Health Visiting

Currently project lead for the Dad Matters project at Home-Start UK, and some training and consultancy work as Pops Consultancy.

Barbara Belole A. is a Pan-African advocate and Afro-Jazz artist. With a background in theology and over a decade of service through the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, she is committed to supporting children, the elderly, and marginalised communities while promoting unity and social justice through music.

Sharin is a Senior Health Visitor Research Lead at the Institute of Health Visiting. She is a trained nurse, midwife and health visitor, who completed her PhD at King’s College London as part of a NIHR Clinical Doctoral Fellowship. Her New Dad Study (NEST) focused on first-time fathers’ mental health and wellbeing during their transition to fatherhood. Following her PhD, she completed a NIHR DSE award at Warwick CTU. Research interest includes perinatal mental health and emotional wellbeing.

Karen is a consultant clinical child psychologist with substantial experience of development, strategy and leadership roles in NHS and voluntary sector organisations. As CEO of Oxford Parent-Infant Project (OXPIP) she is a leading national voice in the Infant Mental Health sector.  Karen champions the rights of every child to a happy, healthy childhood and, in particular, the importance of secure parent-infant relationships.

Jane (DPhil, FFPH Hon) is Professor of Evidence Based Intervention and Policy Evaluation at the Department of Social Policy and Intervention, University of Oxford. Jane’s main research interest is the role of early parenting in the aetiology of mental health problems, and the evaluation of interventions aimed at improving parenting practices during pregnancy and the postnatal period. She is currently President of AIMH UK, Affiliate Council Representative of the Executive Board of WAIMH, an Associate Editor for the Infant Mental Health Journal, and was a member of PreVAiL (Preventing Violence Across the Lifespan).

Louisa is a Research Associate at the Institute of Health Visiting, as well as a registered midwife and health visitor. She is passionate about improving child and family health, reducing health inequalities, and ensuring that health visiting practice is grounded in high-quality research. Her work contributes to the design and delivery of studies that support the iHV’s mission to improve outcomes for children and families.

Hannah is a mum of two small boys – one in nursery, the other just starting primary school. She works part-time, previously for a local food partnership, so she has a keen interest in how food and shared mealtimes influence child development. She credits forming a Covid “bubble” with her mum with enabling her to start breastfeeding her eldest. After her youngest had a short hospital stay at 4 weeks, Health Visitors provided key support. She values person-centred approaches, and working in partnership with service providers.