About
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The Mother-Baby Nurture® 10-week group programme provides a safe space for mothers to explore their experience of early parenting and reflect on the relationship with their baby in a non-judgemental and non-competitive environment. Each Mother-Baby Nurture® (MBN) group has two facilitators, with specialised skills and experience in perinatal and infant mental health. MBN is a reflective group, and aims to strengthen the mother’s reflective capacity, and in doing so enhance the mother’s sensitivity to her infant’s cues. It also promotes the participant’s confidence, emotional well-being, and connects them to peer, family and community support networks. Facilitators use elements of therapeutic models such as Circle of Security, Watch Wait and Wonder, Mentalizing and Mindfulness to develop the mother's awareness and understanding of herself and her baby's mental state. The MBN approach shares common ground with parent-infant psychotherapy and mentalization-based treatment, and is informed by attachment theory and the neurobiological science of infant development. Purpose & Intellectual Property MBN is an Associate Member of the WASEC.
MBN improves maternal mental health and early parent–infant relationships by building clinician capacity to deliver therapeutic, relationship-focused group programs that support the foundations of lifelong wellbeing.
Mother-Baby Nurture is a purpose-driven, practitioner-led social enterprise. We exist to support early relationships and family wellbeing, with all activity directed toward achieving meaningful social impact. Revenue generated through training and supervision is reinvested into maintaining program quality, supporting clinicians, and expanding access to families. The integrity and fidelity of the MBN programme are central to its ability to achieve strong outcomes for infants and their families. For this reason, MBN is committed to protecting its model, brand, and intellectual property, and to ensuring its appropriate use by trained facilitators and approved service providers.
MBN training and program materials are licensed and copyright-protected. They may not be copied, reproduced, modified, or distributed without written permission from MBN. The name Mother-Baby Nurture® is legally protected under Australian trademark 2071080 (IP Australia), held by SM & DC Cooke since 2020. ABN 14 603 559 394 |
MBN HistoryIn 2009, Community Midwifery WA sought a grant with the City of Melville to create a support group for mothers - addressing the absence of any support group in the area.
Adele James and UK trained psychotherapist Sue Coleson facilitated a group called Mother Nurture. In partnership with Communicare, another group started in Armadale, sponsored by Communities for Children. By 2011 the City of Mandurah responded and the third MBN commenced. From June 2012 to 2016, The Bump WA received Department funding to continue delivering MBN groups in four Perth metropolitan locations. In June 2016, when the grant was expended and The Bump WA’s Community Midwifery Programme moved under the management of Women and Newborn Health Services, Playgroup WA were sub-contracted to deliver MBN in its current form. In recent years the WA Mental Health Commission and Commonwealth Communities for Children have funded MBN in ten locations in Perth, Western Australia. Radiance SouthWest deliver groups in Busselton and Bunbury. WA Country Health Service deliver groups in Albany. |
