MBN Research

Mother-Baby Nurture Research

Researchers associated with MBN

Dawson Cooke

I am an Adjunct Research Fellow with Curtin University. Currently, my main research interests are parental reflective functioning, mentalization-based treatment, and fatherhood.

I am a Clinical Psychologist in private practice, seeing a broad range of clients, but with specific interest in parent-child relationships. My approach is informed primarily by Mentalizing-Based Treatment and Schema Therapy.

Research Profile

Lisa Saville Young

I am a Clinical Psychologist and Senior Lecturer in Clinical Psychology at Murdoch University. I work part-time in private practice at Cygnet Clinic, Fremantle with expertise in working with children, adolescence and parents using CBT and mentalization based treatments. I have a strong interest in supporting parents as they navigate their children’s development from infancy through to adolescence.

My research is interested in exploring the narratives and discourses we employ to construct relationships of care and intimacy with a particular interest in the defensive purposes of our constructions both in the psychic and social sphere. I am also interested in practice-based qualitative research that focuses on evaluating the processes of mental health interventions. Mentalization based therapeutic work is of particular interest to me.
Research Profile

Kelli MacMillan

I am a Senior Lecturer in Psychology at Murdoch University, and a Clinical Psychologist in the public sector of Western Australia. I have also been a Post Doctoral Research Fellow in Perinatal Mental Health.
My research is focused on community driven issues including intimate partner violence and coercive control, childbirth trauma, as well as understanding factors from pregnancy that might influence child development and adolescent outcomes. I have published research in peer reviewed Journals, with a book chapter in the most recent Perinatal Mental Health Handbook published by Routledge, and presented at international and national conferences. I am passionate about the translation of research into the community, and enjoy presenting in local contexts, as well as more recently in podcasts.
Research Profile

Sharon Cooke

My fascination in attachment dynamics led me to further study, including a Master of Perinatal and Infant Mental Health and Diploma in Psychodynamic Parent-Infant Therapy OXPIP UK.

I was the lead researcher in two preliminary studies evaluating Mother-Baby Nurture and have been instrumental in growing this government grant-funded group program, which is now available free to families in 13 communities across Western Australia.

Research Profile

Student research projects associated with MBN

Amanda McCallum

Amanda is nearing completion of a PhD project with Curtin University.
Her project is titled: The formative evaluation of a Western Australian father-infant relationship support group.

Caitlin Hellewell

Caitlin is a current Masters student in Clinical Psychology - Murdoch University. She is planning on applying for a Doctorate to evaluate the MBN training.

Kate Eggart

Kate is a Psychology Honours student at Murdoch University. Her project is titled: Scaling up parent infant interventions: Experts’ perceptions and experiences of implementation processes.

Research on MBN

2023 Published chapter describing the Mother-Baby Nurture Program

2014 Amma Buckley compared Mother Nurture (an early iteration of MBN) with Making Sense of Motherhood (an off shoot from MBN that is no longer being delivered).