Perinatal mental health services at Burwood
Our specialised and experienced staff offer comprehensive services on an inpatient and outpatient basis, depending on your needs. We cater for families from pregnancy to the first year after baby's birth.
Inpatient treatment program
St John of God Hospital, Burwood is the only Mother and Baby Unit in NSW. It has won the Australian Private Hospitals Association Award for Excellence for its innovative, family friendly, specialised care. The unit is unique as it allows mothers and their babies to remain together during treatment. Research has suggested that this helps promote the recovery process.
Group therapy facilitates self-exploration, teaches skills and coping strategies and encourages bonds with other women experiencing similar difficulties. The programs are designed to enable women to feel less isolated and offer the opportunity to share experiences in a safe and supportive environment. The focus is on family relationships, issues related to parenthood, infant attachment, anxiety and depression.
There is ongoing monitoring of participants to ensure that they are receiving the most appropriate care and intervention. Additional counselling and therapy may be offered if required. A group follow-up is organised six weeks after completion of the program, which provides an opportunity to explore any further issues that may have arisen.
Early intervention and evidence based inpatient programs include:
- Psychiatric assessment
- Medication review and management
- Individual and couple therapy
- Anxiety and depression groups
- Mother infant groups
- Parentcraft and parent education
- Education sessions for fathers
Day Group programs are under development.
Staff
Our professional team includes psychiatrists, general practitioners, paediatricians, mental health nurses, psychologists, and drug and alcohol counsellors. In addition, we have social workers, mothercraft nurses and a chaplain who provides spiritual support as required. The Burwood Unit is under the clinical leadership of Professor Marie-Paule Austin.
Professor Austin is a specialist perinatal psychiatrist in the Mother and Baby Unit, where she also runs an outpatient clinic for women in the perinatal period. She has researched and published widely in the field and is on a number of national advisory committees dealing with improving services for women and their families during the perinatal period.
Payment
Most major private health insurance funds will cover inpatient and outpatient treatment, depending on the level of individual cover.
Contact Us
St John of God Hospital
13 Grantham Street, Burwood, NSW, 2134
Phone: (02) 9715 9200