The Oxford Parent Infant Project (OXPIP) has been providing counselling and therapy for vulnerable parents and their babies since 1998. Founded by inspirational writer and therapist Sue Gerhardt (Why Love Matters), the project has become a key part of mainstream preventative child mental health services in Oxfordshire.
But while its own future is secure for the moment, there is controversy over the council’s proposals to close most of the county’s network of children’s centres, where OXPIP’s therapists are often found doing their work.
On 26 February, speakers at OXPIP’s sell-out annual conference, Things Fall Apart, discussed the delicate processes involved in engaging vulnerable mothers in therapy with their infants, but also the wider politics of what is happening to our frontline mental health and childcare services. The care of young babies evokes powerful feelings in everyone, the neglect or withdrawal of care even more so, and the packed conference venue was awash with a potent mixture of emotions for most of the day.
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