MERTIL

Since 2018 Victoria’s maternal and child health nurses have been trained to help protect young children from enduring effects of early relational trauma through MERTIL, developed and delivered by Deakin University and the Royal Women’s Hospital. MERTIL is now based at La Trobe University and collaboration with Deakin University continues.

This Australian-first program trains frontline workers to help protect young children from enduring effects of early relational trauma.

MERTIL upskills practitioners whose work involves encounters with infants and their families. MERTIL focuses on recognition of early signs of relational trauma, to aid prevention through rapid and sensitive response. This addresses all forms of caregiving trauma, including family violence, mental illness, grief, substance abuse, with a special focus on intergenerational trauma and at-risk populations.

MERTIL revolves around our unique online learning courses. These are supported by an extensive library of reading materials, weblinks and podcasts, all grounded in current evidence. For more information about MERTIL’s courses, click here.

On request, the MERTIL team can deliver face-to-face workshops to complement and extend online learning. These workshops feature unique case footage to help consolidate online learning. Contact us to find out more.

MERTIL is led by two of Australia’s infant trauma experts:

Professor Jennifer McIntosh AM

Professor of Systemic Practice & Family Therapy at the Bouverie Centre, La Trobe University, and Director of the Melbourne Attachment & Caregiving Lab, Australian Temperament Project-Generation 3 study.

Jenn is both a clinical specialist and researcher, with a particular interest in research translation, specifically making developmental theories “user friendly”, enabling parents, carers and professionals to consider the experience of children more sensitively in the context of family trauma. Over 30 years, Jenn has completed extensive training and research programs for the Australian Attorney General’s Department, the Family Court of Australia, Department of Health and Human Services, Office for the Status of Women, and national family services including Relationships Australia and Anglicare.

 

Professor Louise Newman
Professor of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne, and formerly Director, Centre for Women's Mental Health, Royal Women’s Hospital, Victoria.

Louise is a practicing infant psychiatrist with expertise in disorders of early parenting and attachment difficulties in infants. Her research has explored the issues confronting parents with histories of early trauma and neglect. As Director, her work focussed on evaluation of infant-parent interventions in high-risk populations, parental reflective functioning in mothers with Borderline Personality Disorder, and the neurobiology of parenting disturbance.

 

 

Anna Booth - Research Fellow, La Trobe University 
Anna Booth is a research fellow with a particular interest in infant emotional development and what makes for effective parental caregiving. Anna's PhD research in the Melbourne Attachment and Caregiving lab at Deakin University has focused on the relationship between family stress factors and parental sensitivity.

Tanudja Gibson - Project Manager, La Trobe University
Tanudja is an experienced customer service professional, project and executive assistant, with strong organisational, writing and problem solving skills, and a commitment to delivery.

Ellen Welsh - Online Learning Coordinator, La Trobe University
Ellen is a project manager with experience across a range of sectors including information technology, software development, developmental psychology and attachment theory and trauma. Ellen has a particular interest in research translation in the health and community service industries and is experienced in applying a range of communication approaches, including self-paced, online, workshop and face to face mechanisms for engagement across healthcare, academia, community and education sectors.

Elizabeth Clancy - Evaluation Research Fellow and Project Manager, School of Psychology, Deakin University
Elizabeth is a registered Psychologist with a strong interest in personal and professional wellbeing at the individual, family and community level, with particular reference to populations with complex needs, currently completing her PhD in positive young adult development at Deakin University.

Megan Leuenberger - Maternal and Child Health Nurse Advisor
Megan Leuenberger is a registered nurse and midwife, and the former Victorian Principal Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Nurse. She has significant expertise across policy, sector innovation and reform, practice improvement and clinical service delivery and leadership in child health, midwifery, maternal and infant family health. 

 

Web Development Team

Dr Jade Sheen
Senior Lecturer in Clinical Psychology, 
Director of Simulation-based Education,
School of Psychology, Deakin University
Dr Jade Sheen is a Clinical Psychologist who has focussed exclusively on the treatment of children and adolescents for over fifteen years. She has a special interest in working with young people experiencing eating difficulties, anxiety and behavioural concerns, as well as families. She is also a multi-award winning educator who focuses on work integrated learning.

René Bennett - Learning Designer 
René is a learning designer in the School of Psychology at Deakin University. They have a background in both psychology and education; drawing from these knowledge areas to inform and produce interactive resources within the teaching and learning space.

Matt Johnson, Learning Management System Design, UTS Education
UTS Education provide customised clinical education and training that can improve the patient experience, make care safer and reduce organisational risk, across medicine, nursing, allied health, paramedicine and psychology. UTS work with clinical leaders to identify critical gaps in staff knowledge, skills and behaviours and provide the resources to ensure permanent improvement in patient care.

Expert Advisory Board

Ms Meredith Banks
Clinical Nurse Consultant, Maternal and Child Health
Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne
Ms Banks is an Infant Mental Health Clinical Nurse Consultant at the Royal Children’s Hospital and President of the Victorian Branch of the Australian Association for Infant Mental Health. 

Professor Peter Enticott
Professor of Psychology (Cognitive Neuroscience)
School of Psychology, Deakin University
Prof Enticott's research examines the neurobiological basis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a highly-prevalent neurodevelopmental disorder that affects social functioning, communication, and behaviour, and for which there is currently no biomedical treatment. Related to this he is also interested in the way that the human brain allows us to understand other’s thoughts and emotions (e.g., empathy), and the development of these brain systems in early childhood. 

Associate Professor Brigid Jordan
Paediatric Social Worker and Infant Mental Health Clinician
Murdoch Children's Research Institute
Ass. Prof. Jordan is a paediatric social worker and infant mental health clinician, who has had a key role in developing the clinical field of infant mental health in Australia. Together with colleagues, she established the Infant Stream of the Masters of Mental Health Science offered through The University of Melbourne. She is a Past President of the National Australian Association for Infant Mental Health and has served on the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of the World Association for Infant Mental Health.

Ms Mary Mallia
Psychiatric Consultation-Liaison Nurse, Centre for Women's Mental Health
The Royal Women’s Hospital, Melbourne
Ms Mallia is a psychiatric liaison nurse, with prior midwifery experience and has managed a mother-baby unit in the past. Her interests include nursing and mental health liaison, especially in relation to women’s mental health.

Dr Robyn Miller
Chief Executive Officer, MacKillop Family Services
Dr Robyn Miller is a social worker and family therapist with over thirty years’ experience in the community sector, local government and child protection. Robyn has practised in the public and private sectors as a therapist, clinical supervisor, consultant and lecturer, and was previously the Chief Practitioner within the Department of Human Services in Victoria. Robyn is actively engaged in an extensive range of governance groups and advisory committees to inform and influence policy to improve outcomes for the children and families we work with. 

Dr Graham Music
Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist
Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, United Kingdom
Dr Graham Music is an adult, child and adolescent psychotherapist, working with adults and parents and teaching child psychotherapy and other psychological therapy courses, and leading training in child development, neuroscience and attachment theory, with a particular interest in linking cutting-edge developmental findings with therapeutic practice. His clinical work in the NHS is primarily with issues of trauma and the effect of maltreatment on children as well as on the families and other adults in the lives of such children. He has also written several books, including Nurturing Natures: Attachment and children’s emotional, social and brain development.

Dr Susan Nicolson
General Practitioner
Centre for Women’s Mental Health
The Royal Women’s Hospital, Melbourne
Dr Susan Nicolson is a general practitioner and Honorary Fellow in the Departments of General Practice and Psychiatry at the University of Melbourne. Dr Nicolson's clinical and research work involves attachment-based support of vulnerable families from diverse backgrounds, including pregnant and parenting adolescents and their infants.

Professor Craig Olsson
Director SEED, Director ATP Gen-3
National Convener, ARACY, Longitudinal Studies Network, Deakin University
Professor Olsson is a Developmental Psychologist with expertise in lifecourse epidemiology and human genetics. He holds an ARC Principal Research Fellowship (Discovery Outstanding Researcher Award) and directs one of Australia’s oldest running longitudinal studies of social-emotional development, The Australian Temperament Project Generation 3 Study. He is actively involved in several Australasian cohort studies and is National Convenor of the ARACY Longitudinal Studies Network. He has been based at the Royal Children’s Hospital since 1994, and holds a joint appointment in lifecourse epidemiology with the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute. He is Professor/Director of the Deakin Centre for Social and Early Emotional Development and has a particular interest in promoting understanding of cohort studies in our region (Australia and New Zealand), and how they might be used to further advance understanding of the developmental years, from childhood to adulthood and into the next generation.

Ass. Prof Melissa O'Shea
Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology
School of Psychology, Deakin University
A/Prof Melissa O’Shea is a Clinical Psychologist with over 15 years of clinical experience across public and primary care services. She has a passion for developmental and relationship based approaches to supporting people understand and manage mental and emotional problems. A/Prof O’Shea has considerable experience in working with adolescents and young people. She is the Course Director for Clinical Programs in the School of Psychology, Chair for Headspace Geelong and maintains a private practice in Geelong.

Ass.Prof. Campbell Paul
Consultant Infant and Child Psychiatrist
Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne
Ass Prof Campbell Paul is a Consultant Infant and Child Psychiatrist at the Royal Childrens Hospital, Melbourne and Honorary Principal Fellow in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Melbourne. He and colleagues have established a Graduate Diploma and a Masters Course in Infant and Parent Mental Health, which developed out of his longstanding experience in paediatric consultation liaison psychiatry and work in infant parent psychotherapy. He has a special interest in the understanding of the inner world of the baby, particularly as it informs therapeutic work with infants and their parents. With colleagues he has developed models of working in therapeutic groups with troubled parents and infants.

Dr. Claire Ralfs
CEO, Relationships Australia, South Australia
Claire Ralfs is an experienced professional educator and counsellor in the family services sector. She is currently CEO of Relationships Australia (SA) and the Australian Institute of Social Relations, the training division of RASA. Together with an established team of researchers, educators and communications personnel, Claire has led the development of several national education resources including AVERT Family Violence, SQUARE (Suicide, Questions And Resources), and Point of Contact children living with family domestic violence. 

Dr. Paul Robertson
Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist
Professor of Psychology (Cognitive Neuroscience), 
School of Psychology, Deakin University
Dr Paul Robertson is a Melbourne based Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist working in both public and private sectors as well as medical education. He has a strong interest in the area of developmental processes and developmental psychopathology across the life span from infants to young adults to parenting. Dr Robertson is RANZCP Victorian Director of Advanced Training in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Mindful – Centre for Training and Research in Developmental Health (University of Melbourne) where he is responsible for the training of Child and Adolescent Psychiatrists. He is also more broadly involved in the training and professional development of the broader CAMH workforce in Victoria.

Ms. Emma Toone
Consultant Child Psychotherapist 
Berry Street Childhood Institute
Emma Toone is a child psychotherapist who consults within private practice and Berry Street. She teaches psychoanalytic and child development theories in the Department of Psychiatry at Monash University and contributes to public policy advocacy for infants and children in her roles with Berry Street and the Australian Association for Infant Mental Health. In Berry Street, Emma has led the development of the Turtle Program, which provides therapeutic intervention for infants, children and their mothers after family violence. She prepared a submission and provided evidence to the Victorian Royal Commission into Family Violence on the therapeutic needs of infants and children experiencing dynamic family violence risk. Other Berry Street roles have included providing early childhood mental health consultation to the Early Learning is Fun (ELF) initiative and working in Take Two. 

Dr. Joe Tucci
CEO, Australian Childhood Foundation
Dr Joe Tucci is a registered psychologist and social worker with significant experience in child protection and working therapeutically with children. He has worked in the field of child abuse intervention and education for more than 20 years. He has acted as consultant to a range of State Government Departments on child protection, family violence, youth justice and child welfare evaluative projects. He has demonstrated experience in developing and implementing child-focused therapeutic programs and child abuse prevention campaigns. He has also served on a number of advisory bodies including the Australian Council for Children and Parenting. He is a strong advocate for the rights and needs of all children, particularly children who have suffered the trauma of abuse and neglect.

Dr Amy Holtzworth-Munroe
Professor of Psychology,
Director of Graduate Studies, Indiana University
Dr Amy Holtzworth-Munroe’s research focusses on understanding how to help families experiencing separation or divorce, particularly those families who have a history of intimate partner violence and abuse (IPV/A). She and her team are particularly interested in testing family law interventions, to introduce evidence-based practice into family law courts.

To read more about Terms and Conditions of use, click here.

We acknowledge the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation as the traditional owners of the land where this program was developed, and we pay our respects to elders, past and present and emerging.