'Building Babies' Brains': A mental health program for promoting parenting skills for parents of ‘at risk’ children

The Building Babies’ Brains (BBB) program aims to educate new parents, particularly parents of children considered psychologically ‘at risk’, about the vital impact their interactions have on their child’s brain development and mental health. BBB offers a comprehensive support package which includes recruitment into the ‘Getting to Know You’ (GTKY) parent education workshops, 12 months Mater Aide follow-up support and 18 months subscription to Noah’s Ark services. This paper presents research findings on an evaluation of the GTKY workshop that indicates that such a program has the potential to be a significant proactive mental health initiative for parents and infants. Factors associated with positive outcomes include the provision of social support and normalisation of the parenting experience, self-esteem and confidence building through networking with peers, self expression in a non-judgemental group environment, and parental education through information provision. Limitation and suggestions for further developments of the program are included. The hope and expectation is that the findings will help encourage the further development of such programs elsewhere.