Talking Child Development

#37 Helping Boys and Men to Flourish – A Call to Action with Matt Tyler

In this podcast Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist and Clinical Psychologist Dr Ruth Schmidt Neven talks with Matt Tyler.

Matt is the executive director of the Men’s Project at Jesuit Social Services in Melbourne. He works with a team committed to reducing violence, preventing sexual abuse and supporting men and boys to flourish.

Through leading research, including the Man Box Project, these findings are translated into practice in the community.

#36 Music as the Food of Life with Vannie Ip-Winfield

In this episode, Dr. Ruth Schmidt Neven talks to Vannie Ip-Winfield, a Registered Music Therapist and Vice-President of the Music and Imagery Association of Australia.  Originally trained in classical piano, Vannie has used her skills in music therapy and psychotherapy for over 20 years in a wide range of settings, including an Early Parenting Unit, part of an Allied Health Team, in adult psychiatry and in aged care.

Ip-Winfield, V, Grocke, D. (2021). Virtual Group Music and Imagery (Grp MI) with healthcare staff during the COVID-19 pandemic in Melbourne. Australian Journal of Music Therapy, 32 (1), 97-111

Shoemark, Helen. (2017). Time Together: A Feasible Program to Promote parent-infant Interaction in the NICU. Music Therapy Perspectives. 36. 10.1093/mtp/mix004.

#35 Working with Adolescents at High Risk and their Families with Dr. Maria Papadima and Catherine Campbell

In this episode, Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist and Clinical Psychologist Dr Ruth Schmidt Neven talks with Dr. Maria Papadima and Catherine Campbell. Maria and Catherine are both UK-based child and adolescent psychotherapists who have developed a successful time-limited model of working with adolescents and their parents in an NHS adolescent crisis team.

Their time-limited model considers a crisis as a developmental opportunity that underlies the centrality of parent involvement as part of the therapeutic endeavour. Their paper in the Journal of Child Psychotherapy describing their pilot study is listed as one of the top ten read papers in the Journal and gives hope to professionals working in this challenging field.

Papadima, M. Campbell C. et al.  Brief Psychodynamic psychotherapy for adolescents and their families in crisis: A pilot study.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0075417X.2024.2414736  

Psychoanalytic Crisis Work with Adolescents: An Independent Approach (In Press)
https://www.routledge.com/Adolescence-in-Crisis-An-Independent-Psychoanalytic-Approach-to-Adolescent-Mental-Health/Papadima-Acheson-Tzikas/p/book/9781032972237 

Acheson, R. & Papadima, M. (2023). The search for identity: Working therapeutically with adolescents in crisis. Journal of Child Psychotherapy,  49(1), 95-119.

#34 Citizens in the Community: Creating a new vision for disability with Rhonda Galbally

In this episode, Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist and Clinical Psychologist Dr Ruth Schmidt Neven talks to Rhonda Galbally. They discuss her hugely distinguished career as a tireless advocate for disability reform, starting from her own personal experience and including her roles as a disability Royal Commissioner and on the Board of the Disability Insurance Scheme. Rhonda has also been at the forefront of reform with respect to health, welfare and mental health through the development of the Health Issues Centre, as the inaugural chief executive of the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation and as a Ministerial Adviser.

The official DRC website DRC Volume 7 online:
https://disability.royalcommission.gov.au/publications/final-report-volume-7-inclusive-education-employment-and-housing
 
Recommendations and summary PDF link:
https://disability.royalcommission.gov.au/system/files/2023-09/Final%20Report%20-%20Volume%207%2C%20Inclusive%20education%2C%20employment%20and%20housing%20-%20Summary%20and%20recommendations.pdf
 
Education:
https://disability.royalcommission.gov.au/system/files/2023-09/Final%20Report%20-%20Volume%207%2C%20Inclusive%20education%2C%20employment%20and%20housing%20-%20Part%20A.pdf
 
All Means All website: 
https://allmeansall.org.au/

#33 Who Happened to You with Dr. Matthew Roberts

In this episode Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist and Clinical Psychologist Dr Ruth Schmidt Neven talks to Dr. Matthew Roberts.
Dr. Roberts is a Melbourne based psychiatrist and psychotherapist clinical teacher and writer, and in this episode, he dives deeper into his extensive experience in perinatal mental health, his trauma informed clinical practice, and his father-inclusive work as one of the founders of the Australian Fatherhood Research Consortium.
Dr. Roberts has distilled his learning and clinical experience into a model called CRESTING that stands for Collaborative, Relational, Evolutionary, Somatic, Trauma-Informed Narrative Growth.

Australian Fatherhood Research Consortium: 
http://mappresearch.org/fatherhood-consortium

Richard Fletcher, The Dad Factor:
https://books.google.com.au/books?id=buVOYgEACAAJ&source=gbs_book_other_versions

Bruce Ecker et al, Unlocking The Emotional Brain:
https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/Unlocking_the_Emotional_Brain/wSxcEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0

Bessel van der Kolk The Body Keeps The Score:
https://books.google.com.au/books/about/The_Body_Keeps_the_Score.html?id=NKOOEAAAQBAJ&source=kp_book_description&redir_esc=y

Daniel Stern The Interpersonal World of the Infant:
https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/The_Interpersonal_World_of_the_Infant/MUtWDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0

Donald Winnicott Playing and Reality:
https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/Playing_and_Reality/JHMdZC08HhcC?hl=en&gbpv=0

For Bowlby, Jeremy Holmes John Bowlby and Attachment Theory:
https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/John_Bowlby_and_Attachment_Theory/30HFBQAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0
 
Dr. Roberts’ clinical science communication and social commentary blog: www.mydoctorshandwriting.com

Dr. Roberts’ psychotherapy, arts and culture blog: www.thenormalgrownup.com

Dr. Roberts’ solitary original sole author paper:
https://www.racgp.org.au/afp/2016/august/there-from-the-start-men-and-pregnancy

#32 It’s not Just Child’s Play with Dr. Jenifer Wakelyn

In this episode, Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist and Clinical Psychologist Dr Ruth Schmidt Neven talks with Dr. Jenifer Wakelyn child and adolescent psychotherapist, author and researcher in the UK. She is the founder of the innovative program Watch me Play! This is an intervention for caregivers and their babies and young children that with the support of a practitioner aims to enhance child development and caregiver relationships by promoting thoughtful individual attention and age-appropriate stimulation. The Watch me Play approach has been manualised and is disseminated across the UK and internationally.

References:

watchmeplay.info
 
Book chapter: Wakelyn, J. (2019) ‘Developing an intervention for infants and young children in care: Watch Me Play!’ In: Supporting Vulnerable Babies and Young Children, edited by Wendy Bunston and Sarah Jones (Jessica Kingsley).
Book: Wakelyn, J. (2020) Therapeutic Approaches with Babies and Young Children in Care: Observation and Attention (Karnac/Routledge). ISBN 978-1-782-20438-1
 Recent paper: Wakelyn, J. (2025) Psychoanalytic aspects of the Watch Me Play! approach: the psychic energy of attention, Infant Observation, DOI:10.1080/13698036.2025.2471778

#31 Hearing the Voices of Aboriginal Children and Young People with Meena Singh

Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist and Clinical Psychologist Dr Ruth Schmidt Neven talks with Meena Singh, Commissioner for Aboriginal Children and Young People in Victoria. Meena is a Yorta Yorta and Indian woman, born, raised and living on the land of the Kulin Nations. Meena commenced her legal career with Victoria Legal Aid where she practiced in human rights and criminal law and was the inaugural Asssociate Director Aboriginal Services. She has led legal services and programs at the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service and the Human Rights Law Centre as well as consulting in training and organisational development.

 

www.acfd.com.au
www.centreforchildandfamily.com

#30 Supporting Emotional Regulation in Children with Dr. Fiona Zandt

In this episode, Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist and Clinical Psychologist Dr Ruth Schmidt Neven talks with Dr. Fiona Zandt.

Dr. Zandt is a clinical psychologist and play therapist who works with children with a wide range of emotional, social and behavioural challenges and their families. Fiona has authored the acclaimed Creative Way series for therapists and runs creative child therapy workshops for professionals.

www.acfd.com.au
www.centreforchildandfamily.com

#29 Protecting our children with Liana Buchanan

In this episode, Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist and Clinical Psychologist Dr Ruth Schmidt Neven talks to Liana Buchanan, Principal Commissioner for Children and Young People for the State of Victoria. Liana is also part-time Commissioner of the Victorian Law Reform Commission. She has a background in oversight and system reform for people experiencing disadvantage and those affected by family and sexual violence and abuse.

www.acfd.com.au
www.centreforchildandfamily.com

#28 Parenting in the digital age with Dr. Catherine Jeffery

In this episode, Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist and Clinical Psychologist Dr Ruth Schmidt Neven talks to Dr Catherine Page Jeffery, lecturer in Media and Communications at the University of Sydney. Her current research addresses digital media and families with a particular focus on parenting in the digital age and its accompanying anxieties.

She is the author of a new book Parenting in a Digital World Beyond Media Panics: Towards a new theory of parental mediation, published by Routledge.

www.acfd.com.au
www.centreforchildandfamily.com