Talking Child Development

In this episode of Talking Child Development, Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist and Clinical Psychologist Dr Ruth Schmidt Neven talks with Tracy Christophi. Tracy is a child and adolescent psychotherapist originally from the UK but now based in Western Australia. In her earlier career as a mental health nurse specialist, Tracy has firsthand experience of the devastating impact of traumatic early experience on later childhood and adolescence.

Tracy is passionate about helping children and young people who have experienced relational and developmental trauma. She has written a brief guide for parents and carers to help them understand complex trauma and its effects on children.

https://childpsychotherapyperth.com.au/2025/06/02/supporting-children-after-trauma/

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.

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.

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.

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/