In Search of Contextually-Relevant Infant Mental Health Practice: A journey from practice back to theory

Presented by Nicki Dawson

This webinar will be presented live on Wednesday April 2, 2025 at 4pm US Eastern time. To register for the webinar, please click here. Through the kindness of the presenter, a recording of the webinar will be available here following the presentation.

Dr. Nicki Dawson

The development of attachment theories and infant mental health intervention models has predominantly relied on samples from Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic (WEIRD) contexts. These families represent less than 10% of the world’s population and are documented to be the outliers in the world, with regards to their parenting goals and practices. Despite great cultural diversity, parents from across the Majority World parent relatively similarly to one another, when compared to North American and Western European parents. On the back of growing investment into infant mental health intervention in the Majority Worlds, there is a call and ethical imperative to interrogate the contextual relevance of imported interventions. This lecture will detail the journey of the Ububele Trust's search for a contextually relevant approach to Infant Mental health practice for South Africa, highlighting the findings from three research studies as well as implementation research lessons. The lecture will also propose new research questions and directions for future research, in support of a more contextually relevant infant mental health practice for the future.

Dr Nicki Dawson is a clinician-researcher and Counseling Psychologist from Johannesburg, South Africa. She is the Research Development and Training Lead at the Ububele Educational and Psychotherapy Trust, a not-for-profit mental health service and training center in Johannesburg, South Africa, where her work focuses on attachment, infant mental health, parenting and early childhood development.

Nicki obtained her doctorate in psychology through the University of the Witwatersrand. Her doctoral research investigated the cultural and contextual applicability of sensitive responsiveness for the South African context. Nicki's research continues to focus on the contextual and cultural applicability of attachment and child development theory and research to South Africa and other Global South and Majority World settings.

Through her research efforts, Nicki hopes to ensure that diverse ways of being, and diverse child socialization and development goals, are considered and their developmental trajectories understood. Nicki also works as the clinical lead for Ububele's Parent-Infant services, which includes the Brazelton Institute NBO system alongside a basket of locally developed and adapted infant and maternal mental health interventions. Drawing on her research to inform culturally and contextually relevant practice, Nicki has helped develop a series of interventions including a Neonatal Consultation Service, a Parenting Course and a hybrid psychosocial maternal and infant mental health consultation service. Her work also involves supervising and training practitioners in contextually relevant Parent-Infant Psychotherapy and in the NBO System.

Nicki holds an honorary lectureship position at the University of Stellenbosch, as part of the Masters in Infant Mental Health Programme. She also runs a small part-time private practice in Johannesburg, with a focus on working with adoptive families.