Gidget Foundation Australia has announced the appointment of a new Non-Executive Director, Dr Alice Dwyer, to the Board, effective immediately. Dr Dwyer joins a remarkable Board of Directors advocating for perinatal mental health awareness, support and services. 

Dr Alice Dwyer has worked in perinatal and infant mental health settings for almost a decade, both as a trainee psychiatrist and as a consultant psychiatrist and psychotherapist. Dr Dwyer has worked across inpatient mother-baby units, community outpatient clinics, as a private practitioner, and been fortunate enough to be supervised by Professors Bryanne Barnett and Marie-Paul Austin 

She also has extensive experience in assessing, formulating, and treating parent-infant dyads utilising a biopsychosocial approach, is trained in short, medium, and long-term psychotherapeutic approaches including CBT, DBT, EMDR, as well as psychodynamic psychotherapy. 

Dr Dwyer was nominated as the Trainee Representative for NSW for the Royal and Australian New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) from 2010 to 2011 and has continued to engage positively engage as a Fellow of RANZCP. She successfully applied for the RANZCP Block Memorial Scholarship in perinatal and infant psychiatry and two separate training Fellowships through the Health Education and Training Institute (HETI) under the auspices of NSW Health. 

As a Fellow of RANZCP, she has received invitations to teach at the Brain Mind Institute (The University of Sydney), the Westmead Complex Trauma Program (The University of Sydney) and was recently successfully nominated to be the Secretary of SIGPIP. In 2020 she was invited as a co-author for a publication reviewing the use of medication in women struggling with OCD in the perinatal period. 

Dr Dwyer’s core interests include further understanding the transgenerational transmission of attachment relationships, how to support the development of secure attachment in the parent-infant dyad, service development and models of care in perinatal and infant mental health. Further, Dr Dwyer is a passionate advocate for increased accessibility for comprehensive trauma-informed interventions for this patient population. 

Of her appointment to the Board, Dr Dwyer said, “I am deeply honoured and incredibly proud to be joining Gidget Foundation Australia. The work the Foundation does is so essential in supporting new mums and dads out in the community, and in the current climate, there are more parents than ever needing extra support in these uncertain times.” 

“Together, I look forward to empowering new parents and providing them with essential education about the services available to support their mental health, how to overcome those feelings of overwhelm and supporting new parents to rebuild their emotional wellbeing,” Dwyer said.  

Chairperson of Gidget Foundation Australia, Kara Nicholls, said of the appointment, “We are delighted to have Dr Alice Dwyer join the Board and bring with her a wealth of knowledge for how we can better support expectant and new parents throughout their perinatal journey. As always, our mission is to promote the importance of emotional wellbeing during this time and ensure that those in need receive timely, appropriate and supportive care. 

“Alice’s experience working across public, private, not-for-profit and non-government organisations speaks to her incredible breadth of skills and understanding. Her clinical experience in complex psychotherapy will further complement the Board’s clinical capabilities. I speak on behalf of all Directors when I say we are genuinely honoured to welcome her to the organisation,” Nicholls said.