Support for Health Professionals
Changing the future for vulnerable babies
BrightPIP’s vision is to change the future for vulnerable babies, one baby at a time in Brighton and Hove. We want every baby in our community to grow up feeling safe, secure and loved. Our mission is to intervene at the earliest time with families to support parents to have positive relationships with their children. We intend to ensure parent-infant psychological therapy (PIP) is freely available to all families in Brighton and Hove who need it. We work with mums and dads/non-birthing partners, together or individually as suits you. BrightPIP is a registered charity (RCN 1177084).
Human babies are unique in the extent of their underdevelopment at birth. The brain is only partially formed when a baby is born. By the age of one, it has grown to roughly 70% of its final mass and by the age of three, to 90%. Research shows that the first few years of an infant’s life are a crucial period. The brain is so easily shaped by its environment that early experiences have life-long consequences.
Team
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Dr Kerry Taylor
Clinical Psychologist, Founder
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Olivia Sixsmith
CEO
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Dr Isobel Gammer
Clinical Psychologist
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Dr Bea Birtwell
Clinical Psychologist, Deputy Clinical Director
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Dr Victoria Thornton
Clinical Psychologist
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Dr Laura Williams
Clinical Psychologist, Clinical Director
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Caroline Squires
Project Coordinator
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Francesca Rutherford
Parent Infant Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist
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Helen Jones
Infant Mental Health Practitioner
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Anna Bryant
Trainee Infant Mental Health Practitioner
Safeguarding
It's really important that we keep all our young families safe here at BrightPIP. Our Clinical Director is the designated safeguarding lead for BrightPIP and there are two deputy safeguarding leads. All staff receive yearly safeguarding training and we practice safer recruitment with all staff and volunteers DBS checked, with DBS checks renewed annually. Our safeguarding policy is reviewed annually and signed off by our Clinical Director and Chair of trustees.
As a parent and as a clinician, I passionately believe that parents need to be cherished as they embark on the most vital task on earth; pregnancy, birth and the first years of caring for a tiny person who needs constant love and care. This is hard for all of us and I empathise with the parents who come into my care and would never judge them or jump to conclusions. I invite them to share their experiences and I listen. My training and experience mean that I have the honour of working alongside them at this important time. To understand and to move forward, to make things right – to help them reconnect.
