Australasian Marcé Society for Perinatal Mental Health Research Retreat - Reset and Rejuvenate

Lineup

• More details about Ariane Beeston

  Ariane Beeston

  Ariane Beeston is the author of the critically acclaimed Because I’m Not Myself, You See: A memoir of motherhood, madness and coming back from the brink, about her experience of postpartum psychosis. A former child protection caseworker and psychologist with NSW’s Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ), Ariane now combines her lived experience and clinical background as COPE’s Director of Clinical Content.

• More details about Hon. Associate Professor Grace Branjerdporn

  Hon. Associate Professor Grace Branjerdporn

  Hon. Associate Professor Grace Branjerdporn leads research and service development at Mater Catherine’s House for Mothers, Babies and Families, as well as Gold Coast Health’s Lavender Mother and Baby Unit. Operating alongside Queensland’s largest maternity hospitals, these services deliver both inpatient and outpatient perinatal and infant mental health care. An accomplished researcher, Grace has published over 72 peer-reviewed journal articles and secured more than $2.17 million in service development and research funding. Her research spans the entire continuum of care across the perinatal period. Recent projects cover diverse areas including digital support, mindfulness, rural and remote peer work, eating disorders, domestic and family violence, and culturally and linguistically diverse care. Her work also explores sensory modulation, breastfeeding, birth trauma, inpatient care, neurodiversity, perinatal loss, neurostimulation, and infant mental health. Demonstrating strong clinical leadership, Grace served as the Project Lead for the Queensland Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Statewide Guideline on “Screening and Response to Perinatal Mental Health Difficulties during COVID-19.” Additionally, she was the Clinical Lead for the submissions that successfully established Queensland’s 10-bed public mother-baby unit at Catherine’s House. Her contributions have earned her numerous accolades, including Mater Innovator of the Year and Bond University Medical Doctorate Research Supervisor of the Year. She has presented her research at TEDxUQ, won the 3 Minute Thesis Faculty Finals, and received an Occupational Therapy Australia Research Award. Furthermore, she led the development of the Psychosocial Interventions Framework—a project supporting mental health workforce capabilities—which was recognised with an Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care Certificate of Achievement. In her current roles, Grace fosters a culture of continuous improvement within health services, builds research capacity among clinicians, emphasises co-design, and facilitates quality improvement projects to embed high-quality, evidence-based care.

• More details about Dr Ashlea Hambleton

  Dr Ashlea Hambleton

  Ashlea is a Clinical Psychologist and Post-doctoral researcher at the InsideOut Institute. She has over a decade of experience working across various health services and settings, primarily supporting individuals living with eating disorders. Ashlea’s PhD focused on the implementation of an evidence-based treatment for Anorexia Nervosa into the NSW rural health system. Ashlea is the research lead of the national implementation of evidence-based ED care pathways and workforce upskilling in headspace and Medicare Mental Health services. Alongside this, Ashlea leads InsideOut's perinatal research, including the co-design and validation of the InsideOut Screener for the perinatal population, which is now being implemented in several perinatal services.

• More details about Dr Rachel Kalman

  Dr Rachel Kalman

  Dr Rachel Kalman is a General Practitioner working across a mixed-billing general practice in Sydney's Inner West and a specialist private eating disorders clinic in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs. She also serves as a GP Adviser and Research Officer at the InsideOut Institute for Eating Disorders, University of Sydney, where she contributes to research, education, advocacy and service development to improve outcomes for people experiencing eating disorders and strengthen their detection and management in primary care. Rachel has an interest in the intersection of eating disorders and women's health, with a focus on the perinatal period and the menopause transition. She has co-presented podcasts and webinars on these topics and is passionate about equipping clinicians with the knowledge and confidence to identify and support people living with eating disorders across all stages of life.

• More details about Steven Kennedy

  Steven Kennedy

  Steven Kennedy is the founder of the Prepared Dad Foundation, a registered charity supporting men as they transition to fatherhood. After the life threatening birth of his son, Steven established the foundation to provide first-time fathers with knowledge, confidence, and emotional tools so they are better able to support themselves and their families throughout the perinatal period.

• More details about Dr Siobhan Loughnan

  Dr Siobhan Loughnan

  Dr Siobhan Loughnan is a Senior Research Fellow and Co-Lead of the Care Around Loss program at the NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence in Stillbirth. Her research focuses on improving care and support for families affected by perinatal loss and spans perinatal bereavement care, health service innovation, and implementation science. With a background in perinatal mental health research, she has led the development and evaluation of digital mental health programs and is currently leading nationally significant research to strengthen perinatal loss care pathways and improve outcomes for bereaved families.

• More details about Professor Sarah Maguire BSc (Psych) Hons M.A. DCP PhD OAM

  Professor Sarah Maguire BSc (Psych) Hons M.A. DCP PhD OAM

  Sarah is a clinical psychologist and researcher with over 20 years’ experience in the field of eating disorders. She is the Director of the InsideOut Institute for Eating Disorders within the Faculty of Medicine & Health in partnership with Sydney Local Health District. Located with the Charles Perkins Centre InsideOut focuses on research, translation and service change for eating disorders at both the state and federal level. At the InsideOut Institute she leads a team with a broad research agenda, including biological, health systems, health economics, prevention, public health promotion, clinical intervention, co-production and translational research. She is the Chief Investigator on projects totalling over $30 million in competitive research and translation funding in the last 5 years, including $19 million National Research & Translation Centre for Eating Disorders, a national reform of headspace and Medicare Mental Health pathways to treat eating disorders, and clinical trials using novel psychological & biological interventions. She has over 120 peer-reviewed publications. The team at IOI passionate about changing the way treating disorders are perceived and treated within the health system and our community, driving for clinical excellence, providing policy leadership, research translation, and research that changes practice and outcomes. Sarah provides advice to governments and sits on service and policy development committees at both state and federal levels including those addressing Medicare reforms, child, adolescent & adult mental health service models, mental health redesign, and NHMRC and MRFF panel.

• More details about Melissa Malivoire

  Melissa Malivoire

  Melissa Malivoire works across consumer engagement, health research and lived-experience advocacy, with a particular focus on pregnancy and baby loss, perinatal care and palliative care. She contributes to a range of research projects, committees and national networks as a consumer representative, research partner, and committee member. This includes her work with the NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence in Stillbirth, where she coordinates parent engagement, chairs the Bereaved Parent Advocacy Committee and supports partnerships between bereaved families and researchers. Melissa also contributes to research and advisory groups across perinatal mental health, maternity care, neonatal care and palliative care. Melissa brings her own lived experience of neonatal loss to this work. She is particularly interested in how lived experience can contribute beyond storytelling or consultation, including shaping research questions, influencing decisions, strengthening governance and helping translate evidence into changes that matter to families.

• More details about Dr Julia Marsden

  Dr Julia Marsden

  Dr Julia Marsden is a Lecturer in Psychology at Southern Cross University and Clinical Psychologist with more than 10 years’ clinical experience, specialising in perinatal mental health. Her PhD examined compassion-focused approaches to women’s psychological adjustment to motherhood. Julia has published in leading journals including The Lancet Obstetrics, Gynaecology & Women’s Health, Psychological Medicine, BMJ Global Health, The British Journal of Psychiatry, Midwifery, and the Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology. Her work spans international and multidisciplinary collaborations in childbirth-related trauma and PTSD, maternal wellbeing, and psychological care following pregnancy loss. As a clinician-researcher, Julia is particularly interested in transdiagnostic psychological mechanisms and digital mental health interventions that translate psychological science into accessible care. She teaches and supervises undergraduate and postgraduate psychology students and is passionate about supporting emerging researchers to develop clinically meaningful and impactful research. Outside of work, Julia is a proud mum of two and animal lover with a gorgeous chocolate Labrador. She values family time, her Polish heritage, staying active, running, and taking on new sporting challenges.

• More details about Professor Gita Mishra AO, FAHMS, PhD, CStat

  Professor Gita Mishra AO, FAHMS, PhD, CStat

  Gita Mishra is a Professor of life course epidemiology and NHMRC Leadership Fellow (L3). Her research focuses on the links between reproductive characteristics, from menarche to menopause, and non-communicable diseases, such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Professor Mishra is the founding Director of the Australian Girl’s Health Research (AWaGHR) Centre, where she led the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health. She has also established and lead the International collaboration for a Life course Approach to reproductive health and Chronic disease Events (InterLACE) that now provides robust global data on women health. Across her a career she has published over 600 scientific papers, book chapters, and reports for government. In 2025, Professor Mishra was nominated as the President-elect for the World Endometriosis Society and was awarded both the Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for distinguished service of a high degree to Australia or humanity at large and received an Honorary Doctorate at Stockholm University for outstanding academic contributions. In 2026, she was appointed as a member of the Strategic and Technical Advisory Group (STAG) for the Human Reproduction Program, World Health Organization.

• More details about Dr Nicole Reilly

  Dr Nicole Reilly

  Nicole is a perinatal mental health researcher at the Graduate School of Medicine, University of Wollongong. She has a particular interest in population-level approaches to prevention and early intervention and in real-world health service evaluation. She is the current President of the Australasian Marcé Society for Perinatal Mental Health and the Regional Groups representative for the International Marcé Society. When she’s not working, you’ll find Nicole enjoying the beaches and rivers of the NSW south coast with her family!

• More details about Dr Karen Wynter

  Dr Karen Wynter

  Dr Karen Wynter is a perinatal mental health researcher at the Department of Psychology, Deakin University. She has worked as a researcher in various disciplines including Psychology, Nursing and Midwifery, Public Health and Psychiatry. Her research focuses on women’s and men’s transition to parenthood, including their mental health, relationships and experiences of engaging with health services. She is the Immediate Past-President of the Australasian Marcé Society for Perinatal Mental Health, and the co-convenor of the Australian Fatherhood Research Consortium.

• More details about Lija Austen

  Lija Austen

  Lija Austen is a fully qualified, experienced, and insured teacher of qi gong, yoga, and meditation. She regularly leads conference wellness sessions at Mantra, Kingscliff, and is the owner of Kingscliff Saltwater Studio, a local wellness center offering classes, workshops, and retreats. She has previously managed and facilitated training programs for interdisciplinary teams in the community and health sectors so she brings a depth of experience to her program facilitation.

• More details about Corina Renee

  Corina Renee

  Corina Renee is a Holistic Therapist who has a history of assisting Australia's leading spa & retreat destinations. Her work integrates mindfulness, somatic practices, sound-based relaxation & contemplative approaches to nervous system regulation, rest, & wellbeing. Corina is interested in the intersection of somatic interventions & whole-person wellbeing, offering an integrative approach that invites developing a greater sense of reflective insight & self compassion. Alongside her professional training, her services have been shaped by her own lived experience of healing, reinforcing her conviction in the value of evidence-informed, integrative approaches to wellbeing.