18 August 2020
Due to Covid-19, working remotely to provide therapy for parents, care-givers and their infants during pregnancy and postpartum has become essential. This new guidance addresses the practical and clinical challenges of working remotely with parents during and after pregnancy.
Written by the BPS’ Division of Clinical Psychology’s Faculty of Perinatal Psychology, the guidance aims to support clinicians to develop skills in delivering technologically-mediated psychological interventions.
Outlining specific considerations for working with pregnant women and primary care-givers of 0–2 year olds, the document covers the breadth of support perinatal and parent-infant psychologists are trained to deliver, including individual, couple, group, and parent-infant interventions. It also explores working with people who have experienced trauma during the perinatal period, and offers advice on self-care for the therapist.
Dr Rachel Mycroft, Chair of the Faculty of Perinatal Psychology said:
“Delivering interventions remotely places different demands on therapists compared to working face-to-face. For many, this is a new way of working, but it is rapidly becoming more familiar to us, as are its benefits and challenges.
Key to the success of working remotely with parents and families is to ensure the psychological intervention is tailored to meet their unique needs, so it’s important that each practitioner adapts this guidance to their clients' particular circumstances."