View the KEYNOTE ADDRESS by Robin Balbernie here:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
The long-term consequences of maltreatment in the early years
About Robert Balbernie and the keynote address: The long-term consequences of maltreatment in the early years. The presentation will examine the evidence for the long-term effects of maltreatment in childhood, with an emphasis on the early years. Maltreatment is taken as a portmanteau term that includes emotional, sexual and physical abuse, neglect and abandonment, violence within the family, parentalmental illness that has a negative impact on care, and parental substance abuse. The presentation will include the causes and consequences of disorganized attachment; coupled with how direct abuse can leave a child struggling with feelings of shame and humiliation which may become lifelong unconscious dynamics. When this is also associated with compromised reflective functioning it can be a powerful risk factor behind a future tendency towards violent behaviour as well as contributing
towards the development of a range of mental illnesses. Some of the studies in this area will be presented; and these can be linked in to the neurobiological and physical health consequences of early maltreatment, many of which derive from early alterations in the stress response as the infant adapts to an inimical emotional environment.
Robin Balbernie is currently Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist in Gloucestershire CAMHS. For four days a week he works with the Children’s Centres in the county as clinical lead of the team providing an Infant Mental Health Service, known locally as ‘Secure Start’. He is also involved in work with the Intensive Baby Care Unit at Gloucester Royal Hospital and has been running supervision groups for Health Visitors for over 20 years. He has a special interest in early interventions, originally arising from his work with adopted children, and is on the committee of the Association of Infant Mental Health (UK) and a member of the Young Minds’ Policy and Strategy Advisory Group. Several years ago he was awarded a Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Travelling Fellowship to look at Infant
Mental Health projects in America. He has published papers in many journals, including the Infant Mental Health Journal, the British Journal of Psychotherapy, Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry, Young Minds and the Journal of Child Psychotherapy.
