Title: It Starts at Birth: Understanding the Impact of the Birth Experience on Bonding and Attachment
Date: March 13th, 2025
Time: 10am- 11am CST/ 11am- 12pm EST
Description:
The experience of birth lays the foundation for a child’s early relationships and overall development. This presentation explores the impact of birth on bonding and attachment, highlighting how adverse birth experiences can influence the parent-infant relationship. We will examine the physiological and emotional effects of these types of experiences, the signs of disrupted and healthy attachment, and strategies for promoting healing and secure connections. Participants will gain a deeper understanding of how to support families in the critical early months, fostering resilience and healthy attachment from the very beginning.
Learning Objectives:
Identify the potential physiological and emotional effects of adverse birth experiences on infants and caregivers, and how these experiences may influence early bonding and attachment.
Recognize the signs of disrupted attachment following a birth with adverse experiences and understand the long-term implications for infant mental health and development.
Apply evidence informed strategies to support parents and caregivers in fostering secure attachment and resilience in the early postpartum period.
Presenter(s):
Stacie Rosa, PCD (DONA), IMH-E®
Stacie, the Birth Worker Sector Coordinator at AIMHiTN, joined AIMHiTN's mission in 2023. Drawn to the processes of life since she was a little girl, her interests became finetuned as she came to understand birth first-hand as a young mother. While raising her family, she pursued education in lactation education and doula work.
The impact of compassionate, continuous support has a profound impact on a family's well-being and growth. The ability to obtain education on perinatal health, the changes that take place in pregnancy, the intricacies of labor and birth, and the big shift of then caring for yourself and your new baby is pivotal to a heathy and deeply satisfying birth experience. There lies her passion in creating a space to support the birth worker community! The invaluable work that birth workers do has a lasting impact on not only the parents but on the infants they bring into our world.
Kristin Dunn, MS, CTRS, IECMH-E®
Kristin Dunn, MS, CTRS, IECMH-E®, embarked on her journey with AIMHiTN’s team in May of 2019. Her educational journey took her to the University of Tennessee at Martin, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in Child and Families Studies with a minor in Political Science. This was followed by acquiring a master’s degree in Recreational Therapy from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville.
Upon graduation, Kristin seized the opportunity to head to Washington DC and work with the Children Rights Council, advocating for children to have access to both parents. Her path then led her to provide Recreational Therapy for adolescents in residential treatment in Chattanooga, TN. For a significant part of Kristin's career—10 years—she dedicated herself to Prevention and Early Intervention Services in Knoxville, TN, contributing to programs like the Healthy Families Home Visiting Program and the Regional Intervention Program. Guiding both her professional endeavors and personal life is a simple yet profound motto: "Every child (person) should know a little joy everyday".