Our Clinical Team
Groups Lead, IAIM Certified Infant Massage Instructor, Infant Loss Specialist
Lesley O’Brien
Sharing the same aims, visions and values as DorPIP, and having the privilege of working in partnership with them provides Lesley with both hope and excitement for a purposeful and united approach to enable and support all new parents within our local community. Lesley has worked with many families who have shown her that the one thing that is eminent for many new parents is that early parenthood does not always bring the perceived joys that many marketing and romanticised promotions can lead us to believe. Feeling alone in your thoughts, your anxieties and your love and yet emotional distance from your new-born can lead to feelings of failure and detachment. Lesley has often seen how attending your first new baby group can help. Emotions, joys, anxieties, and tribulations can be shared honestly and safely, without judgement. With additional support if needed, the early journey of bonding and attachment can begin.
Designated Safeguarding Lead, IAIM Certified Infant Massage Instructor, Infant Loss Specialist
Claire Heaney
Claire is a group facilitator at DorPIP. She brings her wealth of professional knowledge as a Health Visitor of over 10 years and her own lived experience to the team. Claire’s focus is to emphasise the importance of early support for parents and infants, building that village and coping mechanisms, helping to strengthen parent-infant relationships through touch and play and promote lifelong emotional wellbeing for the whole family. When not working Claire can be found entertaining her two young and energetic boys or enjoying music at a festival or concert.
Adult Counsellor & Parent Infant Practitioner
Summer Cook
Summer started as a volunteer in 2021 and since then her role has grown along with DorPIP. Summer is an adult counsellor, IAIM infant massage instructor and onboards parents into our services. She offers parents a supportive space to explore their relationship with their baby, and understands what a range of emotions the first 1001 days can bring. When not working you'll find her enjoying a nice long dog walk.
Parent Infant Psychotherapist
Rosie Smith
Rosie is really passionate about supporting parents with young babies. Parenthood is often idealised but in reality it is usually much more complicated and challenging than we are led to believe. Everyone’s experience of parenthood is different, but we all need support and someone we can talk to about what is happening for us. In 2021 Rosie started training to become a Parent Infant Therapist and she has worked with CAMHS, Home-Start and in private practice. Rosie previously worked in the NHS with people with eating disorders and she lived abroad for several years.
Parent-Infant Relationship Community Lead
Ines Morrell, MA
During Ines’ 25+ years of working with children of all ages and their families, including children’s mental health services and children with disabilities, Ines has always been curious about parent-child relationship and how it is formed. Ines recently completed a Master’s in psychoanalytic observational approach which included infant observation from birth to the baby’s second birthday. She found it was the best learning about babies’ early communication and how their own sense of self starts to develop through their interactions with their primary carers.
Ines loves creating nurturing and containing spaces in her infant massage groups, as there is a real oxytocin boost created by being together! Babies learn a lot through their sensory experiences, touch being the most important one. How we hold babies is the foundation to their cognitive, emotional and physical development. It is where trust starts to develop and that includes trust in our capacities that we can be good enough for our children.
Clinical Psychologist
Anna Kidd, CPsychol DClinPsy
Anna is a Chartered Clinical Psychologist with more than sixteen years of qualified experience, primarily in NHS Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS). Anna has a wealth of experience supporting parents and carers adjust to the challenges of parenthood. Anna uses a range of theoretical and therapeutic approaches, grounded in a relational attachment-focused perspective to support you and your baby strengthen your understanding of each other and deepen your connection.
Anna tailors support to you by drawing on therapies such as Dyadic Development Psychotherapy, Mentalisation-based Therapy, and Video Interaction Guidance, helping you and your baby feel more connected and understood. Anna uses a warm, collaborative approach, creating a safe space where you can explore what’s been difficult for you and reconnect with your hopes and strengths.
The team at DorPIP is made up of our Trustees, Clinical Staff and Operational Staff and Volunteers.
Click a section below to find out more about them.
