Child Development, Behaviour and Mental Health

Wednesday 18 March 8:00am-9:00am

Speaker
Adj. Clinical Assoc. Professor Katrina Harris is a Paediatrician at Monash Children’s Hospital. She is Head of Developmental and Community Paediatrics and leads Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) services.

Wednesday 13 May 8:00am-9:00am AEST

In this session, we will discuss the importance of supporting adolescent health and the role of the clinician in building safe and successful partnerships with adolescents in clinic. We will run through some practical approaches to ‘engaging adolescents’, including having a developmental and strengths based approach to supporting the young person and their growing capacity.

Speaker
Dr Debi Feldman is a paediatrician with extensive experience working with children and adolescents, with over a decade experience with the Department of Adolescent Medicine at the Royal Children’s Hospital.

Wednesday 29 July 8:00am-9:00am AEST

The ISAID (Improving Support for Autism and Intellectual Disability) program at The Royal Children's Hospital (RCH) is designed to support families following an emergency department presentation with behaviours of concern (e.g. aggression, self-injurious behaviour, property damage). It offers up to three months of tailored support from a multidisciplinary team—including a behavioural paediatrician, social worker, and care navigators—who collaborate with existing healthcare providers.

Speaker
A/Prof Daryl Efron is a paediatrician who has worked at the Royal Children’s Hospital for 30 years and currently holds appointments as a general paediatrician in the department of General Medicine at the Royal Children’s Hospital, associate professor in the University of Melbourne Department of Paediatrics, and senior research fellow in the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute.

Wednesday 2 September 8:00am-9:00am AEST

Speaker
Dr Chidambaram Prakash is the Director of Mental Health at The Royal Children’s Hospital.

Friday 6 November 9:00am-10:30am AEDT

Speaker
Dr Catherine Marraffa is the Deputy Director of Neurodevelopment and Disability at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, specialising in developmental paediatrics.

Friday 6 November 10:45am-12:15pm AEDT

Speaker
Prof Lynn Gillam is the Academic Director of the Children's Bioethics Centre at the Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne.

Friday 13 November 9:00-10:30AM AEDT

Speaker
Dr Stefanie Louey is a Paediatric Respiratory and Sleep Medicine Physician.

Friday 13 November 10:45am-12:15pm AEDT

Speaker
Sonia Marson is a Senior Speech Pathologist.

Dr Billy Garvey is a developmental paediatrician with over 20 years’ experience working with children. He is a developmental paediatrician at the Royal Children's Hospital, where he sees families, trains clinicians and other professionals working with children and conducts research in child development and mental health. Following his Churchill Fellowship he founded Guiding Growing Minds, a social enterprise that aims to give all children the opportunity to reach their potential and live rich and meaningful lives. The Pop Culture Parenting podcast is a part of this vision. He has also written a book called Ten Things I Wish You Knew About Your Child’s Mental Health.

Associate Professor Gehan Roberts is a developmental-behavioural paediatrician and holds appointments with The Royal Children’s Hospital's Centre for Community Child Health, the Murdoch Children's Research Institute, and the University of Melbourne. Gehan completed his clinical fellowship in child development at the Boston Children's Hospital. He has a Masters in Public Health from Harvard University and a PhD in the field of child development from the University of Melbourne. Gehan is the Deputy Director of the Centre for Community Child Health, leading Clinical Services and the Victorian Training Program in Community Child Health. Gehan is a past-President of the Australasian Society for Developmental Paediatrics, the peak body for Australasian doctors who care for children with developmental disorders.

Sarah König is a speech pathologist, facilitator and clinical educator who believes that real learning happens when we feel connected, curious and safe. She has spent her career working across diverse health, education and community settings, supporting children, families and the professionals alongside them. Sarah is passionate about strengths-based, neurodiversity-affirming approaches, and holds a deep respect for the wisdom people already carry. She loves creating spaces that feel engaging and human, spaces where people can reflect, experiment and grow their practice with confidence.

Adj. Clinical Assoc. Professor Katrina Harris is a Paediatrician at Monash Children’s Hospital. She is Head of Developmental and Community Paediatrics and leads Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) services. Dr Harris is a member of the National FASD Advisory group, Adjunct Clinical Associate Professor at Monash University in Paediatrics, and National examiner for the Royal Australasian College of Physicians. Having trained in Melbourne and Darwin, she has worked in Northern Australian regional settings, and as well as metropolitan. She has extensive expertise and experience in caring for children with neurodevelopmental impairments and their families.

Dr Harris has a subspecialty interest in Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). Through Australian Government, state, and philanthropic grants totalling over $13M, she has established a Victoria wide FASD diagnostic assessment service for children 3-10 yrs (VicFAS), services for mothers and babies affected by alcohol (Jacana service) and Pathway to Good Health for children in out of home care. This ongoing clinical and research work integrates training medical and allied health practitioners, in order to facilitate a workforce skilled at supporting families and their children with developmental impairment associated with alcohol.

Dr Debi Feldman is a paediatrician with extensive experience working with children and adolescents, with over a decade experience with the Department of Adolescent Medicine at the Royal Children’s Hospital. She is passionate about clinical leadership and building community capacity through partnerships, education and research. Debi has an interest in ethics and health law, and is a long term Educational Supervisor for the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, a member of the RCH Clinical Ethics Response Group, and an executive member of the Senior Medical Staff Association. Debi believes that all children and young people should have access to high quality, evidence based health care, and she is a passionate advocate for a strengths based approach to improving health outcomes for all young people.

Connie has been a physician in the Department of Adolescent Medicine at the Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH) since 2021. She is currently seconded to the RCH Mental Health team, where she is working in a new role as an Alcohol and Other Drugs Consultant.  She also works as an Addiction Medicine physician at St Vincent’s Hospital, Melbourne, where she oversees the Young Adult Clinic since its inception in 2023.  

Daryl is a paediatrician who has worked at the Royal Children’s Hospital for 30 years and currently holds appointments as a general paediatrician in the department of General Medicine at the Royal Children’s Hospital, associate professor in the University of Melbourne Department of Paediatrics, and senior research fellow in the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute.

Daryl is active in research into better ways to treat children with developmental disorders such as autism, ADHD and Tourette syndrome.

He sees children with a wide range of health concerns, from babies through to teenagers, and enjoys working with families to develop creative solutions to difficult problems.

Dr Chidambaram Prakash is the Director of Mental Health at The Royal Children’s Hospital. Prakash is a child and adolescent psychiatrist of 25 years’ experience with special interests in neurodevelopmental disorders, neuropsychiatry, acute and consultation psychiatry. Prakash is leading a reform process in RCH Mental Health to modernise the risk management system and extend risk assessments beyond suicide, self-harm and aggression to include developmental and psychosocial risks. This will have wide reaching impact on mental health and behavioural risk assessments in clinical practice across RCH.

Dr Catherine Marraffa is the Deputy Director of Neurodevelopment and Disability at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, specialising in developmental paediatrics. She is involved in clinical care, research, and teaching in this field.

Professor Lynn Gillam is the Academic Director and Clinical Ethicist at the Children's Bioethics Centre (CBC). She is an experienced clinical ethicist, originally trained in philosophy and bioethics. Lynn is also Professor in Health Ethics at the University of Melbourne in the Department of Paediatrics.

At the CBC, Lynn leads clinical ethics case consultations, ethics rounds and education sessions for RCH clinical departments. She also provides policy advice and leads research into a range of issues in paediatric clinical ethics - including end of life decision-making, management of differences of sex development, information-giving to children, and parental refusal of treatment.