Presentation 1: Parenting support for relative/kinship carers of children in child protection services

Abstract: When children are removed from their birth parents due to safety concerns, child protection policy prioritises placing them in relative/kinship care with relatives or trusted adults from their community or cultural group. In Australia, the number of relative/kinship carers is growing, yet many feel unprepared and unsupported in managing the complex challenges of their role, including caring for children impacted by severe abuse and neglect. If difficulties within these families escalate, the risk of placement breakdown rises, potentially resulting in additional trauma for children and families, as well as huge costs for governments associated with providing emergency accommodation.

In this talk, I’ll discuss an ongoing research program focused on implementing and evaluating an attachment- and trauma-informed program for relative/kinship carers in child protection services. The program, Connect for Relative/Kinship Carers, is implemented in partnership with out-of-home care agencies, and aims to strengthen parenting skills and the carer-child attachment relationship and enhance child and family wellbeing. I’ll share findings from our pilot trial, outline the larger-scale evaluation currently in progress and discuss future goals for program adaptation to meet diverse family needs.

Biography: Dr. Dave Pasalich is an Associate Professor and clinical psychologist in the School of Medicine and Psychology, ANU. His research aims to promote child and family mental health and wellbeing by i) examining risk and protective factors and ii) implementing and evaluating parent interventions, particularly for caregivers of children impacted by trauma. He is the Principal Investigator on several grant-funded trials of an attachment-based parent program for foster and relative/kinship caregivers. This research involves partnerships with multiple government and community agencies and is increasing the availability and quality of tailored parenting support in the out-of-home care system.

Presentation2 : Individualised, Home-Based Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation (tACS) in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) Treatment.

Abstract: Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a psychosocially debilitating mental health condition with limited treatment options. This pilot study reports the first home-based, double-blind, sham-controlled trial of personalised transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) therapy for OCD. Significant reduction in OCD severity was observed with a 6-week course of alpha-tACS targeting the medial prefrontal cortex, suggesting promising therapeutic potential. Notably, these benefits were sustained at the 3-month follow-up, indicating enduring treatment effects. Adherence to home-based tACS was satisfactory and no serious adverse events were reported. Our ongoing larger clinical trial aims to validate these results and explore underlying mechanisms, including tACS-induced neural activity changes.

Biography: Prabhavi Perera is an early-career research fellow at the ANU School of Medicine and Psychology and Monarch Research Institute, dedicated to advancing the field of mental health through exploring novel brain stimulation techniques. She received her PhD from Monash University, where she conducted a pioneering pilot clinical trial that investigated the efficacy of transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) as a potential treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Furthermore, as an accomplished scholar, Prabhavi has published numerous peer-reviewed articles in top-tier journals and has been awarded several research grants supporting her innovative work.