Denise Guy is the immediate Past President of the Infant Mental Health Association Aotearoa New Zealand (IMHAANZ) and has recently been made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to infant mental health.
Dr. Denise Guy is a consultant Child Psychiatrist, a pioneer in the field of infant mental health (IMH), the social and emotional wellbeing of babies and young children from zero to four years. Working in this area for more than 35 years, Dr. Guy has supported the development of the IMH workforce across organisations including Naku Enei Tamariki, Whānau Āwhina Plunket, and Perinatal and IMH services in District Health Boards.
She supervises practitioners working with families and young children across areas including mental health, early intervention and early childhood education. And currently also holds teaching and advisory roles across the mental health sector.
Dr. Guy is founding Trustee of Incredible Families, which delivers programmes for parents and clinicians. From here she coordinates training in the ‘Watch, Wait and Wonder Intervention’, addressing problematic infant-parent relationships.
She is a founding member of IMHAANZ since 2006. As Vice President and President she developed two key initiatives, Facilitating Attuned Interactions (FAN), an internationally acclaimed model building relationships and reflective practice used by a variety of organisations, and Two Homes/Ngā Kainga e Rua which provides resources for the parents of babies and toddlers when they separate and/or live in two homes.
Message from the IMHAANZ Executive:
Congratulations Denise! And thank you from all of us for your ongoing and incredibly valuable contribution to the field of infant mental health in Aotearoa New Zealand. This recognition is so very well deserved. Ngā mihi nui.
