Every baby deserves the chance to develop a secure, loving relationship with the people who care for them. At Oxford Parent-Infant Project (OXPIP), we provide free parent-infant psychotherapy to help families across Oxfordshire build those relationships during pregnancy and the first two years of life, laying the emotional foundations that children rely on for the rest of their lives.
Many of the families we support are living with the effects of anxiety, depression, trauma, domestic abuse, loss or poverty. These experiences can make it harder for parents to understand and respond to their baby’s emotional needs at the time when their relationship is developing most rapidly. Without support, these early difficulties can affect a child’s emotional wellbeing, relationships and mental health for years to come.
When a baby’s earliest relationship is stronger, everything that follows has a firmer foundation. Thanks to the generous support of our funders, more families can access OXPIP’s specialist parent-infant psychotherapy when they need it most. Working with parents and babies together, our therapists help parents understand what their baby is communicating, respond with greater confidence, and enjoy calmer, warmer and more connected relationships. Babies begin to feel safer and better understood, parents grow in confidence and families build the relationships that help children thrive.