Location: Ringwood

Jacinta Horan-Smith
Counselling Psychologist
B.A.(Psychology and Sociology), GradDipAdol&ChPsych, MPsych (Counselling), MAPS, CCOUNP

Jacinta recognises that bringing an infant into the world comes with unique personal challenges to both parents individually, and as a couple. She acknowledges that becoming parents can be exciting, but understands that it can also be challenging and overwhelming. Jacinta is passionate about perinatal and infant mental health. She sees the perinatal period as a great opportunity for personal growth and change and offers a space to understand what becoming a parent means for each individual, often taking into consideration the parent’s own early experiences of being parented. She aims to support mothers and fathers as they meet challenges that may arise on their perinatal journey.

Jacinta uses a relational approach to help parents better understand the links between earlier life experiences and the challenges they are currently experiencing. She has an in-depth level of knowledge and understanding of the challenges that a new infant brings to the family, both at the transition to parenting and when adding a new sibling to the family. Jacinta has completed extensive trainings in this field including training with the ‘Circle of Security’ facilitators and regularly uses this framework to help enhance the attachment relationship between parents and infants. Jacinta enjoys working with mothers, fathers, their infants and toddlers in supporting sensitively attuned parent-infant interaction. She is passionate about providing a nurturing and accepting environment to explore unique ways to create loving connected families. Jacinta is also a trained Couples Therapist and as the perinatal period is a time of immense change, she aims to enhance the couple relationship by helping to build emotionally available couples and supporting them to work with challenges in their relationships.

Jacinta has more than twenty years experience in supporting families, throughout their pregnancy and their children’s early years. Working alongside couples as they face the challenges of fertility issues, perinatal loss, premature birth, birth trauma, and supporting mothers and fathers with significant perinatal depression and anxiety is a common presentation, as is difficulties with mothers and fathers bonding to their infants. She also supports families through loss and grief and in working through past or recent traumas. Jacinta always feels privileged to work with clients who have presented with perinatal loss. Frequently, she has supported these couples throughout their subsequent pregnancies.

Jacinta has developed a good understanding of the infant’s world and development, which has allowed for improved clinical work with infants, children and parents. She often has families presenting with infants struggling with sleep and settling issues, feeding issues, toileting issues, anxiety, emotional dysregulation issues and sensory issues. She provides a space for parents to see their infant as separate to them and she supports parents to be curious and to reflect on what is happening for their infant. She particularly enjoys parent-infant dyad work especially engaging in infant/child led interventions. Parents are encouraged to bring their infant to sessions.

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