Karen Hazell-Raine is undertaking roles as Associate Professor and Associate Dean of Research and Research Training with the Faculty of Health. Karen is by training a Registered Nurse with graduate accomplishments in applied psychology, and has widened her practice in accordance with the transdisciplinary nature of healthcare systems. Her career is founded on extensive training and practice in process-oriented group psychotherapy, and subsequently integrative and dyadic (parent-infant) psychotherapies and counselling. She is an infant mental health specialist and has engaged in formal study of attachment theory and related assessment measures. Personality is central to Karen’s work in terms of human development in the context of the emotional quality of early relational experiences. In the spirit of simultaneously optimising both maternal and child mental health, her clinical practice, research, teaching and service development centre on maintaining a focus on mothers, their unborn children, infants and their relational environment.

Karen is committed to respectful and culturally safe practice with families who are expecting or caring for young children. And, therefore she aspires to use pronouns and language preferred by parents and other people involved with her research, teaching and practice.

She has near 40 years of real-world mental health experience equipping her with a high level of education and research translation capability. Her experience spans interdisciplinary clinical and strategic leadership and business administration, service development, education, quality improvement, Policy, advanced practice in specialist perinatal-infant mental healthcare, violence abuse and neglect services, and the dynamic maturational model of attachment and adaptation. Karen is an authorised trainer and maintains research capability in observational adult-infant and adult-toddler relationship methods.

Karen’s Doctoral research demonstrated proof of concept, that an antenatal measure of maternal personality is a stronger predictor of postnatal mother-infant relational quality than both antenatal and postpartum (perinatal) depressive symptoms.

Karen was the inaugural recipient of the Elaine Tolley Medal for mental health research, Westmead Medical Research Foundation.

As a longterm member of the World Association of Infant Mental Health and Australian Association of Infant Mental Health (AAIMH), Karen was foundation President of the Northern Territory Branch AAIMH.

Karen is registered to supervise higher degree research.

Research interests

• Antenatal detection of postnatal mother-infant relationship quality
• Perinatal/parental infant and child mental health (0-5 years)
• Early identification and intervention for maternal and infant/child mental health challengeAAIMH NT Branchs
• Perinatal/parental and child mental health in priority populations
• Observational adult-child (<5 years) relationship measures