Less than a generation ago many parents with mental illness would have been institutionalised and children from these families were often placed in long term care. In the context of changes which have lead to deinstitutionalisation and the current emphasis on keeping children in their families wherever possible, the Benevolent Society launched the 'Families Together' program in 1994 to lessen or prevent the negative effects of parents' mental illness on their infants' development.

Because early life experiences have been shown to have disproportionate importance in organising the mature brain, early intervention to prevent or ameliorate disturbances in the earliest nurturing experiences is of critical importance. This is particularly important to children in families where parental mental health issues may lead to disruptions in the parent child relationship.

This presentation will discuss how secure attachments contribute to the development of resilience and use case examples from work in the Benevolent Society's Families Together program to explore how attachment is facilitated in families where a parent has a mental illness.