Dr Amanda E Woodford

01/08/2026

Kia ora, Dr Emma van Daal from the Centre for Infant Wellbeing– welcome back to Aotearoa New Zealand!

I'm really looking forward to supporting Emma with the facilitation of Reimagining (parental) embodied mentalisation using creative arts workshop on Wednesday (5th August).

Still some spaces available. Bookings via

Professional Development for Practitioners

This 2 hour workshop draws from parental embodied mentalisation theory (Shai & Belsky, 2011, 2016) using

22/07/2026

UPCOMING PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE WORKSHOP–Reimagining (parental) embodied mentalisation using creative arts workshop. 5 August, 1-3pm at the Dunedin Public Libraries (City) Dunningham Suite.

I am really looking forward to supporting my once-upon-a-time Melbourne-based doctoral study peer, Dr Emma van Daal, with this workshop. A huge thank you to Emma and The Centre for Infant Wellbeing (https://infantwellbeingcentre.com.au) for sharing this wonderful work with us so that as professional practitioners we can contribute to helping our pēpi's and their whānau to experience a good start in life.

This workshop is suitable for creative arts therapists, counsellors, psychotherapists, psychologists, mental health workers, our legends from Plunket, and any professionals working with infants and parents who think this might be for them and those they companion (or you might want to in the future).

Bookings: https://www.trybooking.com/nz/BEMP
Spaces limited to 20 participants.

All materials are provided. No previous experience with a creative workshop or familiarity with embodied mentalisation required. Emma will guide us through it all.

15/06/2026

Looking forward to presenting alongside my MIECAT colleagues, Drs Karen Sydlik and Deborah Green. Will be a bit of an early start here in Aotearoa for a Sunday morning, but all for a good cause.

I am a huge fan of IACAET, and for anyone interested in the Creative Arts in Education and Therapy, I can highly recommend the annual membership.

Join us for an international online webinar bringing together leading professional organizations to discuss training, standards, and the future of the Arts in Education, Therapy, Community and Health. This second session in the Global Dialogue Series features representatives from the USA, Australia,...

05/05/2026

Sharing the link to the wonderful work of my NZ CAT colleague, Mara Elwood. I had the honour of supervising Mara for her Master's research, and we travelled to India together last year. Always a creative inspiration, Mara, and lived experience pain buddy.

If you are in Wellington, I hope you can pop along to see what it's like to live with pain through art...

Art and Pain: Living with chronic pain through art, is a powerful and deeply personal exhibition by Mara Elwood. Through her work, Mara shares insights into living with chronic pain, offering both reflection and connection through creative expression. Visitors are invited to contribute to a co-creat...

03/01/2026

An offering for Dunedin’s young folk by my good friend and colleague, Claire Rye.