Our History

Following requests for help from a number of new parents in 1998, Father Peter Quin SJ and Norma Tracey (psychoanalytic psychotherapist) gathered together a group of therapists in private practice to offer parenting groups on Sydney’s lower north shore. In this way the founders of PIFA were able to bring the experience and skills of key professionals in the field of parent child relationships to clients who would normally not be able to access this level of expertise.
From the earliest days, the work of PIFA has been based on the understanding that the quality of the earliest relationship of mother, father and baby forms a foundation for later life.
PIFA has grown steadily through the years to include a collection of innovative and respected programs serving vulnerable families and the professionals who support them.
In 2004 PIFA decided to concentrate its resources in communities and areas of highest need. This meant a continuation of our group work with women severely effected by post natal depression but also led to the development of partnerships with various Aboriginal agencies to enable us to support urban Aboriginal families.
As well, PIFA has developed a partnership with the Department of Corrective Services to conduct a therapeutic group for women with care of their children at Emu Plains Prison's Jacaranda House and to support these women post release as they transition into the community.
PIFA’s work continues to be sustained by the same group of dedicated therapists who commenced the groups in 1998 but they have been joined by others until our number of consultants has doubled in recent years.The original high standards for recruitment are maintained, as are the values and professional ethics which have been nurtured from the beginning.