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 psychotherapists 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. With the new family as focus, the organization gradually came to work in two key areas which have formed the basis of PIFA’s work ever since:

1. Direct support to vulnerable families around the time of birth and in their child’s early years and,
2. Training and support of other professionals who also work with new families.

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, across New South Wales. Three years ago PIFA decided to concentrate our resources in communities and areas of highest need. This move has led to the development of partnerships with various inner city agencies to bring our expertise to the most vulnerable and marginalized families, with a focus on urban Aboriginal families during pregnancy and during their children's early years.

PIFA’s work continues to be sustained by the same group of dedicated psychotherapists who commenced the groups in 1998 The number of consultants has doubled in recent years, but the original high standards for recruitment are maintained, as is the spiritual essence that was nurtured from the beginning.