Panellists have generously contributed to our CPD webinars. Please note that they are not employed by MHPN, and we are unable to contact them or provide referrals on your behalf. Please do not send us patient details.
Ashleigh Allan is a Perinatal Lived Experience (Peer) Worker and mother of two, and a committed advocate for relational, trauma-informed perinatal and infant mental health care. She brings her lived experiences of perinatal mental health challenges and healing into her work, grounding her practice in connection, empathy and hope.
Ashleigh works within a specialist Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Service, where she contributed to establishing the specialised Perinatal Lived Experience Peer Worker role within NSW Health. She also works within an early intervention, relationship-focused program supporting families with infants and young children, with a focus on strengthening parent–infant relationships in the context of mental health challenges, trauma and psychosocial adversity.
Alongside her direct peer support work, Ashleigh plays a key role in the development of the emerging Perinatal Lived Experience Peer Workforce. She provides mentoring and reflective practice, contributes to education for clinicians and students, and is a co-design team member and co-facilitator of the Perinatal Interprofessional Psychosocial Education for Maternity Clinicians (PIPE-MC) program. She has also established communities of practice at both state and national levels to support connection and shared learning across the Perinatal Lived Experience Peer Workforce.
Ashleigh is also engaged in research and system-level advocacy, including leading a peer-led research project exploring the implementation of Perinatal Lived Experience Peer roles within health services. She is passionate about embedding lived experience within multidisciplinary care and strengthening the role of peer work in supporting infant and family relational health across services and communities.
