Louise Newman


Louise Newman is an Australian developmental psychiatrist and clinical researcher currently based at Monash University, in Melbourne, Australia. She is an advocate for the mental health of asylum seekers.

Early life and education

Newman completed her secondary education in 1976 in Australia. She then continued to complete a Bachelor of Honours in Psychology in 1980 at The University of Sydney. Prime Minister of Australia Tony Abbott was a student there during this time. Based on her interest in abnormal psychology and a desire to carry out clinical work, she applied for graduate entry to Medicine. She was aged in her 20s and was among the first ten graduate entries to the degree of Medicine.
While studying medicine in Sydney, Australia she independently studied psychoanalysis to complement her education and training.
Newman then went on to specialise in psychiatry, in particular infant psychiatry and completed a PhD investigating trauma in infancy at The University of Sydney in this area, awarded in 2007.

Work in psychiatry

Following completion of her training, Newman worked as the Clinical Director of Child Psychiatry in South West Sydney and until 1997. Her focus during this period was largely on child mistreatment. While working in South Western Sydney in the 1990s, Newman was exposed to the plight of asylum seekers and recent immigrants in Australia. These events expanded her career focus to incorporate asylum seeker advocacy and mental health, specifically "working to ensure the trauma that some asylum seekers experienced in their homeland is not exacerbated by Australia's policy of mandatory detention"
Newman has a particular interest in the field of infant psychiatry where she specialises in working with parents with babies up to three years of age. These parents often have psychiatric difficulties themselves and the resulting transgenerational issues and impact of trauma on early development is one of her primary research interests. With research staff at Monash University, she is investigating the impact of interventions for high risk parents. In addition, Newman performs refugee research on school aged children investigating the impact of traumatic experiences both before they arrive in Australia and as refugees. She is a strong advocate for young refugees and works to highlight the damage that can be caused to young people by detention and the refugee experience in Australia.

Appointments

Taken from an interview with ABC Local Radio: