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Background: Perinatal mental health disorders are one of the leading causes of maternal illness and suffering and care and services need to be well coordinated by an interprofessional team who are skilled in working collaboratively., Aim: The aim of this paper is to describe the design and evaluation of an innovative interprofessional education initiative to increase midwives and other health professional students' knowledge and skills in caring collaboratively for women with psychosocial issues in the perinatal period, including women experiencing domestic and family violence., Methods: The Psychosocial Interprofessional Perinatal Education workshop was designed for midwifery, psychology, social work and medical students. It provided a simulated learning experience with case studies based on real life situations. Students undertook pre and post surveys to measure changes in students' perceptions of interprofessional collaboration and their experiences of participating in the interprofessional simulation-based learning activity. Quantitative survey data were analysed using paired t-tests and a qualitative content analysis was undertaken on the open-ended questions in the survey., Findings: Comparison of pre and post surveys found students from all disciplines reported feeling more confident working interprofessionally following the workshop. The following categories were generated from analysis of the open ended survey data: Greater understanding of each others' roles; Recognising benefits of interprofessional collaboration; Building on sense of professional identity; Respecting each other and creating a level playing field; and Filling a pedagogical gap., Conclusion: Through this innovative, simulated interprofessional education workshop students developed skills essential for future collaborative practice to support women and families experiencing psychosocial distress., Competing Interests: Declaration of interest The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest associated with this manuscript., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Background: A newborn baby is removed from his/her mother into formal care when he/she is considered at risk of serious harm and it is not in the best interests to go home with their parent(s) or carer(s). In New South Wales (NSW), this removal is known as an "assumption of care". This process is challenging for all involved especially when it occurs soon after birth. There is very limited research to inform midwives in this area of practice., Aim: To explore the experiences of midwives who had been involved in the assumption of care of a baby soon after birth or in the early postnatal period., Method: A qualitative descriptive approach was used. Ten midwives involved with the assumption of care of a baby were interviewed. A thematic analysis was undertaken., Findings: There were two overarching themes. "Being in the head space" represented the activities, tasks and/or processes midwives engaged in when involved in an assumption of care. "Being in the heart space" described the emotional impact on midwives, as well as their perceptions on how women were affected., Conclusion: Midwives described feeling unprepared and unsupported, in both the processes and the impact of assumption of care. They were confronted by this profound emotional work and described experiencing professional grief, similar to that felt when caring for a woman experiencing a stillbirth. In the future, midwives need to be provided with support to ensure that they can effectively care for these women and also manage the emotional impact themselves., (Copyright © 2015 Australian College of Midwives. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)