Emma Toone

Emma is a child psychotherapist and member of the Victorian Child Psychotherapy Association, Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Association of Australasia, and President of the Victorian Branch of the Australian Association for Infant Mental Health. Alongside her private consultancy work, she teaches psychoanalytic and developmental theories in the Department of Psychiatry at Monash University; provides infant-parent, child and adolescent psychotherapy supervision in the Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne; and holds an honorary research role with the Judith Lumley Centre for Mother, Infant and Family Health at La Trobe University. 

In Berry Street, Emma’s work has focused on helping babies and children to recover in their relationships with their mothers, fathers and families after violence. Based on her practice with children and mothers accessing family violence services at Berry Street, and integrating emerging clinical literature, she prepared the Berry Street supplementary submission to the Royal Commission into Family Violence and was called to provide evidence on this population. Emma completed a review of international best practice for safely intervening with babies, children and their fathers after violence. Emma coordinates the Melbourne Child-Parent Psychotherapy training cohort, led by international trainer Professor Julie Larrieu; and advises on the Australian Child-Parent Psychotherapy feasibility study led by researchers from the Judith Lumley Centre, La Trobe University and the University of Melbourne.