PROGRAMS
Dr Pamela Douglas has developed Neuroprotective Developmental Care (NDC, also known as the Possums programs) over the past 25 years, following the principles of implementation science step by step.
Her ground-breaking theoretical work reframes the care of parents and babies across the domains of breastfeeding/feeds, infant cry-fuss and sleep problems, infant sensory-motor needs and parent mood, which she has interpreted applying the lenses of evolutionary biology, complexity science, medical and lactation science, and cross-cultural studies. This evidence-base has been published in about 20 systematic and meta-narrative research reviews in international journals.
Pam has translated this evidence into the innovative Possums or NDC programs for parents, and her education courses for health professionals, including NDC Masterclasses and NDC Accreditation. There are now 8 research evaluations of NDC demonstrating the benefits of NDC or the Possums programs for both parents and health professionals.
Pam offers Neuroprotective Developmental Care (or the Possums programs) to parents and health professionals. The new Possums Sleep Program for parents can be found at possumssleepprogram.com, and includes The gestalt method of fit and hold, When baby comes home, and other auxiliary programs. The NDC Institute for health professional training can be found at ndcinstitute.com.au, and includes NDC Masterclasses, NDC Accreditation and Maintenance of NDC Accreditation. The NDC Institute currently has over 340 health professional members.
STATEMENT BY DR PAMELA DOUGLAS CONCERNING THE CHARITY POSSUMS FOR MOTHERS AND BABIES PTY LTD, INCLUDING THE POSSUMS CLINIC
Updated 14 October 2023; 7 July 2024
I founded the charity Possums for Mothers and Babies Pty Ltd in February 2013. I resigned as a Board Director in June 2021 once I began to receive a salary from the charity. I tendered my resignation as Medical Director on 30 January 2023, due to grave and irreconcilable differences with the Board of Directors.
A new CEO commenced 22 November 2022. Throughout December 2022 in my documented or consensually recorded meetings with the CEO, and in January 2023 in my written and verbal reports to the Board of Directors, I addressed my grave concerns about solvency, and about the charity’s new directions, over which I now lacked control. I made recommendations that the charity must urgently downsize and stabilise, if it was to survive and thrive long-term. I communicated strongly to the Board that I could not support the business strategies being implemented, which included misrepresentations of facts. The Board of Directors did not respond to my concerns appropriately, after which I tendered my resignation.
I continued to own all of my intellectual property (the NDC or the Possums programs), most of which I'd generated without payment over the previous two decades and which I'd lent to the charity to use for as long as I consented. I'd personally trademarked multiple terms and programs which I'd created, including Possums, The Possums Clinic, and Neuroprotective Developmental Care Accreditation, commencing 2012.
On 26 August 2023 when the charity was delivered back into the hands of an Interim Board of Directors which I chaired, it was clear the charity had gravely misrepresented itself to the public and health professionals, and was severely insolvent. I and the Interim Board were required to immediately freeze trading, and place the charity into Administration.
David Clouts & Associates (DCA), Administrators for the charity Possums for Mothers and Babies Pty Ltd, delivered a Report to Creditors, available to the public through the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). This Report finds that Possums for Mothers and Babies Pty Ltd was trading whilst insolvent from at least January 2023, under a newly assumed trading name of 'The Possums Collective'. The PMB charity is currently undergoing liquidation by DCA.
I now bring my intellectual property and educational programs to the public through the platforms of The NDC Institute, possumssleepprogram.com, and drpam.au
Pam
14 October 2023, revised July 2024
A note re false online claims
Online claims that The Possums Clinic rebranded to become another Brisbane general practice are false, and mislead the public in order to commercially benefit that organisation and its clinicians. The Possums Clinic has never rebranded. You can locate doctors and health professionals who are Accredited in NDC or the Possums programs and who practice near you, by searching the map found here.