Danielle Atkins was awarded an Information 4 Disability scholarship last week that will see the clinical therapy specialist and her young family heading to Australia.
But she has no plans to say goodbye to the children she works with at Hawke's Bay Hospital's child development service just yet.
Mrs Atkins will use
the $5000 scholarship money to help fund studies in perinatal and infant mental health at the Institute of Psychiatry in New South Wales that will begin next year.
Mrs Atkins said she was a "mother and a parent first", so would remain based in the Bay.
Her partner, Jon, and 16-month-old Oscar would join her on biannual trips to Australia for week-long blocks of lectures during the three or four-year post-graduate degree.
She was "absolutely thrilled" to receive the scholarship. "I am very passionate about what I do and I want to learn more about mental health."
The post-graduate study would increase her knowledge and skill base, and those skills would be used to provide best patient care at Hawke's Bay Hospital, she said.
She would retain her education and research roles at the hospital while studying, and continue clinical work with premature babies, and children with cerebral palsy and neurological difficulties.
The scholarship also meant Mrs Atkins would spend a year on Information 4 Disabilities' board of trustees.
Napier Mayor Barbara Arnott and Napier's Labour MP, Stuart Nash, attended the ceremony, which also celebrated the organisation's 20 years of community service and honoured its founder, Phillipa Morrison.
Information 4 Disability chairperson Mary King said several scholarship applications were received, but Mrs Atkins was an outstanding candidate.
"She's very forward thinking. She saw the need and she's going to do something about it."
