Draft:Kaylene Henderson

Education MBBS (Qld), FRANZCP, Cert (C&A Psych) Website www.drkaylenehenderson.com

Kaylene Henderson (born 4 January 1976) is an Australian Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist, parent educator and speaker. She is also well known for her work in the Early Childhood Care and Education sector.

Life and early career
Kaylene Henderson was born and raised in Brisbane, Queensland and later attended the University of Queensland, graduating with a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery in 1998. She went on to complete her specialist training in the field of Psychiatry and subspecialist training in Child & Adolescent Psychiatry in 2011. She is also a member of the Australian Association for Infant Mental Health.

Henderson spent her early career working within the public health sector, before moving into the field of educator and parent education from 2012 and establishing a public profile.

She is a parent of three children and now resides on the Gold Coast, Queensland.

Career and work
Henderson’s work focuses on sharing research based concepts, especially on the topics of building secure attachment relationships, emotional regulation and behaviour guidance, with early years educators and parents through her online resources and courses.

She also advocates for parents and educators learning how to guide and empower children with anxiety, having stated that the current model of individual therapy provision by mental health professionals is no longer sustainable, as evidenced by high demand and lengthy waiting lists. In 2024, she developed an online course for parents entitled ‘Courage Coaching’ to meet the need for more accessible anxiety education and support among families.

Henderson has stated that she chooses to work with both parent and educator audiences because she believes that shared knowledge and approaches across home and early education settings will provide the best outcomes for children.

Henderson has several professional partnerships within the early years sector. She is a Parent TV expert, has contributed to the Parental as Anything and Feed Play Love podcasts as well as other TV, radio and online media, authored a chapter for ‘Parents, this is the one thing you need to know’ and a regular parenting column for Nine Digital. In 2022, she also appeared in a media campaign at the request of the Children’s Week Council of Australia and has appeared in Early Childhood Educators Day campaigns along with other prominent Australians. She continues to speak at events around Australia.

Henderson is also noted to have shared her allyship for LGBTQIA+ youth and families on her social media platforms.