From pre-conception to post-birth, disturbance within the parenting journey is far too common and can have devastating effects on the mother, infant, partner and entire family.
The training is relational in approach and offers a thorough grounding in perinatal mental illness, how to work with it, the most common presentations, some of the common ethical dilemmas, working with neurodivergence and complex presentations (TFMR, postpartum psychosis, late miscarriage, loss in infancy, birth trauma). We will explore a multitude of themes including parental bonding, attachment and affect regulation and how fundamental these are in perinatal work. We will also cover working with fathers/partners and couples (including heterosexual, single sex and non-binary couples).
The course programme is as follows:
Training Day 1 - In Room - 5th September 2025, 10:00-17:00
What are we working with. Perinatal mental illness - pathology, normality or systemic failure?
The common presentations, confounders, and disturbance in the parenting journey.
Complex presentation -IVF, ART, donor, surrogacy, TFMR, psychosis
Training Day 2 - Online - 19th September 2025, 10:00-17:00
How to effectively plan the treatment
Attachment, bonding and affect regulation; working with the infant in the room; couples work
Training Day 3 - Online - 3rd October 2025, 10:00-17:00
The importance of Black, Asian and ethnic minority experiences of childbirth and parenting in the UK, Europe and worldwide
Training Day 4 - Online - 17th October 2025, 10:00-17:00
Working with creative methods to address the silencing, shame, and guilt
Training Day 5 - In Room - 7th November 2025, 10:00-17:00
Ethical dilemmas, Neurodivergence, Gender Identity & parenthood, working with disability and medical disorder (parent and/or infant),
parents with high dependency infants, or with terminal illness.
