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North London, NHS Foundation Trust
Infant crawling amongst toys in bedroom

Infant observation in the perinatal period (CPD86)

Enhance practitioners’ skills and understanding of infant observation during the first 1,001 days

Infant observation
Course type
Bespoke CPD
Qualification
CPD certificate
Register your interest
Enquire now

This course is designed to be commissioned by organisations for groups of multi-disciplinary practitioners working with women and families during the perinatal period, including those working at Best Start Family Hubs and Healthy Babies services. It can be run either as a standalone training or as part of tailored options.

If you are interested in exploring this training and its suitability for your service or team, please ‘Register your interest’ using the button at the top of this page.

Find out about government funding for perinatal mental health training for Best Start Family Hubs and Healthy Babies programmes.

Aims and learning objectives

This course will allow you to:

  • develop sensitive and reflective observational skills in relation to infants and mother-infant relationships
  • expand your understanding of early, ordinary emotional development of parent-infant relationships and communications, both conscious and unconscious
  • develop a reflective stance and encompass observations when reflecting on complex cases in the workplace
  • discuss key literature and make links to clinical work
  • develop the ability to keep in mind the needs of the mother, infant and mother-infant relationship when undertaking clinical work

Who is this course for?

This course is suitable for multi-disciplinary practitioners working in a variety of universal and specialist settings with women, birthing people and families during the perinatal period.

This includes:

  • health visitors or health visitor assistants
  • support workers
  • children’s centre or early years practitioners
  • perinatal mental health nurses
  • nursery nurses
  • occupational therapists
  • social workers
  • psychiatrists
  • clinical or counselling psychologists
  • practitioners within social care
  • neonatology nurses
  • practitioners working within Best Start Family Hubs or Healthy Babies services

Course details

This course runs for 12 weeks online, via Zoom.

After a 1.5 hour introductory session to discuss observation arrangements a few weeks before the course starts, the following 11 weeks consist of four hours of live online teaching per week in addition to 3.25 hours of self-directed study for observing a baby, writing observation notes and preparing for reading seminars.

The total course duration is 81.25 learning hours.

The 1,001 days from conception to an infant’s second birthday form a significant and influential phase in development and establish the foundations for the best possible start in life. Undertaking parent-infant observation helps practitioners to understand relationships in this critical period – a stage where one in five women and birthing people experience mental health difficulties.

This 12-week CPD course supports multi-disciplinary practitioners, who work with women and birthing people experiencing mental health difficulties, and their families, to better understand how infant observation can be used in clinical work.

Alongside parent-infant observations, participants will be supported by expert clinical trainers and peers to expand their knowledge of infant development and relationships during the first critical 1,001 days.

Participants will learn through a variety of practice, reflection, literature and discussion and after completing the course, feel confident in applying new skills to their role.

This course will focus on developing observational skills and how to utilise these in reflecting on parent-infant relationships and keeping the infant in mind.

Participants will need to undertake an infant observation in addition to attending the training. We will share how to set up this observation during the introductory and initial seminars. The infant can be of any age up to one year and should be from a family not known to services. Participants will be required to visit the family in their own home once a week and write up notes afterwards, which are discussed in the seminars.

During the infant observation seminars, practitioners will develop observational skills in relation to mother–infant relationships and reflect on the emotional impact of the observations on the observer.

Participants will also take part in work reflection seminars, taking it in turns to bring a case that they are working with for reflection.

As the course progresses, practitioners will be encouraged to bring observations from clinical work. Attention will be paid to the emotional impact on practitioners and the wider dynamics in the system. Participants will be provided with literature, including texts on work in different settings to discuss during seminars and reflect on in relation to the observations and work discussions.

Participants on this course must be able to supply a copy of an enhanced workplace DBS dated within three years of the course start date.

Training for organisations

This course forms part of our bespoke online training, which can be adapted to your workforce requirements and availability.

We can be commissioned to support:

  • consultations to help identify training needs and knowledge gaps
  • perinatal mental health, risk, care and treatment training at beginner, intermediate and advanced (postgraduate) levels
  • live reflective sessions, as well as training on how to facilitate these in your own organisation
  • infant observation and interventions
  • trauma-informed care

For more information on how we can support your organisation, please contact us.

Testimonials

“I found the course very enjoyable and catered for my needs as a community perinatal nurse. It highlighted the crucial role that infant observation plays in the perinatal field and, by completion of this course, I am more confident to use the skills obtained in my everyday work in this field.”
Student
“The infant observation was such a brilliant training. The facilitators are so knowledgeable and supportive.”
Student
“I think infant observation training is an indispensable learning method for all mental health professionals, even working directly with infants or not. It offers the experience of observing an infant’s relationships and reactions in the family and then discussing observations in group supervision. These activities helped me reflect on development in this stage of life, especially when I observe babies in my clinic, but also drew my attention to the adult’s history of childhood.”
Student
“I really enjoyed having dedicated time every week to reflect on the importance of parent-child observations. Although my observations were undertaken over a brief three-month period, it felt like a privilege to observe the parent-child relationship evolve and develop over that time.”
Student
“I enjoyed the course and found the reflections and discussions that emerged from it useful, as my day-to-day role is quite busy and demanding. It is often spaces for these types of discussions that are the first to go, so I appreciated having some protected time to be present and engage with other professionals in similar but varied contexts.”
Student

Why study with us?

Tavistock Education and Training is a leading provider of perinatal mental health training. We offer a wide range of life-changing CPD and postgraduate courses, drawing on over a century of work at the forefront of mental health and wellbeing. As part of North London NHS Foundation Trust, we ground your learning in the latest clinical practice and research, with each course developed by our expert clinician-tutors, in the only NHS Trust registered with the Office for Students.

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