International Training School for Infancy and Early Years (ITSIEY)

International Training School for Infancy and Early Years (ITSIEY)

We are pleased to announce a unique international collaboration between the Anna Freud Centre, The Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust and Yale University Child Study Center, to open an International Training School for Infancy and Early Years (ITSIEY).

The three organizations are internationally acclaimed contributors to the clinical, academic and research knowledge and skills of practitioners in the field of infants’ and young children’s mental health. ITSIEY draws on the expertise of these Centers of Excellence to set evidenced, expert-agreed standards of knowledge and skills that the broad range of professionals and practitioners need in order to work competently with infants, young children and their families.

The training curriculum is based on a competence framework that delineates the spectrum of knowledge and skills required for Infancy and Early Years work, developed by ITSIEY and which will sit alongside other practice frameworks for defining competent therapists and other health professionals. The competence framework has been used to evidence the ITSIEY curricula and training materials, and will be used as a basis for assuring the quality of courses.

The ecological model, which focuses on the child and his family within the context of the wider communities in which they live, is at the heart of the School’s vision and teaching. The course also aims to translate evidence based theory into practice, drawing on neurobiological, psychoanalytic, attachment and family systems ideas, and to make the training relevant to the practitioners’ particular work contexts. The teaching emphasizes discussion and reflection as integral to the learning process.

With six modular courses, ITSIEY will offer tiered continuing professional development to all practitioners working with parents and young children, and future dedicated specialisms for those wishing to develop expert standards in the field.  


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Module 1: Introduction to Infant and Early Years Mental Health (compulsory*)

Module 1 introduces the field of Infant and Early Years’ Mental Health. It draws on neurobiology and developmental research, attachment, systems, psychodynamic theory and clinical work, to give students a cutting edge knowledge-base about early development of the infant and young child. Normative development and disturbance in the development of the baby/young child are addressed, taking into account the family, cultural and legislative contexts  in which the child is raised. There is a focus on areas of development, including the brain, that are affected by trauma and disruptions in attachment relationships.
The module will also consider practitioners’ roles in working with the parent infant/toddler relationship, within different contexts and cultures, and the use of observation skills and reflective practice to underpin evidence based practice.
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Seminars
1
What is Infant Mental Health?
2
The Interface of Adult and Child Mental Health
3
Neurobiology of Early Development and Attachment
4
Pregnancy as a Developmental Phase
5
The Developmental Trajectory: Inner & Outer Worlds in Infancy
6
The Developmental Trajectory: Inner & Outer Worlds in Toddlers
7
Observation and Inference: Theory and Technique of Direct Observation and its Relation to Evidence Based Practice
8
Reflective Practice: Principles and Implementation

Date:         February 26 - March 1, 2013
Duration:     4 days
Fee:         $800
Venue:         Yale Child Study Center

Module 2: The Developing Infant, the Couple and the Family: Understanding Relationships within a Social and Cultural Context

The infant exists within, influences and is influenced by its family and broader social and cultural context. This module expands the systemic idea that the well-being of the infant and the mother-infant dyad cannot be considered in isolation from its social and cultural ecology.
Students will become familiar with current theory and research regarding the life cycle of the family and to the diversity of systems into which babies are born. Evidence regarding how to effectively support families in the transition to parenthood and beyond will be presented.
The course will explore how  the practitioners own experience links to their practice. Practical exercises will enable students to identify how to integrate a 'think family' approach into their daily practice.

Seminars
1
The Infant in Context: a Biopsychosocial Approach
2
The Family Life Cycle: Change, Risk and Resilience
3
Fathers, Siblings and Extended Family: How Infants Shape and are Shaped by their Family
4
Infant Mental Health and the Multiplicity of Family Forms

Date:               April 9-10, 2013
Duration:          2 days
Fee:                 $400
Venue:             Yale Child Study Center
Prerequisite:     Module 1

Module 3: Assessment of Strength and Risks for the Infant/Young Child in their Developmental Context

This module will consider central issues in evaluating risk in the young child’s relational and cultural context. These include knowledge about the continuum of risk, approaches to evaluation, assessment and intervention in high risk families, resilience in the context of risk, understanding how increased self-reflection can assist the practitioner in assessing risk, and how practitioners can best manage the personal stress of working with traumatized populations.
Students will be presented with material drawn from clinical cases and have an opportunity to discuss degrees of risk as well as possible interventions.  Participants will also have the opportunity to introduce material from their own work for discussion, and to reflect on their personal reactions to difficult situations. Course leaders will work to create an environment for safe, reflective discussion of challenging issues.

Seminars
1
What is Risk: Epidemiologic and Attachment Risk Factors
2
Who is at Risk? The Individual, the Family, the Dad?
3
Child Protection: Definition and Intervention
4
Trauma and Risk
5
The Practitioner Assessing Risk
6
Assessment: Process and Tools
7
High Risk Population Groups - Who are they, Why?
8
Reaching the Hard to Reach: Skill Building

Date:               June 18-21, 2013
Duration:          4 days
Fee:                 $800
Venue:             Yale Child Study Center
Prerequisite:     Module 1

Module 4: Parent-Infant and Systemic Observation Skills: the Role of Observation in Clinical Practice

This is a largely skills-based module, which will be run in the style of a workshop. The module aims to enhance practitioner skills in observation of infants and toddlers in the work place, as well as within a family and social context. Students will be invited to undertake a brief toddler observation for discussion in a small group setting, to enhance their understanding of young children’s emotional, social and cognitive development. Students will explore how the insights gained through discussion of the observation material can be applied to practice in their work setting. Theory and practice based reading and video material is included in the workshop to offer a framework for thinking about the value of observation as a practice skill in early years’ work.

Seminars
1
Observation: Stance, Technique and Setting
2
Infant Observation: Theory and Practice (including discussion of students’ own toddler observation material)
3
Observation and its Application to Professional Practice
4
Family Observation Workshop

Date:               September 17-18, 2013
Duration:          2 days
Fee:                 $400
Venue:             Yale Child Study Center
Prerequisite:     Module 1

Module 5: The Practioner-Client Relationship as a Vehicle for Change

This module offers a theoretical framework for addressing the relationship between the young child, parent and practitioner. It addresses the mental stance of the practitioner and the emotional climate of the engagement, and highlights these as the primary vehicle for change in the parent-infant relationship.  The module also focuses on practitioner skills (‘toolbox’) to take a reflective approach as a clinician and to increase reflective capacity in the parents.

Seminars
1
The Practitioner-Client Relationship as a Vehicle for Change
2
The Practitioner’s Skills Toolbox to Increase Reflectiveness in the Parents
3
Modalities of Intervention used to Support Reflective Capacity in Parents
4
Group Discussion and Application of Techniques

Date:              October 22-23, 2013
Duration:         2 days
Fee:                $400
Venue:             Yale Child Study Center
Prerequisite:     Module 1

Module 6: An Introduction to Planning for Evidence-Based Practice

The module will provide a basic understanding of service evaluation and methods for assessing intervention outcomes. A range of commonly employed methodological approaches will be introduced and discussed, and some of the ethical and methodological difficulties often encountered in evaluation research will be introduced. The aim is to equip practitioners with an informed appreciation of the purpose of evaluation, the differences between audit and research, basic research methodology, design and outcome measures. The module will also highlight some of the ethical issues that need to be considered in evaluation and research in this field.

Seminars
1
The Purpose of Evaluation and Research
2
Preparation for Evaluating a Service
3
Basic Research Methodology and Ethical Issues
4
Outcome Measures: Understanding, Selecting, Critical Evaluation of Results

Date:               December 3-4, 2013
Duration:          2 day
Fee:                 $400
Venue:             Yale Child Study Center
Prerequisite:     Module 1

Additional Information

Modules 1 and 3 have been provisionally booked to repeat in autumn 2012. Please contact us for details.
* Module 1 is compulsory if participants wish to undertake any of the following 5 modules.