International Training School for Infancy and Early Years

The ecological model, which focuses on the child and their family within the context of the wider communities in which they live, is at the heart of the Institute’s vision and teaching. Drawing on neurobiological, psychoanalytic, attachment and family systems ideas and evidence, ITSIEY endeavours to impart to the students:

- An enquiring observational and reflective mental stance in relation to knowledge and clinical practice.

- An understanding of normative development and disturbance within an ecological perspective (relational, social and cultural).

- Knowledge and skills to work collaboratively with families and their children which is relevant to the practitioners’ particular work contexts.

- An experience of multidisciplinary and multiagency working in the student group that creates a shared culture in relation to the domain of early years’ mental health.

Feedback

Student feedback from the modules run to date suggests these aims are being realised: ‘.. I found it invaluable to have neurological, practical, psychoanalytical and environmental elements seamlessly interwoven into a shared conceptual framework’. ‘new material and thinking introduced with a thoughtful blend of different schools of thought now coming together and really complementing each other’. ‘I felt challenged, thought about, and invited to develop my own thinking’.

Modules

With six modular courses, ITSIEY offers tiered continuing professional development to all practitioners working with parents and young children.

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

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.

ITSIEY 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 practioners own experience links to their practice. Practical exercises will enable students to identify how to integrate a 'think family' approach into their daily practice.

ITSIEY 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 traumatised 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.

ITSIEY 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.

ITSIEY Module 5: The Practitioner-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.

ITSIEY 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.

Accreditation

ITSIEY is in the process of establishing university accreditation.

How to apply

Please complete and return the ITSIEY Application Form using one of the following options below.

Return the completed form and payment to:

By Post: Conference, CPD and Events Unit, The Tavistock Centre, 120 Belsize Lane, London. NW3 5BA

By Email: ITSIEY@tavi-port.ac.uk

By Phone: Please contact Max Fendrich on 0208 938 2285 to book and pay over the phone.

To register in the US, please see the Yale University Study Centre

For more information

Please e-mail itsiey@tavi-port.ac.uk

APEL Procedure

Module 1 is the core, required module for the ITSIEY programme and a requirement to participate in any of the subsequent modules, 2-6. In some cases if you feel confident that your existing experience and training has already prepared you to undertake subsequent modules without Module 1 then we ask you to complete an APEL Form.