Watch Wait and Wonder (an introduction)

Background

For many parents, it is a huge challenge to be emotionally present and available to one’s child.  Where this is the case, difficulties often present themselves in a series of shapes and sizes: difficulties with sleep and/ or eating problems; excessive tantrums or aggression; irritability; or difficulty with being soothed.  The parent might well locate the difficulty in the baby or young child, but in fact the difficulty is a symptom of the relationship.  Or, as professionals, we might have a concern about a parent, but do not know what to do about it.  Perhaps the parent presents as depressed, anxious, not bonding with their baby; perhaps there is a risk for or allegations of abuse?  Watch, wait and wonder is an evidence-based approach which helps the practitioner focus on the quality of the parent-infant relationship.  The parent is encouraged to become a better observer of their child, to think about what lies behind the child’s communications or play, and to follow the child’s lead or cues.   This in turn builds on the practitioner’s own capacity to observe and respond meaningfully to the parent’s and infant’s communications.

Training

This is a one-day training aimed at early years professionals, social workers, and mental health professionals who want to help parents become more attuned to their babies, and to follow their babies’ lead in play. This intervention facilitates parents’ interaction with their babies in ways that support the babies’ sense of self, confidence and curiosity. Supervision can be made available for those wishing to develop their WWW practice or use WWW in groups.

It is a pre-requisite of this course that participants have completed our Attachment Theory training or equivalent.

Please note although this is called 'an introduction', it is the complete course.

All OXPIP training is APPCIOS endorsed and contributes towards APPCIOS accreditation. APPCIOS (The Association for Psychodynamic Practice and Counselling in Organisational Settings), is a member organisation of the British Psychoanalytic Council.

Learning outcomes at the end of the training

Participants will have:

• an increased understanding of the theoretical framework underpinning WWW, in particular, attachment theory and Donald Winnicott’s work
• a deepened awareness of the parent-infant relationship, rather than a singular focus on either the symptoms of the parent or the infant
• a stronger knowledge base of how to help facilitate parents’ capacity to observe, recognise, and understand their children’s play
• a greater capacity to adopt an observational, reflective stance with parents which will, in turn, enable the participant to foster an observational, reflective stance in the parent towards their child

"Learning the ‘watch, wait and wonder’ technique has been so much of a breakthrough for me, my partner and my son. We all love it and have learnt so much just through this simple yet amazing way to play" - OXPIP Client

"The experiential session enabled me to experience the challenges of a new way of working in a safe and supportive environment" - Course Participant

Cost

£195 per person 

Confidentiality Clause

When you complete your booking for this training, you will be asked to sign our confidentiality clause.

Click here for more information.

All information taken for bookings will only be used to inform the course and to contact you with course details.