Bringing Baby Home

Bringing Baby Home (BBH) is a two day psycho-educational and hands on practical program that was created by the Drs. John and Julie Gottman to help prepare couples for the changes and challenges that come with the birth of a child. The program aims to provide the tools couples need to be the best parents they can be while maintaining the quality of their relationship and building a strong and healthy family together.

Research shows that 2/3 couples will experience a significant drop in relationship satisfaction with in 3 years of child’s birth. The challenges for new parents include a decrease in relationship quality, emotional changes such as the experience of postpartum depression or baby blues, and fathers experiencing depression and feelings of displacement.

It is our hope that as expectant parents, or parents of little ones (0-3yo) that you come along to the Bringing the Baby Home Workshop where you will learn how to give your child “the greatest gift…a strong relationship between you and your partner” (Dr. John Gottman, PhD). Please come and join us to Learn What it is to Really Love one another, and together, to really love your baby.

A Gottman Workshop

This psycho-educational workshop was developed by the Gottman Institute. The workshop is based on their research that showed a couple’s relationship health is foundational to their child’s development, including their child’s achievement of physical milestones, language development, and establishing secure attachment and bonding with their father and mother.

BBH teaches couples how to strengthen their friendship, increase intimacy and regulate conflict. Parents also learn how to co-parent effectively - learning how both parents can be kept involved.

Research clearly shows that children thrive in a home where their parents love one another, care for one another, and where conflict is managed in such a way that the relationship intimacy of both parents, and their children is strengthened.

What you will learn

 This two day, 12 hour workshop provides evidence based tools to help

• Understand what to expect during the transition to parenthood

• Describe child development in the first year

• Create strategies to co-parent with your partner

• Learn ways to improve communication, manage conflict, and strengthen friendship and intimacy

• Reduce relationship hostility and increase affection and intimacy

• Recognise the signs of postpartum mood, anxiety, and adjustment disorders and be aware of ways to reduce their severity and impact

• Promote positive parent-baby interactions for both parents

Benefits of attending Bringing Baby Home

Benefits for couples

• 67% of couples who attend the bringing the baby home workshop report a significant increase in relationship satisfaction

• Show greater sensitivity and responsiveness to their infants signal's

• Are more able to work together in family play and in co-parenting, with greater father involvement and more secure father-infant attachment

• Show a decrease in symptoms of post-partum depression, anxiety and other psychopathology in both mother and father

Benefits for children

• Promotes emotional, social, cognitive and physical development

• Children develop the ability to self soothe and are less distressed

• Children sleep longer and cry less

• Children are shown to learn complex language faster

• They form greater attachment security with parents

Your Presenters

Adrian and Kerrie, your presenters, have been married since 2008, they are both Principal Psychologists, and Directors in their two psychology practices (Motivating Marriages Psychology and Motivating Minds Psychological Practice). After 10 years of unsuccessfully trying to have children Kerrie underwent a hysterectomy in the beginning of 2018. Their journey of infertility has lead Adrian and Kerrie to make a decision, in the absence of their own children, to put their psychological skills and their unused parenting hearts to good use…for your kids! It is a personal and professional mission of ours to see all children, wherever possible, raised in a home by two loving and committed parents.

Throughout their careers Adrian and Kerrie have witnessed the heartbreaking impact of parental relationship conflict and instability on children which has contributed to the incidence of childhood mental health, and later, the intergenerational cycle of relationship difficulties and marriage breakdowns that ensue for the adult children who have come from unhappy homes.

Having trained in Levels 1, 2 and 3 Gottman Methods Couples Counselling, and having trained in pregnancy support counselling to assist mother’s pre and post birth, and as a Bringing the Baby Home Educator, Kerrie is passionate about teaching parents how to love one another so that together they can best love and co-parent their children.

Adrian, having completed Levels 1, 2 and 3 Gottman Methods Couples Counselling, also works with children with mental health issues and he is passionate about new born children being loved and supported by happy parents who can give them the co-parented unconditional love that is required for them to become emotionally resilient, well-adjusted and successful children and adults.

What does the Workshop include?

• 12 hours of combined presentations, psycho-educational skills training and presenter role plays demonstrating the use of Gottman Skills.

• Opportunity to practice skills with your partner in a safe and private environment

• Bringing the Baby Home Box Set which includes BBH Couples Work Book, Bringing Your Baby Home card decks

• A Clinical Case Study: “Parent Therapy: From Connected Couple to Lonely and Isolated Parents”

  Providing couples with an insight into what happens when a couple experiences emotional disengagement after the birth of their baby

 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Can I bring my baby? Yes, you can bring your baby as long your baby is not too mobile (usually under 6 months old) as we have a limited amount of space. If you think having your baby will be too distracting to actively participate in the workshop please arrange for childcare.

Is it better to take the class before or after we have our baby? Both can be valuable. It depends on your schedule and preferences. The workshop is designed for expecting parents but couples have found the content very relevant even after having their baby.

Can only one partner attend the workshop? No. All the practice exercises you will do require that you converse with your partner.

What is the optimum timeframe for taking the class? We recommend that you either take the workshop up to one month prior to your due date or at least a month after the birth of your baby. This will help you make the best out of the workshop and reduce the likelihood of you have to cancel the workshop at the last minute.

Can I take the class if this is not my first baby? Absolutely. Couples have found it relevant and useful after having several children.

Is this a parenting class? No. This class is focused on strengthening the relationship with your partner as you make the transition to having your baby.