Becoming Us Perinatal Relationships, Wellbeing and Mental Health (PRaM) Levels I, II & III
Parenthood is a journey. Help parents to find their feet, find their way and grow their love as they go.
Do More of the Work You'll Love
(and your clients will love you for)
Discover a relationship-based approach to motherhood, fatherhood and parenthood - and possibly your most rewarding work ever.
Are you seeking to widen and deepen your understanding of perinatal care?
Do you hope to empower parents on the formative journey of new parenthood?
Are you wanting to make a lasting impact in the lives of new families?
Whilst most people don't talk about it, the perinatal period is a transformative and vulnerable time for parents. It's also a critical time for partners as they navigate the profound changes, challenges and unknowns of pregnancy, birth and early parenthood. It’s during this tender time that strong, healthy relationships between partners have a significant impact on a child’s lifelong development and wellbeing. As a perinatal care professional, you have the power to positively influence this, helping to nurture a secure and loving environment that will shape the future of the whole family.
And parents need this. Because, according to research, relationship concerns are the single most significant risk factor for antenatal anxiety. In the postnatal period, a whopping 92% of parents report increased conflict and 67% declined relationship satisfaction. Both these things are major contributors to depression and/or anxiety in 1 in 3 new mothers and 1 in 5 new dads.
Parents need relationship-based preparation, guidance and support through this pivotal phase of their lives.
Through our specialised training, you’ll gain the knowledge, tools and resources necessary to support and strengthen the connection between parents and help them navigate the changes, challenges and unknowns ahead. You'll be able to assist them to lay the groundwork for a healthy and happy growing family and have a pathway to guide them all going forward.
Big Journeys Start with Small Steps
Help parents to find their feet and find their way. Learn how to guide families to thrive. Have the satisfaction of knowing how you are making a difference.
This is a gigantic missing piece of the puzzle. Becoming Us is a game-changer for parents and professionals.
Sally Placksin, Author of Mothering the New Mother, NYC
This training has given me such a fresh perspective, renewed energy and enthusiasm. I now have a deeper, richer knowledge of what the adjustment to parenthood truly is, what my role can be and offer genuine and helpful support to the parents I work with.
Ariadne Brill, Parent Educator and Coach, Switzerland
I know that changes to their relationship is parents' biggest challenge, and yet the most helpful in navigating all the others: if the couple is working well together everything else can get sorted. Before now I haven't known a way to help couples through this. Evidence-based, thought provoking and practical, after this training my work has so much more depth and power to make a difference for new families.
Tracey Anderson Askew, Founder, Calmbirth Canberra, ACT
Meet your Facilitator
Elly Taylor is a perinatal relationship expert, award-winning author and founder of Becoming Us. As a relationship counsellor, Elly began studying the transition into parenthood when she became aware of both the unique challenges and opportunities for parents and families at this time. Based on the stories of hundreds of mothers, fathers and parents and research in adult attachment, Elly created Becoming Us, a relationship-developmental approach to pregnancy and early parenthood.
Elly has served as a subject matter expert for Monash University, The Australian Catholic University, Newcastle University (SMS4DADS) and Columbia University research projects and has been invited to speak at conferences and events internationally.
Elly's passion is sharing the benefits of relationship-informed care for parents, families, providers and communities. She is excited to be working currently with NSW Health to implement Becoming Us courses in her local area, including in the two hospitals where her three children were born.
We hope you’ll join us to support our next generation of parents. This work has never been more needed than now!
"At first my work was greatly focused on mom, but now I'm able to work with both parents. After many solo sessions with one of my clients, her husband joined her. She was worried he wouldn't want to participate, but I was able to answer his questions and provide support to both of them. He really appreciated it. We actually ran out of time, so they made another appointment!"
Enjonae Anderson, Licensed Professional Counselor,
High Point, North Carolina
"One of THE most empowering experiences I've had in my many years of continuing education and professional development."
Erika Stroh, Parenting Coach, Long Island, NY.
"I'm really enjoying the clarity of this course. It's given me the steps needed for smooth navigation through the monumental shifts and resetting that's thrown upon parents.
There's nothing more important to me than a loving foundation for children. The training helps me share important perspectives for growing families and how to move through challenges into a beautiful life."
Brett Darnesh, Parenting and Relationship Coach,
Coffs Harbour, Australia
Becoming Us is designed for:
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Antenatal and birth professionals: childbirth educator, midwife, OB/GYN or doula. You are in a position to make the biggest difference in prevention.
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Postnatal/Postpartum and infant care professionals: pediatrician, child and family health nurse, health visitor, postpartum doula, lactation consultant, sleep consultant. You can make the biggest difference in prevention and early intervention.
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Perinatal mental health or therapy professionals: perinatal psychiatrist, psychologist, psychotherapist, LMFT, social worker or counsellor.
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Perinatal health or natural therapies professionals: physiotherapist, prenatal yoga teacher or pregnancy massage therapist.
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Educational professionals: early childhood teacher, parenting, relationship or life coach.
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Community leaders: manager with an employer of choice, service organisation or spiritual leader.
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What you'll learn:
Level I - Perinatal Relationship Foundations:
- Three main long-term relationship stages
- Bonding and attachment (babies and adults)
- Twelve transitions of parenthood
- The benefits of relationship-informed work
- Using neuroplasticity to plant prevention seeds
Level II - A Perinatal Relationship Framework:
- Preparing expectant parents for life as a new family
- Postnatal nesting, resting and whole family bonding
- Adjusting expectations of life, self, partner, baby and others
- Supporting self-care, partner care and baby care
- Understanding mixed emotions of the perinatal period
- Supporting self-esteem and new sense of identity
- Managing communication and conflict to bring couples closer
- Bonding couples through layers of intimacy
Level III - Extra Support for the Extra Hard Stuff:
- Minimising risks for intimate partner abuse, addictions and infidelity
- Growing through PMH issues, trauma, loss and grief
- Reflecting on your own journey
- Celebrating all that you bring to your important role
Included in the training:
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Eighteen online self-paced educational sessions. Watch weekly or binge watch and take a break, it's up to you.
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Handouts and resources to use with individual parents, couples and/or groups from Day 1.
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Monthly peer support group zoom calls so you can get to know your local and international community of colleagues, share challenges and find inspiration.
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Access to our private facebook group where we post new resarch and articles so you can stay updated.
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Forever access to it all.
"I originally signed up for the training because I know expectant parents are hungry for information that goes beyond "getting the baby out" and I found the training incredibly valuable for this. Now that I'm running the Becoming Us classes for parents I get to see even more how my knowledge is making a difference. I ran into one momma recently, a few months after they'd done my class. When I asked how she and her husband were doing she teared up and said "Really, really good...you have no idea how much you changed our lives!" I love doing this work!"
Barb Buckner Suarez, Childbirth Educator, Portland, Oregon
"I just finished a session with parents of a two-week-old baby. There were tears of relief and they both asked to return next week. Thank you for this wonderful training !"
Carol Peat, Counselor, Lactation Educator and Doula, London, Ontario, Canada
"Can you say a training is beautiful? Because this training is beautiful!"
Diane Speier PhD., Birth Professional and Psychotherapist, Manchester, UK
Here' some more love from our students:
Some final considerations
PLEASE NOTE: prices are in U.S. Dollars. Please check your local currency rate before committing to this investment.
For group enrollments and organisational discounts please email [email protected].
A FINAL CONSIDERATION: We will do some deep dives in this training. While it’s not required, you will be invited to reflect on your own parenthood journey, as both you and your clients benefit from this. If you are going through a difficult time, please prioritize your own self-care before undertaking this training, or be prepared to take breaks for self-care throughout it.
Becoming Us perinatal relationship training is approved by:
Frequently Asked Questions:
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How can I use this training?
This training supports your knowledge, capacity and confidence to work with individual clients and/or couples in a deeply meaningful and holistic way. If you love this work and groupwork is your thing, you can even run courses for expecting and new parents. We have a full curriculum and mentoring program for this.
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How long do I have access to the information for?
Forever! We want you to be supported long after you’ve finished your training.
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Can I log in to the sessions on my own schedule?
Yes. Sessions are sent to you weekly and you can choose to watch the videos as they arrive in your inbox, or you can get comfy on the couch, log in and binge watch Netflix style. If life gets in the way (we have a few folk with new babies!), you can just pause for as long as needed. We're here to welcome you back when you're ready.
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I see parents with children of all ages. Is the Becoming Us approach relevant for clients with older children?
Yes - and this was surprising for us. The Becoming Us™ model was originally designed to be used by professionals working with clients during pregnancy and in the first few years of family. But then we started getting feedback from therapists who were successfully using the approach with parents of older children. Using the Becoming Us stages with parents to look back at their parenthood journey seems to be reducing mutual blame and resentment and using the Becoming Us skills and steps helps partners to move forward together.
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I've done relationship training before, what’s different about Becoming Us?
As well as the awareness and skills we've been told are different from anything else on offer, Becoming Us is unique because of three main things: 1. We break down the “transition” into parenthood into multiple transitionS so expectant parents can know exactly what to prepare for. 2. The Becoming Us model helps parents navigate ALL the transitions. Each of the 8 stages in Becoming Us are both evidence based and supported by research. Each stage (from pre-conception or pregnancy through the first few years of family) addresses the most important aspects of mental, emotional and relationship wellbeing that are crucial at that time. Each stage builds on the stage before and prepares parents for the next stage. This provides parents (and professionals!) with a trail map that builds both individual capacity and couple connection as parents travel along it. 3. In Level II we cover how to use the Becoming Us model to reduce risks for perinatal mental health issues and relationship distress.
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What are the Becoming Us courses for parents?
We currently have three courses for parents: 1. A single Becoming Us session which can be delivered as a stand alone or added to existing antenatal classes, 2. The Becoming Us Before Baby 5 session course for expectant parents and 3. The Becoming Us After Baby course for parents of infants and toddlers. Created by an Emotionally Focused Therapist, these courses contain unique content and processes to support whole family bonding.