Professional Development:

Universal Screening – Newborn Encounter

The birth of a child provides professionals with a remarkable opportunity to support parents at a time when they may feel anxious, alone and vulnerable. The newborn period may be the beginning of a professional’s relationship with the family as they adjust to the addition of a new baby. Establishing an alliance with the parents as they allow you to enter their system of support will begin or enhance the Baby TALK trustworthy system of support. Developmentalist Erik Erikson said that during infancy babies are learning about trust and mistrust.

At Baby TALK, we believe that during this same period, parents are learning whether or not they can trust their system of care. What can be provided that will make every parent of a newborn feel supported and able to trust that system of care? If we use this opportunity well, we can facilitate the development of these new parents. We can establish trust which parents may come to transfer to other helping agencies, medical providers, schools, etc.

At every Baby TALK newborn encounter, the professional connects with the family over their shared interest in the baby promoting these four goals:

• To “join” families in the beginning
• To discover babies together with parents
• To learn of the family’s needs
• To offer supportive services and programs

Universal Screening Opportunity in the Hospital Setting

Your community system of support may include collaboration with hospitals providing obstetric services. Visiting new parents on the obstetric units when they deliver their babies has proven to be an effective avenue to reach most families in a geographic area. This universal screening opportunity for communities offers the ability to identify unique needs of each family enabling a community to meet these needs from the beginning. Hospitals are grateful for the continuity of care that a Baby TALK program can provide their families after discharge.

This two day training provides the tools needed to meet families during the newborn period with relationship-building strategies and a robust protocol to discover the baby and join the family as they begin the journey of nurturing their infant. The training includes 2 follow-up visits as a practitioner moves from theory into practice delivering a newborn encounter.