Suitability

The majority of our students come from professional backgrounds working in tertiary/ clinical, community, case-management, early intervention, private practice and public health settings. Students undertake this course for a range of reasons, including wanting to make a transition to private practice, to enhance and add new depth to their existing work with families, or to regain a sense of purpose and inspiration in their work again.

Around 10-15% of our students do not have a health or education background, and attend this course to become a peer/ parent-to-parent educator.

We pride ourselves on offering a training program that is relevant to such a diverse group of students. The knowledge and skills gained in our Cue-Based Infant Massage training program are highly adaptable, and most of our students report very high levels of satisfaction with this course.

However, in delivering this training for more than 21 years, we have discovered that a small number of students may find that this course does not meet their needs. If any of the following apply to you, we do encourage you  to contact us before enrolling, so that we can help you decide if we are the right match for you!

Are you in active recovery from childhood or parenting trauma?

This course addresses child mental health development–with a particular focus on the quality of early parent-child relationships. Students are exposed to a range of topics that can trigger uncomfortable feelings for some people–particularly those who have survived or witnessed abuse, neglect or trauma.

If you in the early stages of, or in active healing from, any type of abuse or other trauma associated with parenting or childhood, we ask that you contact us prior to enrolling in this program. We will be able to provide you with additional detail about the course content, and to help you make an informed choice about whether this is the appropriate training for you to undertake at this time.

Do you have a strong focus on clinical specialisation and recognition?

Most of our students from health professional backgrounds report to us that this course enhances their practice and adds much depth to their repertoire of skills.

However, The First Touch Program was originally designed as (and continues to be) a program based on the principle that knowledge about relationships between parents and babies should belong to communities and families as much as to any professional group.

For this reason, this course does not provide training in complex infant mental health diagnosis or treatment. The emphasis in this training in on facilitation skills and relationship-based approaches for supporting touch and other forms of parent-infant interactions.  The First Touch Program is a health promotion and education intervention.

Likewise our student body is made up of people from very diverse backgrounds – ranging from PhD graduates, medical practitioners, nursing and midwifery practitioners, allied health professionals, teachers, bodywork therapists, complementary health therapists, and lay-persons.

Therefore, if you are someone who feels more comfortable learning only with people from similar professional backgrounds to your own, or your learning needs are for specialised clinical intervention skills, this program may not be the best option for you.

Please do contact us at the office if you are uncertain about whether this course will meet your professional needs, and we’ll be happy to talk with you.

Are you experiencing significant financial distress?

Many of our graduates go on to use their qualification to establish their own private practice and to work for themselves.

Most graduates take around 12-24 months to establish their own  practice, and some can even take longer depending on factors such as location, other time commitments, and the resources you have to work on building your business.

If you are experiencing immediate financial  distress or are seeking an immediate income source, we believe it is important that you are realistic about the time and energy you may need to apply in order to build your practice to a viable level: especially if you have not worked for yourself before. Many of our graduates do go on to establish very successful practices to varying degrees. But all businesses can take time to establish, and teaching infant massage or the First Touch Program is no different.

If you are seeking an immediate or urgent source of income, we recommend you talk to an independent business adviser (e.g. from your local council or Chamber of Commerce) to make sure your expectations are realistic.

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What is Recognition of Prior Learning?

Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) involves looking at the skills and knowledge you already have and comparing it to the competencies in a course. When you already have the skills or knowledge that make up that competency you can gain exemption or advanced standing for a course.

Legal and audit requirements mean that the RPL process of matching your current skills and knowledge to a competency is a very thorough process for both students and training organisations. In virtually any training organisation RPL attracts a fee that is comparable to the actual course fee so, typically, gaining RPL does not reduce your course costs.

Can I get RPL for this course?

Our policy is that students must complete all components of the cue-based infant massage course. This includes students who may have completed previous training in some form of infant massage education. Therefore we do not offer or provide RPL. There are two reasons for this:

(1) RPL is not typically used for parts of a competency unit, but a competency in its entirety. Therefore, RPL is used for courses that, typically, have several competency units attached. In contrast, our cue-based infant massage course is a short course comprised of one single unit of competency.

(2) Our teaching and assessment processes are holistic (which means single assessment tasks, assess multiple elements of the competency unit). As a result, it is not physically possible to “separate” out various parts of the assessment or course to exclude what you have “already done”.

For these two reasons, RPL is not relevant, applicable or practicable for this course.

So what if I already know some of the content?

This question is most commonly asked by qualified health professionals –who may already have an in-depth understanding of some of the topics covered in this course. It also often asked by people who may have done some form of infant massage training in the past.

If this applies to you, please be reassured that all of our students come prior knowledge and experience – you will not be alone in this regard.

Baby in Mind applies the principles of adult education. This means we view your learning and development as a partnership between you and your trainer. In this partnership, your responsibility is to reflect on your learning needs and interests, and to communicate these with your trainer. Our responsibility is to help adapt and modify learning activities to reflect what you tell us about your needs and interests.

Therefore, regardless of your background and prior learning, we encourage to view the course material from the perspective of what is useful for you and how you intend to use your qualification. For example, if it is useful for you to focus on a particular area of learning, or you would gain more from adapting your learning activities to your specific circumstances, we encourage you to discuss and negotiate your needs and interests with your trainer.  As much as we possibly can, within our legal and accreditation requirements, we are happy to help you adapt and modify learning  activities in a way that supports you. This way we can ensure that all students have the opportunity to learn and develop in a way that takes into account your existing knowledge, and in a way that is relevant and meaningful to you.

To complete this course, you will need to successfully complete all of the following assessment activities.

• Deliver the full First Touch Program (in your local community or workplace) to a minimum of five families

• Submit your lesson plans and the parents’ evaluation of your teaching.

• Complete and submit a series of open-book take-home assignments (including multiple-choice, short-answer and long-answer questions).

Work-load

As a general guide, you should allow approx. 80-100 hours for completion of your assessment tasks. If you are an experienced student, you may require less time. If it has been a long time since you studied, or you are not confident with the material, you may need to allow yourself additional time.

Due dates

The time-frame for completion and submission of your assessment items, is four months from the date of your face-to-face training.

Marking

During the face-to-face workshop your trainer will provide extensive information about the assessment items and the marking criteria that will be used to review your assessment activities.

The criteria we use to mark assessments focus ensuring that you can demonstrate the national competency standards for delivering infant massage education to families.

We apply the principles of adult education in our marking practices. You will also be able to access academic support (via email or phone) from your trainer following the course.

Our aim is to support you to graduate, and for this reason we encourage you to communicate with your trainer regarding any aspects of the assessment you are uncertain of, before submitting your assignments.

Student practical assignment

As part of your assessment, you will be required to deliver the full First Touch Program to a minimum of five families and to submit your parent consent and evaluation forms. This will require you to find and engage five families to complete your practical assessment with.

We endeavour to assist students where we can. However, the responsibility for finding and inviting families to participate in student classes is the responsibility of the student. If you live in a small community, or you do not yet have strong networks with other postnatal or early childhood services, you may need to allow for additional time and effort to engage and invite parents to participate in your student class. We account for this challenge where needed, by allowing students an extension of up to 12 months from the date of training to submit all assessment items.

Completing practical assessment with existing clients in a service

It is common for health or welfare professionals to complete their practical assignment with parents who are clients of their service.

If you intend to do this, it is important to be aware the parents attending your practical sessions will need to complete evaluation forms, including identifying information, and you will need to submit these forms as part of your assessment. As a result, a consent form is provided, and required to be completed by parents to address privacy and confidentiality issues.

Re-submissions

If any part of your submitted assignment does not meet the pass criteria, we will provide you with detailed feedback and request that you re-submit your assessment.

If more than three re-submissions are required or your enrolment period has expired, we may require you to re-enrol in the course.

Extensions

If you are unable to complete the assessment tasks within the four-month time frame, you can request an extension of up to 12 months from your original date of training.

If your assessment items are not submitted within 12-months from the date of your face-to-face training, your enrolment will expire and you will need to re-enrol in the course.

Students with additional/ diverse learning needs

As this is an accredited training course we are required to collect sufficient evidence to demonstrate your competency against the relevant competency standards. However, we recognise that our standard assessment process for collecting this evidence may not suit all students. If you have a disability. literacy or language barrier that makes completion of these assessment tasks difficult, please discus your learning needs with your trainer in advance. We are happy to negotiate alternative methods of assessment for students with diverse learning needs.

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Qualification level:

This training course leads to a nationally recognised Statement of Attainment in Infant Massage Instruction.

Registration and licencing:

Participants who successfully complete this course will be eligible for registration with Baby in Mind, as a Certified Infant Massage Instructor.

Parchment:

A certificate will be issued to all students who successfully complete all course requirements. This certificate is issued by Baby in Mind.

This course is accredited by the Australian Skills Quality Authority. Upon successful completion of course requirements participants will also be issued with a nationally recognised Statement of Attainment that will read “10001NAT Course in Certified Infant Massage Instruction”. This Statement of Attainment is issued by The Australian Institute of Social Relations (a division of Relationships Australia, SA).

The cue-based infant massage training provided by Baby in Mind, qualifies you to teach The First Touch Program to parents.

There are many opportunities for you to use this qualification, in a variety of ways, depending on your individual circumstances.

The First Touch Program is a relationship-based intervention that takes the form of a five-session parent-baby group program.

The program fills an important gap in the availability of attachment-based, health promotion interventions that address the specific security and interaction needs of infants, as distinct from older children.

The First Touch Program pulls together key elements from attachment, health promotion, strengths-based and relationship-based theories into a coherent, simple program model that can be applied in diverse clinical, community and social settings.

The First Touch Program utilises evidence-based and evidence-informed strategies with the aim of supporting and promoting the development of healthy, secure attachment relationships between parents and infants. Activities in the First Touch Program involve a mix of infant massage, use of sensitive/ responsive touch, voice, singing, pacing, eye-gazing, movement and other interactions. These activities are structured in such a way to help parents recognise and sensitively respond to their own baby’s cues and communication, and to support optimal serve-and-return interactions.

A large number of our graduates go on to use their qualification by delivering the full, five session  First Touch Program to families. Many deliver this program in private practice, working flexible hours for themselves and offering groups open to the public.

Other graduates go on to deliver the First Touch Program in their place of employment (such as hospitals, parent groups, and community centres).

An increasing number of graduates are being approached by health and community services to deliver the full First Touch Program on a contract basis.

Some of our students are employed in specialised settings providing complex care to families with significant needs – such as NICU, mother-baby units, and mental illness treatment services. Many of our students with professional backgrounds use this training to gain an overview and a grounding in the use of high-quality cue-based infant massage education. They then go on to adapt and modify the program to the specific and complex needs of the families they support.

For example, some of the Child Health Nurses who do this training, adapt and include elements of the First Touch Program as part of parents groups. Some of our infant mental health specialist students use some approaches from the First Touch Program to support early interactions in the perinatal mental health and neonatal intensive care settings, alongside other interventions.

Not all of our graduates teach infant massage directly, but instead incorporate some ideas and elements from the First Touch program into the range of interventions they already use to help families.

For example, some of our students who are NICU Nurses use the teaching, facilitation and observation methods from the First Touch Program as part of their NIDCAP approach to supporting families in neonatal intensive care. Some of our Occupational Therapist students use the First Touch Program principles for supporting sensory-based interaction to support older children with sensory-based developmental delays.

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We provide comprehensive information about the courses costs and any additional “out of pocket” expenses during your participation in this training.

Once you graduate, you may have a range of optional costs, depending on your own goals and circumstances.

Private Practice/ Business Costs

If you are intending to use your qualification to work in private practice, you will be pleased to know that getting started with your infant massage practice will not necessarily require a massive investment.  Many services and supports you will need can be easily obtained, and you can expand on these as your practice grows.

However, you will still have a range of up front costs associated with setting up your practice, and you will need to factor in these costs when setting your program fees.

As a bare minimum you will need to purchase insurance suitable to your business needs, and to purchase supplies/ stock for your classes. Fortunately, these are not excessive costs, and many people are able to start-up their practice with a budget of less than $1,000. You will also need to consider how to begin engaging parents in your classes – there are many effective free and low-cost advertising options.

Depending on your budget and circumstances, and as your practice grows, you may choose to also consider things like:

• Setting up a website
• Designing a logo
• Other promotional and networking activities
• Software or programs that you want to use in managing your practice
• Costs of any professional services that you might want to use – such as accounting services.

Of course, these are just general ideas to consider.

Before embarking on any business venture, we encourage you to do your research and – where appropriate – seek professional advice for your individual situation.

Ongoing Registration

After graduating, the vast majority of our students elect to stay on as Professional Members of Baby in Mind.

However, there is no obligation for you to remain a member of Baby in Mind once you graduate. If you do not wish to have an ongoing affiliation with Baby in Mind you are still able to go on to teach infant massage independently, with a sound, well-recognised, accredited qualification behind you.

If you elect to take out Professional Membership with Baby in Mind you will be able to:

• continue to deliver the “First Touch Program” in your work and,
• use the Baby in Mind trademarks/ logos indicating your professional affiliation with the organisation.
• be publicly listed as a registered as a certified infant massage educator
• and, depending on your level of membership, access the range of supports available to members.

The cost of registration with Baby in Mind ranges from $130 to $175 per year, depending on the membership package that you select. If you work in private practice, you need to factor this cost into your fees. Many educators who work in paid employment have their membership costs met by their employer.

All professional members of Baby in Mind are required to undertake 20 hours (approximately 2.5 days) of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) activities per year. These activities can be self-directed. Most members who already have CPD requirements will find that their existing CPD activities also meet the requirements of Baby in Mind and will not need to undertake any additional activity. In addition there are a wide range of free and low-cost professional development options. This means that, regardless of your circumstances, your costs of meeting CPD requirements should be minimal.

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No deposit is required to submit your course application.

Once we receive your application, we will process your enrolment and, if approved, will send you an invoice for your fees within 2 business days.

There is a section on your course application for you to indicate if you or your employer is paying your fees. We will send the invoice to the appropriate person as you request.

Your invoice will contain details for making your payment of course fees. For security reasons we do not take payments over the phone. Payment may be made by bank deposit, internet banking, or credit card/ PayPal online. You may pay your course fees in instalments if you prefer.

The only requirement is that your course fees are paid in full two weeks prior to the course commencement date.

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Baby in Mind works with many business partners in the community who recognise the importance of supporting early infant mental health. Our business partners participate in an initiative called Impact 180, and provide financial support to provide scholarships to attend this training.

A range of scholarships are available. Most scholarships are directed toward existing health workers and volunteers who work directly with more vulnerable families. We also have some scholarships available for members of particular professional organisations, as well as women re-entering the workforce.

We welcome scholarship applications at any time. Applications are reviewed three times a year, and successful applicants notified.

See some of our scholarship programs in action

(Please note, not all of our available scholarships are listed here, as some of our donors choose to remain anonymous).

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When we can transfer your enrolment

If you are unable to attend the course, you can request to transfer to an alternative course. Requests for transfers can only be approved when your request is made, in writing, via the appropriate form, submitted at least six weeks before your course commences.

Requests to transfer to another course received less than six weeks before your course commences cannot be accommodated – except in genuine and serious circumstances(*) that could not have been foreseen. We will provide a transfer for you in these circumstances when you:

• advise us in writing of your inability to attend the course and the reasons for this before your course commences; and
• provide valid supporting documentary evidence from a third-party (e.g. a doctor, social worker, case worker) verifying your inability to attend, within 7 days of your course commencement date.

If approved, a course transfer fee of $100 will apply. All course transfers must be to a course within 13 months of your original training date, and are subject to availability of places.

What if I get sick or am unable to complete the course, once it has started?

During the four-day training course:

All four days of the face-to-face workshop must be attended in order to complete your assessment and receive your qualification. If you or a dependent become unwell during the training, and you cannot complete all four days, we will offer you a place on an alternative course to make up your missed days. You must provide valid documentary evidence, and must attend your make-up days within 12 months.

If you do not make-up your missed course days within this 12 month period, you will forfeit your enrolment.

After the four-day training course:

Please see information about our extensions on assessments.