FAN Summary
View a brief summary of the FAN from The Erikson Institute
IMHAANZ is a national charity supporting professionals who work with infants and their families.
The next IMHAANZ FAN trainings are
In person | Lower Hutt | 26 + 27 June 2023
Online | 8 + 11 September 2023
FAN Training is offered to a group of practitioners working in a team/service with infants + young children and their families and whanau across a variety of settings and disciplines – and their clinical supervisor(s).
It is suitable for Well Child/Tamariki Ora providers, NGO’s providing home visiting programmes (such as Family Start), Early Intervention programmes, Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Services, Early Childhood Education providers and Child Protection practitioners.
Erikson Institute Fussy Baby Network’s Linda Gilkerson created the FAN (Facilitating Attuned Interactions) in 2005.
It’s a conceptual model and practical tool for building relationships and reflective practice and was initially developed as an approach to work with parents of fussy babies. The FAN is generalizable to the helping relationship in many settings and can be used in supervision. It is now used in programmes/systems in 19 American States and internationally to promote parent engagement, as well as collaboration between providers and parents. It has been used to train professionals working in home visiting, primary care, early intervention, child welfare, early childhood education, early childhood mental health, youth mentoring and supervision.
The FAN is focused primarily on the parent or supervisee’s immediate concerns, so the process varies and is flexible. The ultimate goal of using the FAN with caregivers is to increase capacity, confidence and strengthen the caregiver-child relationship. In a supervisory relationship the goal is also to increase confidence and competence – and to build reflective capacity in the supervisee. (Excerpt from Washington Association for Infant Mental Health.)
ABOUT FAN TRAINING
In 2017 three members of the IMHAANZ Executive Committee – Denise Guy, Judy Hunter and Lucie Zwimpfer – became certified FAN Trainers following two years training with and being supervised by FAN founder, Linda Gilkerson. In 2023 they completed their ‘Master Trainer’ process, meaning they are also able train new FAN Trainers in New Zealand and Australia.
FAN Training is offered to a group of practitioners working in a team/service with infants + young children and their families and whanau across a variety of settings and disciplines – and their clinical supervisor(s).
It is suitable for Well Child/Tamariki Ora providers, NGO’s providing home visiting programmes (such as Family Start), Early Intervention programmes, Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Services, Early Childhood Education providers and Child Protection practitioners.
THE IMHAANZ FAN TRAINING TEAM – Left to Right: Lucie Zwimpfer, Denise Guy + Judy Hunter
FAN Training is different to many other professional development opportunities in two important ways:
1. It’s not available for individuals.
Instead, a group or team of practitioners attends the initial 2 day Core Training with a designated supervisor. This can be the clinical supervisor of a team from one service – or a person identified as a supervisor if practitioners are attending from different services. Having a group or team with one supervisor means the second part of training – Reflective Practice – can take place after the initial training.
2. It isn’t one-off training.
A crucial part of FAN Training is the Reflective Practice period which continues for 5-6 months after Core Training. During this time practitioners use the FAN in their daily working life and spend time reflecting on their use of it with their supervisor once a month. This allows for a deeper integration of the learning from training as well as supported time to embed the FAN more fully into work practice. At the end of the Reflective Practice period, a third day of training revisits key concepts of the FAN and addresses any outstanding issues or concerns.
Organisations in New Zealand Aotearoa that have received FAN Training include:
- Naku Enei Tamariki Inc
- Ohomairangi Trust
- Plunket
- Starship NICU
- West Coast Family Start
- a Southern Lakes consortium
- Ministry of Education (Early Intervention Teams)
- Stepping Stones Trust
- a Nelson/Marlborough DHB consortium
- Toloa Mental Health Service (Pacific Health Service Hutt Valley)
- a Specialist Maternal Mental Health Service.
Training can take place at your place of work – or teams/services can attend one of the trainings organised by IMHAANZ.
Please get in touch for further details, including costs.
If you would like to find out more about FAN Training for your team or organisation, please email us at [email protected] – or fill in the contact form below.
