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 training is:
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Online | 16 + 17 October 2025
followed by 5-6 months supervised reflective practice, then online Day 3 Training | mid-2026
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Or contact us for a quote for a bespoke training for your organisation.
FAN Training is offered to individuals AND teams/services working with children and whānau across a variety of settings and disciplines. For individuals, supervision during the Reflective Practice period is provided by one of the FAN Training Team. For teams, supervision is normally provided by one or more people within the team who attend training (- who, in turn, receive monthly mentoring from one of the IMHAANZ FAN Trainers).
FAN is suitable for a wide range of services, including Midwives, Lactation Consultants + Child Health Nurses/Supporters, NGO’s providing home visiting programmes, Early Intervention + ECE providers, Perinatal, Infant, Child + Maternal Mental Health Services, Child Protection + Primary Care settings, and NICU + SCBU teams.
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 generalisable to the helping relationship in many settings and can be used in supervision. At its core is the belief that people need to feel connected and understood in order to be open to change.
The FAN model is now used in programmes and systems in most American States – as well as internationally – to promote engagement and collaboration between providers and those they work with. It has been used to train professionals working in home visiting, primary care, early intervention, child welfare, early childhood education, child mental health, youth mentoring, and supervision.
The FAN is focused primarily on the parent, adult 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 to train new FAN Trainers in New Zealand and Australia.
FAN Training is offered to individuals AND teams/services working with children and whānau across a variety of settings and disciplines.
FAN is suitable for a wide range of services, including Midwives, Lactation Consultants + Child Health Nurses/Supporters, NGO’s providing home visiting programmes, Early Intervention + ECE providers, Perinatal, Infant, Child + Maternal Mental Health Services, Child Protection + Primary Care settings, and NICU + SCBU teams.
THE IMHAANZ FAN TRAINING TEAM – Left to Right: Lucie Zwimpfer, Denise Guy + Judy Hunter
FAN Training is different to many other professional development opportunities:
1. It has a 5-6 month Reflective Practice period.
A crucial part of FAN Training is the Reflective Practice Period (or Level II) which continues for 5-6 months after the initial two day Core Training. During this time participants 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 practice. For individuals, supervision is provided by one of the FAN Training Team. For teams, supervision is normally provided by one or more people within the team who have attended the Core Training (- who, in turn, receive monthly mentoring from one of the IMHAANZ FAN Trainers).
2. There is a final ‘Integration’ training day + ongoing online networking opportunities.
At the end of this Reflective Practice period, a third and final day of training revisits key concepts of the FAN and addresses any outstanding issues or concerns. And, following this, graduated FAN folk are invited to attend regular online ‘Community of Learning‘ sessions where they can meet + connect with others from around NZ + Australia. Attending these is one way to ensure the FAN is kept fresh and alive in practice, and to engage in ongoing learning + reflection.
Organisations in New Zealand Aotearoa that have received FAN Training include:
- Manu Ora (kaupapa-Māori Medical Practice)
- Private Midwives and Lactation Consultants.
- Ministry of Education Early Intervention Teams
- CAMHS (Child Adolescent Mental Health Services)
- Ohomairangi Trust
- NET
- Whānau Āwhina Plunket
- Starship NICU
- West Coast Family Start
- a Southern Lakes Consortium
- Stepping Stones Trust
- a Nelson/Marlborough DHB consortium
- Toloa Mental Health Service (Pacific Health Service Hutt Valley)
- a Specialist Maternal Mental Health Service
- Consortiums from Southern Lakes, Nelson/Malborough DHB and Lakes DHB.
Training can take place online, at your place of work (as a bespoke training) – or individuals and/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 yourself and/or your team/service, please email us at [email protected] – or fill in the contact form below.
