10th International NBAS & NBO Trainers Meeting
Trinity College Dublin, July 14th, 2023
On July 14th, 2023, NBAS and NBO trainers from around the world met for a one-day conference at the beautiful Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland. The conference day was held prior to the 18th World Association for Infant Mental Health (WAIMH) congress.
After a wonderful welcome by Dr. Lise Johnson, Dr. Kevin Nugent grounded us with his talk “Where We Have Come From, Where We are, and Charge for the Future”. Dr. Kevin Nugent’s historic account of the personalities and innovations in the field of Infant Mental Health that lead to new understandings of the newborn, set us up for a productive day together.
This year, we spent most of our time discussing various topics in small groups. We had a special focus on three topics:
1. NBO Mentoring Models and Certification Standards
We discussed different practices and standards around the world, what we can learn from each other, and the idea of creating a rubric for certification.
2. The NBO Recording Form and Parent Summary
We discussed the emerging need for revising the language of the NBO recording and parent summary to keep up with the times and clarify that the NBO is a relationship building tool and not an assessment.
3. Using the NBO Prenatally
There is a rapid growing interest in pre-natal work in our community and we discussed how pre-natal work may be incorporated into the new addition of the NBO handbook as well as clinical guidelines for working prenatally.
Other small group topics we discussed this year included:
NBO Qualitative Research
The NNNS, the NBAS, and Research with the NBAS
Parent Materials, Communication, and social media
Using the NBO with Groups
Introducing the NBO and NBAS to New Audiences
NBO with Lay Practitioners/Community Settings
Innovations in NBAS Training
NBO/NBAS in Professional Community home visiting
We established Special Interest Groups (SIGs) for several of the topics, which will meet regularly and move the work forward.
By the end of our meeting day, we celebrated the new NBAS and NBO trainers during a certificate ceremony. Congratulations to:
Elaine McMahon, New NBO Trainer, UK
Anna-Katherine Højland, New NBO Trainer, Denmark
Pernille Ploug, New NBO Trainer, Denmark
Karolina Isio-Kurpińska, New NBO Trainer, Poland
Bożena Cieślak-Osik, New NBO Trainer, Poland
Stefanía Birna Arnardóttir, New NBO Trainer, Iceland
Maya Szombat, New NBAS Trainer, Belgium
Isabelle Olivard, New NBO Trainer, France
Jacques Sizun, New NBO Trainer, France
To conclude the day, Dr. Lise Johnson presented the newly established NBAS and NBO Leadership councils consisting of NBO Master Trainers and representatives from NBAS and NBO training sites around the world:
NBAS Leadership council:
Kevin Nugent, Director Emeritus, Brazelton Institute, USA
Yvette Blanchard, Director of NBAS Training, USA
Lise Johnson, Director, Brazelton Institute, USA
Alicia Alvarez (Spain)
Joanna Hawthorne (USA and UK)
Betty Hutchon (UK)
Karolina Kurpinska (Poland)
Shohei Ohgi (Japan)
Inge Nickell (UK)
Karen Fehringer (USA)
Marie Grenet (France)
Nadia Bruschweiler Stern (Switzerland)
Gherardo Rhapisardi (Italy)
Marie-Paule Durieux (Belgium)
Claire Goldman (Belgium)
NBO Leadership Council:
Kevin Nugent, Director Emeritus, Brazelton Institute, USA
Lise Johnson, Director, Brazelton Institute, USA
Jacques Sizun (France)
Susan Nicolson (Australasia)
Nicki Dawson (South Africa)
Karolina Kurpinska (Poland)
Shohei Ohgi (Japan)
Inge Nickell (UK and Denmark)
Gherardo Rapisardi (Italy)
Sarah Strong (USA – University of Wisconsin - Madison)
Roseanne Clark (USA – University of Wisconsin - Madison)
Kristie Brandt (University of California – Davis)
Kari Slinning (Norway)
The councils will meet regularly to discuss and make formal recommendations to the Brazelton Institute Director regarding policies and standards that pertain to the NBO and the NBAS with the goal of supporting dissemination and research and safeguarding fidelity. The councils seek to be transparent and inclusive. Any member of the international community who does not feel represented by the current membership is warmly invited to reach out to Lise Johnson.
Thank you to this warm and devoted community for such a productive and fun day.
