The Bringing Baby Home Certification Training Program  (BBH)
Carolyn Pirak, MSW and Joni Parthemer, MEd

Become a Certified Gottman Bringing Baby Home Educator!  
The Bringing Baby Home Certification Training program is taught
by Master Trainers, Carolyn Pirak, MSW and Joni Parthemer, MEd,
and offered under the direction of John Gottman, PhD, and the
 Relationship Research Institute in Seattle.  This 3-day training
authorizes professionals from a variety of disciplines (including
educators, nurses, social workers, and clergy) to teach pregnant
and parenting couples the research-based relationship skills
essential for a successful transition to parenthood.  

Purpose of Training:
The research shows that while this period holds potential for
great joy in a parent’s life, approximately two-thirds of couples
will experience a significant drop in relationship quality within
3 years after the birth of a child.  This decrease in satisfaction is
known to result in a dramatic increase in postpartum depression,
relationship conflict, and hostility.  These changes in the
relationship result in compromised parenting and a decrease in
the quality of parent-child interactions.  It is our goal that by
becoming a Certified Gottman BBH Educator, you will learn
the program and teach it in your community in the format
that best meets the needs of the population you serve.

Program Content:
Upon completion of the Bringing Baby Home Certified Gottman
Educator training, an instructor will have learned the knowledge
and skills necessary to teach the 16 hour psycho-educational
intervention in a variety of diverse settings.  Educators will be
able to provide couples with research-based information that
can dramatically change the course of their relationship. The
workshop is focused on providing new parents with the knowledge
and skills necessary to cope constructively with the birth of a child. 
Through lecture, group discussion, and planned exercises, the
BBH workshop teaches couples how to strengthen their friendship,
increase intimacy, regulate conflict and how to build a “relationship house”. 
Through both lecture and video presentations, you will teach
couples to co-parent with their partner, to foster child development,
and to see the value of keeping dad involved.  Educators teach skills
for sensitive and responsive parenting in an effort to promote healthier
children in the emotional, social, cognitive and physical realms. 
Additionally, the BBH workshop encourages early parent-infant
dialogue and increases positive communication, ritual development,
and shared meaning for the whole family.  The class can be taught in a
variety of formats, (4 weeks, 6 weeks, 2 weekends, 1 weekend, etc),
to cover the content of the workshop which is 12 hours.

Training Materials Provided:
Participants attending the training will receive the materials necessary
to teach the workshop including:  The Certification Training Manual,
one copy of the Couple’s Manual, and 4 sets of Bringing Baby Home
Exercise Cards.  Participants will receive additional materials necessary
for facilitating this program such as a Frequently Asked Questions List,
Pathways for Program Development and a How-To Guide for Starting
a Program in the Community.  Participants will have the opportunity
to purchase two newly produced videos or DVDs entitled: “What’s Baby
Saying” and “Let’s Play With Baby” though these are not required to
teach the class.   To teach the class, instructors need to purchase a $35 "toolkit"
for each which includes 2 manuals, 4 set of cards and signal cards (for exercises
in the workshop). 
 
Preparation for Training:
In order to make this program successful, participants are required
to read at least 2 of 3  books by John Gottman prior to the training program. 
The first book titled, The Seven Principles of Making Marriage Work
will lay the foundation for the theory upon which this training is based. 
The second book titled The Relationship Cure, is an introduction to the
skills and types of exercises that will be taught in the training.  The third
 \book titled, Raising an Emotionally Intelligent Child, teaches parents
to be aware of a child’s emotional state and gives guidelines for how to
foster emotional development in parenting.

To order these books at a discount, on amazon.com, click here:

Seven Principles: $10.17
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0609805797/smartmarriages

Relationship Cure: $10.17
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0609809539/smartmarriages

Emotionally Intelligent Child: $9.75
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0684838656/smartmarriages


Certification:   
In order to be certified by the Relationship Research Institute and given
permission to teach this program in the community, an Open-Book
Certification Exam will be offered during the last 75 minutes of the
training program.  This exam will be approximately 60 questions and
will include a combination of multiple choice and true/false questions
and one brief personal essay.  A 70% or better score is considered passing. 
By completing the exam, educators will receive a certificate authorizing
them to present the Bringing Baby Home material to pregnant and
parenting couples.  Educators will be required to purchase the Couple’s
Manuals from the Relationship Research Institute to use in their
workshops and will be required to report the number of hours
and number of couples that they teach to RRI.

Conclusion:
By attending the Certified Gottman Bringing Baby Home Educator
Training Program and by completing the necessary tasks for certifications,
an instructor will be qualified to teach this workshop in his/her own community. 
Experienced instructors will teach you how to easily facilitate this workshop
and provide you with the fundamental knowledge set key to understanding
the theories and skills for making this program successful.  Participants will
be ready to facilitate this workshop and will have the required knowledge
and skills for teaching parents and couples.  Participants will have discussed
how to work with providers in their own communities to insure program success. 
Educators will have an understanding of the theories and skills for making
this program successful and will have the information needed to make
the program available to expectant parents and parents of infants and toddlers. 

Preview:
This is the same program presented by John and Julie Gottman in their "Bringing Baby Home"
keynote session at the 2004 Smart Marriages Conference.  You can order a DVD or Videotape
of the keynote for $25 at 800-241-7785 or at http://www.playbacknow.com/cmfce.
Order session #754-P2.  It provides a great preview of the institute training
and it makes a great baby gift for new parents. 

Testimonials:

I attended the Bringing Baby Home training in Seattle 3/05 and I was very impressed.
I can see how this program will help save marriages and help create healthier families.
I want to encourage anyone who is thinking of taking the 3-day training in Dallas -- it is VERY
worthwhile. The presenters, Carolyn Pirak and Joni Parthemer, were great; the material is
wonderful and the possibilities are endless for helping young couples that are bringing babies
into the world. We are implementing Bringing Baby Home into our master plan to help
reach the Central California area and are excited to see what happens!
Ron McLain
Executive Director
Marriage Mentoring Ministries, Inc.
Fresno, CA

For questions or information, contact the Gottman Relationship Research Institute at:
bbh.ct@gottmanresearch.com

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