Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy Level 1 & 2

Course Description

Each level is an introductory 5-day course on Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy, the intervention model developed by Dr. Daniel Hughes.

This approach assists therapists and other professionals to understand and effectively support children, young people and their families. In this model, theory and research in the areas of developmental trauma, attachment theory, intersubjectivity and child development are integrated to produce a therapeutic approach used for relationship development and trauma resolution. DDP recognizes the vital role which adoptive parents, foster carers and residential workers play as primary attachment figures in the recovery of traumatized, attachment-resistant children.

The principles and interventions are presented through formal presentations, discussion, videotape of sessions, role-play, and hand outs.

Who is it for?

This course is suitable for parents, social workers, child and youth workers, caregivers or teachers working with children with attachment issues. This training is also relevant for therapists and clinicians who want to increase their skill set of attachment focused treatment. The model is relevant for those working with children aged four through to adult years. Each course is limited to 15 participants.

Please note that while Level One and Two are open access for professionals working with children and families, there are specific requirements that need to be fulfilled for those who plan to go on to apply for certification as a Practitioner in DDP. Please refer to what is required before starting the practicum for further information.

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Testimonial

I valued participating in this training with you. Seeing your model PACE in practice really helped consolidate it for me. Seeing you model the importance of voice prosody and vitality affect was transformational. I have been using this every day with my kids since I saw you using it and I cannot express in words, what a difference it has already made to our relationships. - Ketu, DDP Level 2

It was all so helpful and I’ve learnt so much. I really liked the mixture of discussion, videos, role-play and the attachment questionnaire. I feel like I’ve learnt so much and also grown in confidence with my understanding and (hopefully) application of the model. Dafna is extremely knowledgeable and passionate, which I think made the training easier to absorb. Dafna seems to embody the PACE model and her kindness and curiosity means that you are pushed outside of your comfort zone at times in a really helpful way. - Dec 2020, DDP Level 2

I think the balance you have of being really kind but pushing people to make the most of the training is such a good skill. I feel like your passion has rubbed off on me and the desire to help others and the client group we see. It’s such valuable training and I feel very grateful to have been able to take part in it. - Dec 2020, DDP Level 2

The aims of this training

• To gain a deeper understanding of the theory and practice of the interventions and
  parenting principles used in this approach.
• To follow up on any relevant themes that participants would like more teaching on.
• For each participant to have opportunities to focus on the successes and barriers
• Experienced in applying the model in their practice via supervision or consultation
• Discuss the work with families or their specific practice. This is the main aim.
  
• To provide participants with the opportunity to explore (in small groups of 3 people for one hour a day) how their attachment history and experiences may inform and
  have an impact on their work.

Who can attend?

Sometimes practitioners who complete Level One feel that Level Two isn’t for them, thinkingit is mainly for people working as therapists directly with children and their families. This isnot the case. Level Two is aimed at all practitioners in this area of work.

This can include practitioners or social workers who primarily work with foster or adoptive parents, undertaking assessments and placement matching, or initial work with parents and later placement or family support. It doesn’t matter if the practitioner doesn’t work with children; the parenting aspects of this approach will be relevant. The same applies for social workers and practitioners working with children in care and children in birth families.

What happens during the five days?

Each participant will have an opportunity to receive consultation about his or her work. It is hoped that people have been able to record their work to get direct consultation using clips. However recording work has become much harder over the years and this is almost impossible if you work in a Local Authority team. If this isn’t possible, consultation and discussion of your practice can be effectively done via specific case discussion.

Sometimes using the idea of “practice in action”, with people in the group role-playing being the child or parent. This can be done as part of a case discussion and picking out a complex or difficult conversation that has happened to discuss in more detail and, for example, consider ways of bringing in PACE. The trainer will always offer to role play being the therapist, social worker or practitioner, as doing this in front of the group can feel daunting and it is usually easier at first to role play being a parent, carer or child.

During the 5 days, practitioners will have opportunities to further develop their skills, talk through work they feel is going well and work where they feel stuck, whatever level they feel they are at. The trainer will tailor the course to meet the consultation and skills training needs of the group.

Therapists will bring examples of their work with children and their parents and caregivers or their work with parents. Sometimes social workers and professionals who work primarily with parents, or in residential or educational settings, wonder what work examples would be helpful to bring. Specific information for social workers has been included below.

Some examples of practice that social workers could bring for consultation, who are working primarily with adoptive parents and foster families. These are just examples. Any area of your practice would be suitable to bring where you are forming a relationship with parents or carers and you either need to assess them or they are bringing a problem to you that they want help with.

• Undertaking an assessment with prospective adopters or foster carers, where there are some difficulties and you are uncertain about how to talk with them about this
• An uncertain matching process where you are not sure whether the foster carer(s) or adopters and child/children are a good match and how to work with complex factors
• Initial work with newly placed child where parents are feeling at a loss at how to manage as it is all so overwhelming
• Helping a family where the parents are struggling with the child’s difficult or challenging behaviour, such as rejecting them or controlling behaviour
• Later adoption or foster care support, where things have been OK in the past, and difficulties arise, such as in adolescence or starting secondary school, or around use of Facebook, or a child tells about abuse that was not known before
• Helping parents having to tell very difficult news to a child, like they are asking for the child to live somewhere else, or less difficult news, such as they want them to go to residential school, or they need respite
• Helping parents who are exhausted, irritable and feel at the end of being able to cope, and they want you to take the child away
• Working with adoptive parents, or foster parents, and the network or system, where there are child protection concerns, such as having hit their child, or their child has gone into school saying their parent has hit them or locked them in their bedroom.

Participants generally say they get a great deal out of Level Two as hearing about other people's work, and listening to consultation about this, is helpful as issues tend to be shared.

Talking about an aspect of your attachment history in groups of 3

Each person takes a turn in talking for the hour allocated on days 1, 2 and 3 while the other two people listen and ask questions as appropriate. This information will not be shared with the group. On day 4, the groups spend 20 minutes reflecting together about what they have learned and another 20 minutes talking in the whole group about the process. It will be the responsibility of each individual to only share personal information that they are happy about. The aim is to link aspects of your own history to doing this kind of work.