Postgraduate Certificate in Parent Education and Parent Guidance
A comprehensive one-year program for professionals that promotes a deepened understanding of the theories, values, and principles that inform your work with parents.
This is an intensive year-long training program designed for parent educators, teachers, child welfare case workers, and clinicians who work with parents and children. Its goal is to promote a deepened understanding of the theories, values and principles that inform best practices to engage families and promote healthy development.
There is a growing body of knowledge supporting the notion that professional guidance and support enhance parent-child interactions, leading to healthier development in children in social-emotional, cognitive, language, and academic domains.
Through the theoretical lenses of attachment, emotion regulation and interpersonal neurobiology—to name a few—participants will build a solid foundation of knowledge about parents and children. Child development will be studied from infancy through adolescence across a variety of domains. We will focus on the developing parent-child relationship and the inextricable links between each domain. A component on program delivery and the principles of parent guidance will teach the skills for the application of this new knowledge.
Through these ongoing seminars as well as four (4) workshops totaling 24 CE hours, participants will be immersed in a learning process that will focus on the challenges, issues, and dilemmas that shape their work with parents. Participants will learn important concepts in working with developing families while enhancing their skills to coach, teach, and reinforce parents’ ability to create the healthiest of environments for their children.
Program Components
The curricula for these seminars will focus on important areas of development, combining lectures, didactic and experiential learning covering the family, the parent-child relationship, and the developing child from infancy through adolescence. Participants will discuss and integrate the program content through a reflective examination of their own work. Seminars are designed to give participants a solid understanding of the requirements for effective program delivery. Participants will have the opportunity to apply this knowledge, discuss cases, and receive feedback on their work.
Training on a variety of relevant topics will be offered. There are four (4) required workshops that enhance and supplement the curriculum of the certificate program. Students are welcome to register for additional workshops/trainings at a reduced rate.
Program Info
Who Should Attend
- Human services professionals who have completed an advanced degree (e.g., MSW, EdD, PhD, MD)
- Human services professionals who have completed a bachelor’s degree and have experience working as parent educators
- Human services professionals whose role influences the direction of families’ lives
- Parent educators and clinicians who are currently working with parents and families
Dates, Times, and Modality
All seminars begin in September and continue through May.
The Core Seminar meets on Tuesday evenings from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. via Zoom. The link will be provided upon receipt of tuition or an agreed-upon payment plan.
Curriculum Highlights & Topics
- The Development of the Parent-Child Relationship
- Current Research on Brain Development and the Impact of Early Environments
- Introduction to Attachment Theory and Attachment Behaviors
- Core Concepts in Interpersonal Neurobiology
- Understanding how the Parent-Child Relationship promotes capacities for self-regulation in children
- Child Developmental Pathways: Infancy to Adolescence
- Child Behavior as Communication of Individual Needs
- Parenting Theory and Research
- Introduction to Evidence-Based Practices in working with parents
- Impact of Stress & Trauma on Parenting Practices and Child Development
- The Process of Parent Guidance and Education from a Strengths-Based Perspective
Certificate Requirements
The Certificate will be awarded at the end of the program. Participants will be able to receive 100 Continuing Education hours for the program for a variety of disciplines. This program meets partial requirements for certification as a New York State Parent Educator through the New York State Parenting Education Partnership (NYSPEP) and for Infant Mental Health Endorsement® through the New York State Association for Infant Mental Health (NYS-AIMH).
Program Cost & Fees
- Nonrefundable Application Fee: $15
- Program Cost: $3,300 (Includes weekly seminars and 4 workshops)
- Total Program Cost: $3,315 (Call to discuss payment options if needed.)
Our Faculty
Deanne Yaklin, MSW, LCSW is a clinical social worker who has been working with children and parents for the past twenty years. She started her work with young children and mothers in a Domestic Violence program in Ann Arbor, Michigan and went on to get her master’s degree in social work from the University of Michigan where she specialized in therapy with children and social work in schools. She has postgraduate training from NYU in Psychodynamic Psychotherapy with Children, a Postgraduate Certificate in Parent Education and Parent Guidance as well as a Postgraduate Certificate in Parent-Infant Mental Health from Adelphi University. She has worked with parents and children in homes, clinics and schools in Detroit, Philadelphia and New York City. She currently works in a group practice in New Jersey, specializing in relationship-based therapy with children and parents to address developmental and behavioral concerns, trauma, grief and loss, anxiety and mood disorders.
In addition, there will be expert guests throughout the year.
Continuing Education Hours
This program has been approved for a total of 100 NYSED continuing education hours