Observation of a baby for MA

[tracey113]

Hi there everyone,
My name is Tracey and I am a mum of 3 in the Woking area in Surrey. My children are 12, 9 and 5.
I am a trained counsellor with BA Hons in adult psychotherapy, and am just starting a Masters in child, adolescent and family therapy at CCPE in Little Venice, London. One of the essential requirements of the MA course is to observe a new born baby for 50 hours, broken down into 1 hour per week, from as soon as possible after baby is born.
I was wondering whether any mums living in the Woking/Weybridge area would consider doing this with me? You would be there at all times, and the purpose of the observation is to study babies developmental stages in close detail for 1 hour per week. You would be putting another much needed child psychotherapist into circulation! You would also have a unique detailed record of your baby's developmental progress for the first 18 months from a child psychotherapist's perspective.
It would need to be someone who is due in Jan or Feb if possible, and someone who is not considering moving away from the area.
I have all the back up documentation from my tutor, and the related course I am studying is: CCPE - Centre for Counselling and Psychotherapy Education.
Mumsnet helped me a great deal when I was pregnant and struggling with breastfeeding at the start - that all feels like a very long time ago now!
Hope to hear back from someone soon if possible. Thank you for taking the time to read this.
Tracey

Hi, I did this a few years ago. the observations were fine, but I felt the institution gave the student hardly any support in relation to the observation (there was no paperwork for me for example) and when I asked for the written report at the end of the year, the student refused to give it to me, even though this had been one of the main reasons I had agreed to do it. i felt pretty misled to be honest, but because the arrangement was an informal, personal one, there was nothing I could do.

Sorry to be negative, that was just my experience.

Hi there, I really hear your comments on this. That must have been challenging, especially when you had given up so much of your time. My uni has given me a letter directly address to the parents explaining why the observations are necessary, and the students on my course are encouraged to give the parents a detailed record at the end.

yes, that sounds a lot better.

the student in my case said he couldn't give me his reports because they were 'reflexive'. I took this to mean he had written some negative things about me, though who knows? Still upsets me to be honest that there is a report out there about my parenting which I have no access to.

sounds like your Uni have a better handle on it. best of luck with it.