Hi everyone,
I am a 23 year old, part-time student at the Tavistock Institute, a well respected clinic in Hampstead. The course I am studying is a masters in 'Psychoanalytic Observational Studies'. This is about child development, and is the prerequisite to the child and adolescent psychotherapy training. The main part of the course is called ?Infant Observation? and requires me to observe a baby (with the mother) weekly, for an hour, for two years. From this I can learn about a baseline, normal development and will then be able to understand abnormal behaviour, in other infants, in the future, that I will encounter whilst training. The babies need to be born from October onwards as I need to observe them from birth to two years. I am not there to judge the mother (I haven?t had children myself!) but would be there purely as a friendly, neutral observer. Whilst the observation is a commitment for the mother, holidays and other breaks are inevitable, and this is taken into account. We would need to meet once a week, at a time convenient to the mother. The mother might think ?what's in it for me?', however, all of the mothers that I have heard who have participated, have said that they really enjoyed it because it allowed them the space each week to reflect on how their baby changed and developed. They enjoyed the interest of another person in their baby. They also realised that they were contributing towards a better understanding of child development in the future.
I would be extremely grateful to anyone who would let me observe their baby. I could send a letter and photo to those who might be interested, explaining more fully about the observation, including an official letter from the Tavistock. Alternatively I would be happy for them to contact me directly by e-mail or phone for more information.
I would really appreciate any help you could offer me in my quest to find a mother and baby. Thank you for taking the time to read this!
Harriet Edmond
([email protected])
(07764 754247)