Dr. Sheila Redfern

Reflective Parenting Training

Course Tutor: Dr. Sheila Redfern

Course Fee: £500 (including training and course materials) 

Course Length: 12 hours training over two to three days on Zoom.

Course Dates: 28th, 29th January and 4th February 2026 9.30am-1.30pm

Course Requirements: This course is open to any professional working with parents in a mental health, primary care, educational or social care setting. It is applicable to those working within teams and working independently.

Course Follow Up: At the end of the training, participants will be offered the opportunity of investing in further supervision with Dr Redfern to support their Reflective Parenting Practice. 

Training for Professionals

Based on my acclaimed books Reflective Parenting and How Do You Hug a Cactus?, I offer a training to front line professionals in my model of mentalization-based parenting. This practical, clinical training trains professionals in how to use Reflective Parenting in their practice; working both individually and in groups of parents. The model of Reflective Parenting promotes positive outcomes for children’s emotional and behavioural wellbeing, where there are difficulties in the parent-child relationship. 

 

This training will delve into applying mentalization, attachment theory, and reflective functioning for enhanced emotional and behavioural wellbeing in children. The course has been developed to address behavioural difficulties and anxiety in children and young people, and emphasises parental self-mentalizing and collaboration in group settings.  

You will also be coached in using a range of mentalizing tools unique to the Reflective Parenting model, which helps parents to connect with their children in positive and meaningful ways.  

Aims of the Training

  • To learn about the key features of Reflective Parenting, its theoretical link to reflective functioning, attachment and theory of mind, and its application to working with parents with young children.

  • To promote practitioner abilities in employing a mentalizing stance in work with parents.

  • To develop practitioner skills in providing practical tools to parents to help explain and practice Reflective Parenting including the Parent APP and Parent Map.

  • To describe and part-train professionals in the running of a Reflective Parenting Group.

After the Training

You will receive a copy of my Reflective Parenting manual (for younger children or for teenagers) or workbook. These materials will be your guide to running Reflective Parenting sessions or groups for parents. 

Following the training you will have developed a range of skills in establishing an alliance and working collaboratively with parents and will have developed skills in the use of the Reflective Parenting tools; the Emotional Thermometer, Professional APP, Parenting App, Two Hands and Parent Map.  

In order to establish model fidelity and to support you in your work, I offer follow up consultation/supervision to help you develop adherence to the Reflective Parenting model. 

“Reflective parenting is turning out to be a key to mental health. This book really helps us understand what it involves in practice.”

– Sue Gerhardt, author of Why Love Matters and The Selfish Society

“Here was the application of ideas and research findings from two decades of work suddenly being turned into something worthwhile… This book is one of the best I have read in terms of providing a coherent and eminently practical framework within which the quality of the social environment that the family creates for the child can be genuinely improved.”

– Peter Fonagy, from the Foreword

“In short, the authors have not given a cookbook for behavioral management for parents to use with their children. Rather, they have provided parents with a guide for developing their own self-awareness as well as their awareness of their childrens’ thoughts, feelings, and motives. They have shown us the central importance of reflection in becoming the sensitive, responsive, and authoritative parents that our children need us to be.”

– Daniel Hughes, Author of Attachment-Focused Family Therapy Workbook (2011) and Attachment-Focused Parenting (2009)

Reflective Parenting - The Book

A Guide to Understanding What's Going on in Your Child's Mind

How to make a positive impact on your relationship with your child, starting from the development of the baby’s first relationship with you as parents, to how you can be more reflective in relationships with

toddlers, children and young people.

©2025 Sheila Redfern