Bringing Baby Home Workshop

Are you a new or soon-to-be parent, navigating the chaos of early parenthood? It’s common for new parents to become absorbed in their baby’s world, but there’s one vital element that often gets overlooked: the emotional connection between you and your partner.

Research has proven that the relationship with your partner is the cornerstone of your baby’s development. It’s not just about raising a happy, healthy child; it’s about cultivating a loving, harmonious environment for your growing family.

The Bringing Baby Home Parents Workshop is your guide to strengthening these vital connections.

Why You'll Love This Workshop:

Strengthen partnership for a safe and secure atmosphere for your baby;
Enhance relationship satisfaction in early parenting phases;
Learn sensitive, responsive parenting tactics;
Coordinate effectively with family members for support;
Maintain both parents' active involvement with baby.

What You Get (pictured):

Eight (8.0) hours of relationship and family content;
Facilitated application of And Baby Makes Three by a Bringing Baby Home Educator/Therapist who uses the Gottman’s research to help relationships like yours;
Videos + Examples of how to do exercises (and how not to do them);
Bringing Baby Home Parent’s Workbook – Digital is default, Physical copies can be purchased separately here.

Appropriate Couples:

The Bringing Baby Home Program is appropriate for couples considering or are currently pregnant, parenting together or those needing support in the first year with their baby. Grandparents and support persons are also welcome to join the workshop. Babies with their parents or caregivers are welcome to join as well.

Inappropriate Couples:

Psycho-educational classes are not appropriate for all couples, including those with severe relationship distress, significant emotional or physical abuse, serious emotional or mental health problems, relationships where one or both partners are actively addicted to drugs or alcohol, and relationships with serious compulsive behavior with gambling, sexual acting out and other compulsive behaviors. If this is your relationship, please contact Grayson for the next steps or other options to help your relationship (Gottman & Gottman, 2016).

Not Therapy:

This workshop is not to be considered individual or couples' psychotherapy. If your relationship is dealing with emotional abuse, domestic violence, unwanted touch, or substance abuse, this class is not appropriate, and you should instead seek individual or couples therapy for these problems. If you are interested in talking with someone who has been trained to use Gottman's research interventions to help your relationship, please contact Grayson Wallen or email him at Grayson@GraysonWallen.com or visit The Gottman Referral Network to find a provider in your area. If you are currently in psychotherapy or have a couples therapist please ask your therapist(s) about participating in this class and if it is right for you or your relationship needs (Gottman & Gottman, 2016).

Frequently Asked Questions:

Q: Will we have to share our personal problems and issues with the class? A: No. The class does not include sharing problems or issues publicly. Couples Exercises are done privately.
Q: Must both partners attend or can I come alone? A: Since the class involves couples doing exercises together, both partners must participate. If the class is offered over a period of time and one partner must miss a particular class meeting, then the other partner is encouraged to attend the lecture portion of the class. He or she may use the Couples Exercise time to do part of the exercises and then do the full exercise with their partner later. They may also use exercise time to read the Seven Principles book.
Q: My partner isn’t a reader. Can we still come to the class if he/she won’t read the book? A: Yes, still come to the class. While the book provides very valuable information, the class lectures will summarize the content of the book. Each person will need a Couples Guide, however, to do the Couples Exercises efficiently.
Q: Should we do the exercises in the book at home or save them for class? A: The class will involve doing some of the exercises from the book so doing them first at home would duplicate some of them. In some cases, the directions for doing the exercises in class have been revised and updated from those presented in the Seven Principles book. The Leaders also role-play how to – and how not to – do some of the exercises in order to help participants get the most out of each exercise. There are some exercises in the book that the class will not have time to do, and couples are encouraged to do them at home after that chapter has been covered in class (Gottman & Gottman, 2016).

Note On Credentials:

While this class is not considered psychotherapy or couples counseling, there are psychological and relational concepts taught upon. Presenter(s) for this class have completed the Bringing Baby Home Educator training from The Gottman Institute in Seattle, Washington and have the appropriate credential to teach this material to you.

Grayson Wallen holds a Master’s Degree in Counseling and is a Arizona Licensed Professional Counselor (#23790) // California Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor (#12135) and works in Encinitas, California. Grayson is also a Certified Gottman Therapist, Gottman Seven Principles Leader and Bringing Baby Home Educator. He has a private practice for Arizona and California residents recovering from childhood trauma and complicated emotions.

References:

Gaspard, T. (2021, February 3). Timing is everything when it comes to marriage counseling. The Gottman Institute Blog. Retrieved March 1, 2021, from https://www.gottman.com/blog/timing-is-everything-when-it-comes-to-marriage-counseling/.

Gottman, J. M. (2015). The seven principles for making marriage work: Couples guide. Harmony.

Gottman, J. M., Gottman, J. S. (2016). The seven principles for making marriage work: Leaders guide.

Gottman, J. M., Silver, N. (2015). The seven principles for making marriage work (rev. ed.). Harmony. ISBN-13: 978-0553447712.