Tweddle workshops, forums, training and professional development  

Locations
49-71 Adelaide St Footscray
239-245 Princes Highway Werribee

Cost:
$295 + booking fee (includes manual)

Dietary
Lunch & snacks will be provided

Training runs for approximately 6 hours 30 minutes.

Who Should Attend?
Community support and health professionals working with families and their children aged 0- 3 years are offered an exciting opportunity to attend a 1-day workshop in Keys to Caregiving.

What is Keys to Caregiving?
Keys to Caregiving is a research-based learning program from the parent Child Relationship Program Barnard Centre University of Washington. The program provides important information on newborn, infant and child behaviour which builds competence and confidence in practitioners and their work with families. The course builds practitioner knowledge on infant cues, infant states, state modulation and the importance of the feeding interaction.

In this interactive training program, participants will be observing short films of infants and their caregivers followed by workshop activities discussing how this knowledge can be practically applied to working with parents. All participants will be provided with a Keys to Caregiving Study Guide (included as part of program costs).

How does Keys to Caregiving benefit the parent child interaction?
• It increases both practitioner and parent/caregiver’s knowledge of the infant and child’s amazing abilities
• It builds confidence and competence in parent/caregiver’s care of their infants
• It creates space and opportunity for moments of mutual joy and connection

What participants say about training
“Keys to Infant Caregiving has increased our knowledge of infant behaviour, states and communication patterns and has helped parents to know and understand their infant. Many parents have provided feedback indicating they feel an increased understanding of their child rather than just learning parenting strategies.”
“I found the training has meant that I observe closely what babies and children are communicating and this helps me to support parents and be the voice of the child”
“I thought I knew all about baby cues and behaviour. I learnt so much more; especially the subtle cues and how to respond to these. I loved the videos they really helped me to make sense of the training”

Facilitator – Alysha Holmes & Catherine Fisher

Alysha is a Registered Nurse with a Master’s of Mental Health Nursing and Graduate Diploma in Child & Family Health. She is experienced working in public health sector specialising within infant and perinatal mental health and the early parenting sector. Alysha has been a trained facilitator in parent child interactions and keys to caregiving since 2021. She is passionate working with vulnerable families and providing early intervention to support the best outcomes for families.

Catherine Fisher (Cat) is a specialist community public health nurse with international work experience across the UK and Australia. Cat has an avid interest in neurological development across the lifespan and is a curious practitioner. Cat is passionate to increase her knowledge base around transgenerational trauma across diverse cultural groups and is ambitious to bring these learnings to life through contemporary clinical practice approaches.

Locations
49-71 Adelaide St Footscray
239-245 Princes Highway Werribee

Cost:
$295 + booking fee (includes manual)

Dietary
Lunch & snacks will be provided

Training runs for approximately 6 hours 30 minutes.

Supporting parents and carers with baby and toddler Sleep and settling

Who Should Attend?
In recognising the importance of sleep for a child’s long-term development and for the wellbeing of families, the Victorian government developed a new evidence-informed Sleep and Settling Model of Care for Maternal Child Health Nurses (MCHN) and Early Parenting Centres. Tweddle provided training to over 2000 practitioners in the early childhood workforce across Victoria.

Tweddle is now offering the opportunity for practitioners who are not part of the MCH sector to attend a 1-day workshop for up to date sleep and settling education.

This workshop will provide an opportunity to build and enhance your knowledge of the following sleep topics:
• The science and biology of sleep and child brain development
• Factors that can impact on sleep and the physical and emotional wellbeing of the baby, toddler and their family
• Common sleep and settling concerns and working in partnership with families
• Developmentally age-appropriate sleep and settling strategies which recognise the importance of the child’s emotional and physical wellbeing
• Safe physical and emotional sleep environment for babies and toddlers

Experienced Tweddle practitioners facilitate this workshop which is delivered using a combination of presentations, videos, workshop activities and group discussion.

Facilitator:

Alsha Holmes

Alysha is a Registered Nurse with Masters of Mental Health Nursing and Graduate Diploma in Child & Family Health. She is experienced working in public health sector specialising within infant and perinatal mental health and the early parenting sector. Alysha has been a trained facilitator in parent child interactions and keys to caregiving since 2021. She is passionate working with vulnerable families and providing early intervention to support the best outcomes for families.

Locations
49-71 Adelaide St Footscray
239-245 Princes Highway Werribee

Cost:
$1,907.00 + booking fee (includes manual)

Dietary
Lunch & snacks will be provided

Training is 3 one day seminars – 25th, 26th and 27th August.

Who Should Attend?

This workshop is designed for those professionals working with families with infants and young children and will benefit from understanding the advantages of using the scales in clinical practice. This includes maternal child health nurse’s paediatric nurses, researchers, social workers, infant mental health specialists and family support practitioners. This course is particularly helpful for lactation consultants and midwives.

Workshop Prerequisites:

Have a certificate to the Keys to Caregiving program through class or self-study or hold a certificate in infant mental health.

How Do PCI Scales Benefit Parents?

Provides clear information on areas of strengths and concerns which guide interventions.

Supports parents in developing a closer relationship with their child as they increase their understanding of their child’s communication, cues, states, behaviour and ways they learn.

How do the PCI Scales benefit practitioner/Parent-Child interaction?

“A Feeding scale done in those first weeks can give you an important window into this relationship. It will help you intervene effectively and early and support the developing parent-child relationship” Barnard 2004.

Gives concrete areas to guide intervention

Transforms the practitioner’s view of the Parent-Child relationship

Gives the practitioner a new lens with which to see the strengths and opportunities for growth in the parent-child relationship

On completion of the course attendees have knowledge of:

• Infant states, potent and subtle feeding engagement/disengagement cues and caregiver adaption

• How to systematically observe and analyse caregiver-child interactions during a feed

• Interpreting the scores of the PCI scales and interventions

• Identifying strengths, concerns and need for further assessment and referral

• Inter-rater reliability certification for the PCI feeding scales

What practitioners say about training:

“As a lactation consultant I found this training really useful. I now see more of the subtle feeding engagement and disengagement cues in babies and children”.

“The families really seem to enjoy watching the videos of the feed and we can discuss what the baby is doing together. I find I now ask more curious questions about the meaning of the baby’s cues and behaviour”

“I am able to provide evidence-based information to parents and support them in a strength-based manner without my bias influencing feedback”

“I loved the training, and it has increased my confidence working with parent and their babies”

Facilitator

Alysha Holmes

Alysha is a Registered Nurse with Masters of Mental Health Nursing and Graduate Diploma in Child & Family Health. She is experienced working in public health sector specialising within infant and perinatal mental health and the early parenting sector. Alysha has been a trained facilitator in parent child interactions and keys to caregiving since 2021. She is passionate working with vulnerable families and providing early intervention to support the best outcomes for families.

Training Details:

When:

Consists of 3 one day seminars:

25th, 26th, 27th of August 2026

Time:

9:00am – 4:30pm

Where:

Tweddle Child & Family Health Service

239-245 Princes Hwy, Werribee 3030

Cost:

$1800 + booking fee (early bird booking)

$1985 + booking fee

*Cost includes all handouts/guides/manuals etc.

Locations
49-71 Adelaide St Footscray
239-245 Princes Highway Werribee

Cost:
$295 + booking fee (includes manual)

Dietary
Lunch & snacks will be provided

Training runs for approximately 6 hours 30 minutes.

Who Should Attend?
Community support and health professionals working with families and their children aged 0- 3 years are offered an exciting opportunity to attend a 1-day workshop in Keys to Caregiving.

What is Keys to Caregiving?
Keys to Caregiving is a research-based learning program from the parent Child Relationship Program Barnard Centre University of Washington. The program provides important information on newborn, infant and child behaviour which builds competence and confidence in practitioners and their work with families. The course builds practitioner knowledge on infant cues, infant states, state modulation and the importance of the feeding interaction.

In this interactive training program, participants will be observing short films of infants and their caregivers followed by workshop activities discussing how this knowledge can be practically applied to working with parents. All participants will be provided with a Keys to Caregiving Study Guide (included as part of program costs).

How does Keys to Caregiving benefit the parent child interaction?
• It increases both practitioner and parent/caregiver’s knowledge of the infant and child’s amazing abilities
• It builds confidence and competence in parent/caregiver’s care of their infants
• It creates space and opportunity for moments of mutual joy and connection

What participants say about training
“Keys to Infant Caregiving has increased our knowledge of infant behaviour, states and communication patterns and has helped parents to know and understand their infant. Many parents have provided feedback indicating they feel an increased understanding of their child rather than just learning parenting strategies.”
“I found the training has meant that I observe closely what babies and children are communicating and this helps me to support parents and be the voice of the child”
“I thought I knew all about baby cues and behaviour. I learnt so much more; especially the subtle cues and how to respond to these. I loved the videos they really helped me to make sense of the training”

Facilitator – Alysha Holmes & Catherine Fisher

Alysha is a Registered Nurse with a Master’s of Mental Health Nursing and Graduate Diploma in Child & Family Health. She is experienced working in public health sector specialising within infant and perinatal mental health and the early parenting sector. Alysha has been a trained facilitator in parent child interactions and keys to caregiving since 2021. She is passionate working with vulnerable families and providing early intervention to support the best outcomes for families.

Catherine Fisher (Cat) is a specialist community public health nurse with international work experience across the UK and Australia. Cat has an avid interest in neurological development across the lifespan and is a curious practitioner. Cat is passionate to increase her knowledge base around transgenerational trauma across diverse cultural groups and is ambitious to bring these learnings to life through contemporary clinical practice approaches.