Training
Training is offered by Dr Ben Grey and Juliet Kesteven of Cambridge Centre for Attachment, and Fan Zhang. Other trainers are in the process of being trained.
The course is taught in standalone blocks of two to three days to suit different goals and uses of the MotC, and can also be learned asynchronously online. All courses have been redesigned to accompany the handbook, The Meaning of the Child Interview: Making Sense of Parent-Child Relationships.
Offers the ingredients of MotC-informed practice: awareness and understanding of how parents talk and mentalise for their children and their caregiving, and what this implies for the parent-child relationship. A mixture of direct teaching and work with actual interviews with parents.
A standalone course, and the prerequisite for all further MotC training. Also available self-taught online.
Teaches a formal method for interpreting parental discourse, how parents speak about their child and their parenting, in order to understand the parent-child relationship. On completing the reliability test to the required standard, participants may be accredited as reliable coders and code for themselves or others. In live versions of the course, participants code practice transcripts in between the main teaching sessions supported by email and webinars.
In the self-taught version, participants are allocated a mentor, who answers questions and supports them through the practice coding. Learning to classify parenting interviews does require commitment and self-motivation to make use of that support, since it is learned by doing as well as by attending training. It requires a willingness to engage with the theory, but as a means to understanding particular relationships rather than in the abstract.
Requires MotC Introduction: Principles of Practice, or the previous Part 1 course. See reliable coders.
Looks at how to use attachment and caregiving theory in clinical practice. The approach is not about providing a diagnosis of generalised pathology, but about building an in-depth understanding of resources and difficulties in the context in which they occur, from which to think about support, intervention and, in some cases, risk.
It does not teach or recommend a specific therapeutic approach. Instead it supports practitioners, in whatever service or context they work in, to use the MotC to make sense of parent-child relationships in ways that let them make the best use of the tools, powers and resources at their disposal.
Requires MotC Introduction. The coding course is not required, though information derived from coded interviews enables the full potential of the method.
Delivered via Zoom, 10am to 4.30pm UK time. The coding course runs in two parts, with practice interview coding offered between each part and afterwards; if completed, this can lead to a reliability test and accreditation.
The MotC Coders' Workshop runs alongside these courses for anyone who has completed the coding course or the full MotC training. Small groups each code six transcripts, one a fortnight, with feedback collated from the reliable coders in the group and a fortnightly Q&A webinar. It is free for reliable coders.
Taken asynchronously, at your own pace, with no live participation required. The Introduction course gives access to around twelve hours of training videos drawn from previous training, the MotC Manual, exemplar anonymised parenting interviews and other course materials. Those taking the coding course are allocated a mentor to answer questions and support their practice coding.
The lower figure in each range is a reduced rate for students, those who are unwaged, and those returning to a course as a refresher.
The MotC can be trained in house for voluntary agencies, local authorities and other organisations, and the course adapted to suit specific needs. Past training has included Milton Keynes children's services, TIGALA, Norfolk and Suffolk CAMHS, Murray children's services, a Birmingham CAMHS and local authority partnership, Action for Children, and NAGALRO. Training has been delivered across the UK and internationally, including Ireland and Iceland.
Short introductory workshops can be tailored for those considering using the MotC in their agency, or wanting to inform a wider staff group so that colleagues can understand and use feedback from those fully trained. A two-day course on giving the interview is also available, leading to certification in carrying out the interview though not in its analysis.
Advanced courses are offered to those who have completed the main training but wish to build on it, network with other professionals using the MotC, return to the MotC after a gap, or get extra support in working towards reliability. There is a refresher e-course, an online MotC network open to anyone interested in the method, and regular workshops in Cambridge.
For in-house training or advanced courses, email motc@attachment.services.
The MotC is incredibly helpful in our work with families, making sense of the strategies parents use to try to keep their child safe. Our team especially value the formulation model, linking parental defences to the family's wider context, so that interventions can be targeted.
Jen Swift, Social Work Team Leader, Southeast EnglandI completed the MotC training with Dr Grey about two years ago and I loved every minute of it. It challenged me in how I thought, how I assessed families and parents, and how I interpreted the information.
Social Worker, Northern IrelandOne of the key changes to my practice is thinking about who the driving force of change within any intervention should be, whether this be the child or parent or both.
Dr Satbinder Kaur Bhogal, Clinical Psychologist, Birmingham