Becoming Us is a different way of understanding parenthood.

For parents, partners, babies, and the professionals who support families through change.

Parenthood is full of joy, love and wonder.

And it also brings change — often more than parents expect.

Becoming parents reshapes daily life, identity, relationships, and how it feels to be together as a couple and a family. Alongside moments of deep connection, many parents experience new stresses, strains, and challenges they didn’t know how to anticipate.

These experiences are not a sign that something is wrong.
They’re a normal part of a major life transition.

Becoming Us exists to help parents make sense of this transition and find their way through it together.

A map for the journey into family life

Becoming Us offers a clear structure and pathway to help parents navigate pregnancy, birth, and early parenthood — while staying connected to themselves, each other, and their growing family.

Rather than telling parents who they should be or what they should be doing, Becoming Us focuses on meeting parents where they’re at and supporting what’s unfolding.

Parents are supported to:

anticipate common challenges before they feel overwhelming
understand what’s normal — emotionally and relationally
stay connected rather than drifting apart
grow into family life feeling steadier, more connected, and less alone.

Supporting the wellbeing of the whole family

Each stage of the Becoming Us approach supports the mental, emotional, and relationship wellbeing of the whole family — helping parents cope, grow, and thrive, even during difficult times.

Because when parents are supported, families are stronger.

What Becoming Us offers

Over the past 15 years, Becoming Us has grown from a guidebook for expecting, new, and not-so-new parents into relationship-developmental training for professionals who support families and parent programs where the approach is experienced, practised, and lived.

All are grounded in the same father and partner-inclusive, family-centred approach and designed to work together.

Where Becoming Us comes from

Becoming Us™ is shaped by more than two decades of relationship counselling, independent research, professional training and personal journeying. It was created by Elly Taylor, in response to what parents were living — and what professionals were seeing — but often didn’t yet have the language or structure to hold.

For professionals: what’s under the hood

Becoming Us™ is grounded in research, clinical practice and lived experience to create a unique relationship-developmental approach to parenthood.

Its eight stages offer a clear, normalising map that helps professionals recognise what’s unfolding for parents and provide meaningful, preventative, family-centred care — within scope and with confidence.

“Becoming Us is a vital missing piece of the perinatal wellbeing puzzle. Pracitical, insightful and transformative.”

— Conjoint Professor Bryanne Barnett AM, Faculty of Medicine, School of Psychiatry, University of NSW

“THE WORLD NEEDS THIS.”

— Kent Hoffman, Founder, Circle of Security, Chicago

“After my first classes I could see and feel the difference between being an educator and being a facilitator. And I LOVE it!”

— Barb Buckner Suarez, Becoming Us Facilitator and Mentor, Portland, Oregon

Learning, connection, community

Becoming Us parent programs are heart-based, experiential, and grounded in real life. We don’t shy away from the grit of new parenthood — we embrace it, and support parents to do the same.

Relationship-building is central to everything we do. Parents leave with greater clarity, stronger connection, and practical supports they can draw on well beyond the early months.

Learn more