When parenthood changes everything,
relationships matter more than ever.
Becoming Us is a relationship-developmental framework for understanding the transitions of motherhood, fatherhood, and parenthood - and how these shape parents, partners, and family life over time.
Our family-centred Parenthood, Relationships and Mental Health (PRaM) trainings equip perinatal professionals to prepare, guide, and support parents through pregnancy, birth, early parenthood, and beyond.
See how family-centred, relationship-developmental care changes what’s possible for parents and professionals.
Work confidently with individuals, couples, or groups.
Do work that feels meaningful, grounded, and sustainable.
“Becoming Us is a much needed, sensitive, positive and comprehensive approach to parenthood.”
“THE WORLD NEEDS THIS!”
“This is the missing piece. Becoming Us is a change-maker for parents and professionals!”
Below, you’ll find a pathway of trainings - from foundational skills and orientation, through developmental maps, to supporting families through greater complexity.
Holding the Space – Masterclass (1.5 CEUs)
An orientation to recognising and responding to relational strain in parenthood
This masterclass supports perinatal professionals to recognise moments of relational strain during pregnancy and early parenthood — such as tension, withdrawal, or emotional overwhelm — and respond in ways that are supportive, containing, and within scope. Holding the Space focuses on noticing when parents may be at risk of being divided by stress, and on responding in ways that keep connection possible, without introducing structured techniques or interventions. It builds relational awareness and confidence for everyday practice, and helps professionals identify when a more intentional approach may be helpful. Explore this training.
The Seed Planting Workshop (2 CEUs)
Supporting parents to hold challenges together
The Seed Planting Workshop builds on relational awareness by introducing a clear, three-step facilitation technique and the GROWTH model for when and how to use it. Designed for professionals who often work with one parent at a time, Seed Planting supports father- and partner-inclusive, relationship-focused practice by shaping how challenges are understood and carried forward. Seed Planting helps prevent polarisation, reduce blame, and support parents to hold difficulties as a shared experience — offering a practical, preventative tool that can be used intentionally and repeatedly within scope. Explore this training.
Becoming Us Level I - Foundational Landscape (6 CEUs)
Understanding the “transition” into parenthood
This foundational training orients perinatal professionals to mothers’ and fathers’ individual and shared journeys into early parenthood, integrating both Holding the Space Masterclass and the Seed Planting Workshop as core components. Level I supports professionals to recognise relational strain, respond with clarity and care, and intentionally shape how challenges are understood and carried by parents. Drawing on adult attachment theory, the individual developmental stages of parenthood, and a simple three-phase “mud map” of long-term relationships, Level I offers a whole-picture, relationship-developmental foundation for father- and partner-inclusive practice — even when working with one parent. Explore this training.
Becoming Us Level II - Developmental Pathways (12 CEUs)
Mapping Matrescence, Patrescence, and the Couple Journey
Level II introduces the Becoming Us 8-stage relationship-developmental map, offering a clear pathway to guide parents through pregnancy, early parenthood, and beyond. This training supports professionals to locate parents within a developmental context, make sense of where they are and what’s coming next, and work more confidently with difference, strain, and disconnection. The frameworks, language, and skills introduced can be used with individuals, couples, or groups, and support ongoing individual, relational, and family wellbeing. Level I is a prerequisite.
Becoming Us Level III - Complexity and Connection (6 CEUs)
Supporting families through challenge, vulnerability, and repair
Level III deepens practice with parents facing greater complexity, including perinatal mental health conditions, birth and perinatal trauma, and grief and loss. This training takes a non-judgemental father/partner-inclusive, relationship-based approach to working with distress, including relationship rupture, addictions, infidelity, and intimate partner abuse (within scope). Learn how to hold risk, support repair, and foster hope, while maintaining relational awareness and professional boundaries. Levels I and II are prerequisites.
Professor Bryanne Barnett A.M.
“We know from research and clinical experience that there is a reciprocal relationship between partner satisfaction and mental health, and yet this vital factor is rarely included in the education of perinatal health professionals or in the course of their work.
Receiving positive and appropriate social support from the partner is often cited as the most important variable in avoiding perinatal mental health difficulties, and we are well aware of the intergenerational transmission of trauma, but we rarely seem to set about addressing this appropriately over the course of pregnancy and the early postpartum years.
We are missing what could be our best opportunity for prevention and early intervention in mental health for the whole family.
I believe the Becoming Us relationship-based approach provides a vital missing piece of the perinatal wellbeing puzzle that is too often overlooked and goes unaddressed. I recommend this practical, insightful and transformative professional training to those who want to provide effective parenthood preparation and support.”
