Gale Touger FNP-C, IBLCL and HUG Your Baby Trainer, began the process of teacher certification with the International Association of Infant Massage. She shares this journey with us.
Recently I have been working hard to complete certification
to teach infant massage. The International Association of Infant Massage has
developed a challenging array of assignments.
As I walk through this process, I am considering how the approaches to learning
and demonstrating competence might inform the process we are developing for HUG
Your Baby Train the Trainer.
Becoming certified to teach Infant Massage to parents began
for me with a 4 day course in February 2016.
Since then I recruited five parents to bring their babies to a class of five 1.5 hour sessions at least one
week apart. There were forms to be read and signed by parents, preparation for
and teaching class, parent evaluation and self evaluation. I offered the class for free in exchange for
their agreement to attend all five classes. The process was complicated and
prolonged by one mom dropping out and having to reschedule a class due to
babies’ illness. Other assignments have included short answer and multiple
choice questions on the content of the 4 day training, reading a relevant book
and submitting a book report, analyzing a relevant research study, outlining a
verbal marketing presentation about infant massage, and essays on the bonding
process, crying and a special situation that a massage instructor is likely to
encounter.
This process has taken me beyond the commitment and
participation in a four day training and practice. It has guided me through
anticipating and intellectually rehearsing situations I will likely encounter as
a teacher. I have experienced, though practice teaching, my strengths, my
weaknesses, what skills are familiar to me, what skills are new and I have been
prepared for implementing this program in my circumstances.
Jan and I are exploring my experience and impressions as we
consider what assignments would adequately prepare and demonstrate the
competence of a HUG Your Baby Trainer.
We are very interested in your experience and thoughts. What assignments
and experiences have you found valuable when certifying as a doula, an IBCLC, a
parent educator or a trainer of Infant Massage Teachers? Now that you are
moving beyond competence in your primary field of expertise, how can you best
demonstrate competence to train future HUG Your Baby Teachers?