25% of your registration payment will be donated to EMDR 4 Peace

A coalition of Israeli and Palestinian practitioners committed to relieving trauma and striving towards reconciliation and peace

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Course Description

When a baby is admitted to the NICU, parents benefit from your calm competence and compassionate support. In this self-paced course, you’ll explore the complicated landscape of parenting in the NICU and beyond with clinician Mara Tesler Stein, PsyD, PMH-C  and developmental psychologist Deborah L. Davis, PhD. You’ll read Parenting Your Premature Baby & Child: The Emotional Journey and/or Intensive Parenting: Surviving the Emotional Journey through the NICU and learn how to think about: 

  • perinatal crisis, grief, and trauma; 

  • quality care of parents in the NICU and beyond; 

  • evaluating, supporting, and interacting with parents;

  • therapeutic approaches that support parenting, adjustment, and healing; and

  • the strengths, limitations, callings, defenses, and biases you bring to your job.


This informative, engaging course can boost your competence and build your confidence in the important work you do with NICU parents and families.

Whether you work with families during their NICU journey, or see them months or years later, this workshop will equip you with the insight and skills you need to understand, support, and therapeutically intervene with these families. 


This course utilizes recordings of a live training held in August, 2022. CEs are calculated only based on video runtime. Readings are supplemental.


For more information on our work at The Touchstone Institute, visit our website.


Course Overview

  • Recorded/Asynchronous Distance Learning

    This course is structured for students to learn at their own pace.

  • Prerequisites

    Open to healthcare professionals working with families with NICU experiences

  • CE Credits

    18 CEs are offered for this workshop. Please see CE coverage section below for specific approvals.

Continuing Education Credits

Participation in all training sessions and submission of a course evaluation is required to receive a CE Certificate for this course. Course evaluations are made available after all live sessions have been completed within the course portal. After completing the evaluation, participants will be able to download their CE certificates. This training offers 18 CE credits.

  • It is your responsibility to verify CE coverage in your State or Provence.

  • The Touchstone Institute for Perinatal Training is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. The Touchstone Institute for Perinatal Training maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

  • The Touchstone Institute for Perinatal Training, Inc. has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 7346. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. Touchstone Institute for Perinatal Training, Inc. is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.

  • This course is approved by the EMDR International Association (EMDRIA). The Touchstone Institute is an approved training provider with EMDRIA: approval #22021.

  • This course is approved by Postpartum Support International (PSI) for continuing education towards obtaining and maintaining the PMH-C

  • The Touchstone Institute for Perinatal Training, [provider number:1876], is approved to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Organizations, not individual courses, are approved as ACE providers. State and provincial regulatory boards have the final authority to determine whether an individual course may be accepted for continuing education credit. The Touchstone Institute for Perinatal Training maintains responsibility for this course. ACE provider approval period: [1/19/2024-1/19/2025]. Social workers completing this course receive 18 continuing education credits.

  • Helping Hands Psychotherapy, LCSW, PC is recognized by the New York State Education Department as an approved provider of continuing education by the State Boards of Social Work for licensed social workers #SW-0567, Mental Health Practitioners for licensed mental health counselors #MHC-0202, and Psychology for licensed psychologists #PSY-0074. ($15 additional CE fee)

This course is also available live:

Join Mara and Debbie over Zoom, May 15th-17th, 2023

Note on Accessibility:

We include captions in all of our live and self-paced trainings. If there is anything else you need to make our trainings accessible to you, please reach out to us at [email protected]. We recognize that every person has access needs and we are happy to do everything we can to meet yours.
Get in Touch

Instructors

Mara Stein, PsyD, PMH-C

Mara Tesler Stein, Psy.D., PMH-C is a clinical psychologist practicing in Chicago and Jerusalem. She is the founder and director of The Touchstone Institute for Psychotherapy and Training where she offers both EMDR Foundational trainings for perinatal specialists & advanced EMDR workshops which take a deeper dive into the intersections and applications of EMDR and perinatal mental health. Dr. Stein is a staunch advocate for trauma-focused care and is trained and certified in a range of integrative trauma therapies. A certified EMDR therapist, EMDRIA Approved Consultant and Trainer for the Institute for Creative Mindfulness, Dr. Stein is also certified in Emotion-Focused Family and Couple Therapy, is a Gottman Certified Therapist, and continues to pursue training in Clinical Hypnosis, Yoga-Informed treatment, Advanced applications of EMDR, Brainspotting, and Ego-State therapies.

Deborah L. Davis, PH.D.

Deborah L. Davis, Ph.D. is a developmental psychologist who writes books that support parents through heart-wrenching crises such as the death of a baby during pregnancy or infancy, premature birth, parenting in the NICU, perinatal hospice and palliative care, and making end-of-life medical decisions. She has also contributed to a number of other parent books, medical texts, and professional guidelines that inform and support health care practitioners on developmentally supportive, relationship-centered care, perinatal bereavement care, and medical ethics. She is best known for her books, Empty Cradle, Broken Heart: Surviving the Death of Your Baby (1991; 1996; 2016) and A Gift of Time: Continuing Your Pregnancy When Your Baby’s Life is Expected to Be Brief (2011; in press). She is forever inspired by the resilience of bereaved parents and the healing transformations they experience on their journeys.

Tiered pricing options for this course:

Questions? See our FAQ below.

More about our pricing:

We offer tiered pricing for all of our trainings in order to make our courses accessible to as many practitioners as possible. If you are unsure which tier of payment is right for your financial situation, please read through our FAQ section below or visit our website.


Please reach out to us at [email protected] if you are interested in a multi-month payment plan. We are always happy to create a custom payment plan to make it more feasible for everyone to participate in our courses. 

Course Details

    1. Introduction

    2. Copy of How to Use This Course

    3. Powerpoint Slides

    4. Copy of Anti-Oppression Statement from The Touchstone Institute

    5. Copy of Learning Objectives

      FREE PREVIEW

    6. Get to know Mara Tesler Stein!

    7. Get to know Debbie Davis!

    1. Lecture: Laying the Foundation & Self-as-Therapist

    2. Readings: Self-as-Therapist

    1. Lecture: Philosophies of Care and Therapeutic Principles

    2. Kangaroo Care

    3. Readings: Philosophies of Care

    4. Readings: Therapeutic Principles

    1. Lecture: Bonding & The Developmental Journey

    2. Born Too Soon Part 1

    3. Born Too Soon Families part 2

    4. Dying in Your Mother's Arms

    5. Readings: Bonding

    6. Readings: Three Core Tasks

    7. Readings: Grief and Trauma

    8. Readings: Pandemic Impact

    9. One woman’s quest to improve care for premature babies

    1. Lecture: Parenting After Discharge

    2. Ella

    3. Readings: Family Impact

    4. Readings: Sibling Impact

    5. Readings: Child Impact

    6. Readings: Therapeutic Intervention

    7. One year in, parenting has taught us about vulnerability and gratitude

    1. Lecture: Long-term Outcomes

    2. Video: Little Man (Streaming)

    3. Recording: Therapeutic Interventions

About this course

  • $650 - $850
  • On-demand
  • 18 CE's - EMDRIA, APA & PSI

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Is this course EMDRIA-Approved?

    Yes, this course is approved for 18 CE credits through the EMDR International Association.

  • Is this course approved by PSI?

    Yes, this course is approved by PSI for 18 CE credits both for obtaining the PMH-C as well as for renewing the PHM-C.

  • Is the Generative Access tier right for me?

    Select this tier if you: Own the home you live in (even with a mortgage); live in a two-income household; have investments, retirement accounts, or inherited money; travel recreationally; have access to family money and resources in times of need; work part-time by choice, etc.

  • Is the Sustaining Access tier right for me?

    Select this tier if you: Have income available for recreational activities (going out to dinner, movies, concerts etc.); have consistent work compensated at a median income rate based on your region; pay rent that is not more than 25% of your monthly household income; do not own your own home, etc.

  • Is the Supported Access tier right for me?

    Select this tier if you: Are a graduate student paying tuition; have major medical expenses not covered by insurance; have been denied work, or experience discrimination related to ableism, racism, sexism, gender discrimination or other forms of oppression; are eligible for public assistance; have immigration-related expenses; have ever been denied work due to incarceration history; are supporting adult children, extended family members in need or have other adult dependents; are an elder with limited financial support; are primarily working in a setting with under-resourced populations and your income reflects this work, etc.

  • Are there payment plan options available?

    Yes! We are happy to work with you to create a payment plan that fits your needs. Please reach out to us over email with a brief description of the length of the plan that you are interested in using to pay for this course: [email protected].

  • How can I learn more about your pricing?

    Please visit our website for more information on our approach to pricing our trainings: www.touchstoneinstitute.org/pricing.

  • What is your refund policy?

    We require 30-days notice for cancellations to receive a refund, minus a 5% administrative fee. If you cancel within thirty days you will be able to apply your full tuition to any other trainings we offer.

Other courses you may be interested in:

  • $750.00

    $750.00Empty Cradle, Broken Heart: A Practitioner's Guide to Working with Bereaved Families (self-paced)

    Learn More

  • $750.00

    $750.00NICU Parenting: A Practitioner’s Guide to Working with Families in the NICU and Beyond (May 2023)

    Learn More

Join our growing community of perinatal providers