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Child​ specialist training

Become a Certified Parent Consultant: Child specialist


​Offer the ChildCalm education programme.

Join a community of change-makers.

Change the world...

Help parents understand their children and enjoy their relationship

CPC child specialists have a width and breadth of knowledge about all aspects of child development, the parenting role, and the context of parenting in our society that is completely unrivalled with any training I have ever found.

You will be able to support and educate parents on neurological, psychological and physical development, their role in setting and maintaining appropriate limits, building relationships and aiding in their child's development. You can support effective communication with children at different stages of their development and be able to problem solve the most common problem areas for parents of this age group. You can read a full outline below.

You will have access to our frameworks that ensure that parents are given the tools to make individual choices for their family now and in the future. We are educators, consultants and specialists, but not experts. Parents are the experts in their own children.
With this knowledge you will offer bespoke consultations to educate and support parents with children aged 5-12 years, and a programme of workshops and courses under the ChildCalm brand (with membership of the community).

​These include:
  • The calmer discipline workshop
  • Your learning and developing child workshop
  • Managing your child's worry workshop
  • Calming the major child brain leaps workshop
  • Managing peer relationships workshop
  • ​Navigating technology workshop
  • The ChildCalm course

*Consultants will also be prepared for running sessions on sleep and eating as well as a range of other topics from their course material.

Find out more

Select from the options below to find out prices, timescales, dates, how to book, and what membership is all about.

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Dates and prices

Outline of the course

Core CalmFamily modules
Module 1: About calmfamily
A relatively quick module that takes you through the history, structure, values, approach and programmes within CalmFamily, including information about our projects in development.
Module 2: Childhood and families
In this module you will gain understanding of the social, legal, political, historical and anthropological concepts surrounding child-bearing, childhood and family life. You will also consider the complexity of the concept of family in our modern society and how this impacts practice.
Module 3: Neurological development
A brief introduction to developmental neuroscience, the evolutionary process that created the human brain and factors influencing the development of the brain, and how motivation works.
Module 4: Psychological development
This module provides the basic theories of developmental and social psychology including attachment, human needs, motivation and resilience.
Module 5: Sensory regulation
In this module we look in depth at the science of the senses, looking at the most up-to-date concepts of the 5 external senses, the 3 internal senses and the balance of regulation.
Module 6: Human sleep and relaxation
In this module you will study the neurological and physiological processes of sleep, what is normal for humans and the issues society faces in this regard.

​We will also look at the science of the different states of relaxation according to various schools of thought and research.
Module 7: Human nutrition
In this module we examine the basics of nutritional biology, human infant feeding, introducing solid foods, how humans intuitively eat, and the science of taste.
Module 8: The CalmFamily approach
This module covers the fundamental principles of the CalmFamily frameworks for:
  • Calmer relationships
  • Trouble-shooting human needs
  • Mental regulation
  • Sensory regulation
  • Emotional regulation
  • Repairing relationship ruptures
  • Learning and development
Module 9: Being a consultant
This module will take you through:
  • The role and limitations of a consultant
  • Planning and running consultations
  • Running the education programmes
  • Facilitating groups
  • Managing challenges
  • Membership of the CalmFamily community
Module 10: Running a business
In this module we will take a brief look at:
  • Setting up systems
  • Business operations
  • Legal and regulatory aspects of business
  • Business with authenticity
  • Avoiding common business mistakes
  • Marketing your business
Child specialist modules
MODULE 0: LITERATURE REVIEW
We call this module zero because you will dip in and out of this as you go along. This amount of reading is not possible for everyone so we do not insist that it is complete for certification. 

To complete this recommended, but optional module, you will read ten excellent books and answer specific, short answer, questions on them that will hopefully expand your thinking, understanding and learning.

If you aren’t able to read any of the books, it is a good idea to ask a colleague or friend to summarise it for you in a quick chat so that when parents ask about it, you have some knowledge and can talk about it.
MODULE 1: THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHILDREN
Brief summary:
  • Brain development from 5 to 12 years
  • Psychological development from 5 to 12 years
  • Social development
  • Applying motivation theory
  • Developmental divergences
  • Physical development from 5 to 12 years
MODULE 2: UNDERSTANDING CHILDREN'S WORLDS
Brief summary:
  • Communication and language development
  • School
  • Play, exploration and risk
  • Technology
MODULE 3: CALMER CHILDREN
Brief summary:
  • Meeting the basic needs
  • Troubleshooting human needs
  • Emotional regulation
  • Repairing relationship ruptures
  • Sensory regulation
  • Foundations of development
MODULE 4: NURTURING CHILDREN
Brief summary:
  • Individual emotional fulfilment
  • Creating novelty
  • Working with touch
  • Working with movement and position
  • Working with containment
  • Relaxing the mind
MODULE 5: ADVOCATING FOR PHYSICAL REGULATION
Brief summary:
  • Supporting sleeping issues
  • Supporting eating issues
  • Supporting elimination issues
  • Managing physical development
MODULE 6: CHILDREN AND THEIR RELATIONSHIPS
Brief summary:
  • Friendships
  • Siblings
  • Sex and relationship education
MODULE 7: LEARNING AND EDUCATION
Brief summary:
  • How play changes
  • The many forms of education
  • Starting school
  • Managing school and teachers
  • Supporting self-directed learning
MODULE 8: CALMER DISCIPLINE
Brief summary:
  • ​Understanding what is behind behaviour and attitude
  • Taking a calm approach
  • Praise and consequences
  • Motivation
  • Playful parenting practices
MODULE 9: CHILDHOOD MENTAL HEALTH
Brief summary:
  • Adverse childhood experiences
  • Building resilience
  • Understanding sadness in children
  • Understanding worry in children
MODULE 10: BEING A CHILD SPECIALIST
This final module, alongside your face-to-face training days, will prepare you for being a child specialist consultant. You will gain a good understanding of the ChildCalm programme, of our principles and approach to facilitating learning for families, and you will have the chance to re-visit material covered in the face to face training.

Following completion of the modules (not including the literature review), and your training days, you will receive a certificate of basic training and will be bale to work as a consultant. You then have the choice as to whether you follow our recognition pathway to become fully certified.