Workshops

We offer workshops for expectant parents, parents of babies with sleep difficulties and adults with insomnia symptoms.

The aim of our Parent and Parent-to-be workshops are not to instruct people how to parent, but rather provide objective, scientific information to improve awareness and help parents to be confident in making the best parenting choices for their child, lifestyle and beliefs.

Workshops are held at our Holdsworth House Clinic in Darlinghurst.

Sleep during pregnancy and early postpartum

Next available: Aug 21, 6:00 - 7:30pm

This workshop is recommended for women from 20 weeks of pregnancy onwards. Partners are encouraged to attend. The workshop offers information about what is happening in our brains and bodies during sleep throughout pregnancy and in the early postpartum period. Techniques to prevent ongoing insomnia are also discussed.

Some of the information provided in this workshop includes:

Brain function through the day and night
Circadian rhythm development
Sleep during pregnancy including labour and early postpartum
Sleep & mood throughout this process and how they're interrelated
How to reduce the development insomnia
Sleep and feeding
Setting more realistic expectations
Adjusting to sleep deprivation and ways to manage fatigue
Other ways to maximise sleep
Apps and online access to extra help

Tired Mums and Babies

Understanding sleep interventions and how and when to use them

This workshop is recommended for parents or carers of a baby between 4 and 12 months old who is not sleeping well. The workshop is designed to help parents incorporate healthy sleeping habits for their baby and decide whether a sleep intervention is the right choice for them. It will also explain the safety of various sleep interventions, how to administer them and what to expect of them. More specific information might include:

Healthy sleep patterns at different ages
Early habits that can help baby's sleep
Identifying babies with poor sleep
Decision trees to decide whether a sleep intervention might be the answer
Understanding the safety of various sleep interventions
How to implement various sleep interventions and what to expect of them

Sleep from the womb to Age 1

Next available: Sept 4, 6:00 - 7:30pm

This workshops is recommended for expectant couples after attending "Sleep during pregnancy and early postpartum". It offers information about sleep from the baby's develoment in the womb to when the baby is a year old. It is designed to help expectant parents set realistic expectations for their baby's sleep and understand how their role as a parent might affect it. Information offered in this workshop includes:

Fetal sleep
Safe sleeping
Sleep staging in infancy and why it's important to know
What healthy sleep looks like
Identifying sleep 'problems' and selecting right management option
Sleep patterns at different ages
The role of parent behaviour in infant sleep
Helping your baby sleep
Infants sleep/wake cycles
The concept for sleep training - what you need to know

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia

(CBT - I )

Insomnia refers to a distressing difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep or waking too early and being generally unsatisfied with sleep even though there is an adequate opportunity to sleep. Insomnia affects up 40% of the population at some point in their lives. For many, sleep returns to normal after a few weeks but for others, it persists for months and even years. The onset of insomnia may follow the birth of the first baby and sleep difficulties may persist after the baby is sleeping well and often, for many years.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) is the gold standard treatment for insomnia. We are able to deliver this treatment in two group sessions as well as follow up individual consultations.

CBT-I involves a combination of psychoeducation, and addresses the need to change behaviour and current thought processes. Depending on individual situations this treatment intervention can be delivered privately and adapted with other therapies for more effective treatment.

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