Workshop: Holding New Fathers

Holding New Fathers and Non-Birthing Partners: What you need to know, and how to help them protect themselves and their relationships. In the perinatal space, the birthing person is typically the focal point. While this is valid and necessary, the mental health of fathers and other non-birthing partners often slips through the cracks. Perinatal distress takes a different form in these individuals and can be misinterpreted as apathy or resentment. This training aims to provide clinicians with insight and direction regarding the treatment of this population. Presenter: Noah Suzuki, LPC, Perinatal Mental Health Counselor, The Postpartum Stress Center, and Director of Programming, The Karen Kleiman Training Center. Description: This training will include an overview of the treatment of paternal mental health, nuances in treatment and the review of case examples to highlight: 1. Symptoms of postpartum anxiety and depression in fathers and non-birthing persons, 2. The nuances needing to appropriately hold dads / partners in a thoughtful, intentional manner, and 3. The tools needed to increase this population’s confidence, courage, and openness in this new stage of life. This pertains to NBCC content areas: Counseling Theory/Practice and the Counseling Relationship and Assessment. Learning Objectives: 1. Participants will learn the symptoms of paternal perinatal distress and the ways that they differ from birthing persons. 2. Participants will gain a working knowledge of specific Holding interventions to facilitate change toward improving fathers’ connection to their partners, their babies, and the parental experience, as a whole. 3. Participants will develop an understanding of methods to improve a sense of competence in the non-birthing population and insight into the role that insecurity plays in this time period. 4. Participants will gain knowledge of and practice different approaches to facilitate the development of communication techniques, conflict management, and perspective-taking necessary for new fathers to appropriately navigate this stage of life. 2 CE hrs The Postpartum Stress Center, LLC has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 7461. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. The Postpartum Stress Center, LLC is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.