Weaving the Cradle

This book is a treasure trove of inspiring work with parents and babies in groups. I was impressed by the honesty and reflectiveness of the diverse facilitators and families who reveal their feelings of anxiety, disappointment, irritation and joy, their mistakes and successes. If only there were such powerfully supportive groups like this in every neighbourhood. -- Dr Sue Gerhardt, author of Why Love Matters, co-founder of OXPIP (Oxford Parent Infant Project) This is just the sort of record we need of the work done by children's centres and their partners, and the outcomes achieved through this work. -- Karen Walker, Centre Manager, North & North Wast Abingdon Children's Centres This inspiring book has been skilfully woven by Monika Celebi with the same loving care that each chapter author shows towards the parents and their babies. Indeed a triumph of collaboration, clear writing with great depth, and a joy to read. -- Hilary Kennedy, Educational Psychologist CPsychol, AFBPsS, Video Interaction Guidance (AVIGuk) Practitioner, Supervisor Here we have a real dynamo of a book which pumps out the energy, commitment and skills of all its contributors. This overview of the many different ways therapeutic groups can provide help and support to vulnerable parents who may be struggling to manage with their baby, or apprehensive about the baby to be, is an inspiration to all those who engage with such parents. This is preventative intervention at its most inventive. Those who work in children's centres, will find this a resource full of the different communities they serve and are so central to. This is relationship-based practice at its best. -- Robin Balbernie, Consultant Child Psychotherapist, Infant Mental Health Specialist, Clinical Director of PIP UK This valuable manual for practitioners acknowledges that mothering poses both wondrous moments and difficult challenges, especially when baby care reactivates unprocessed visceral residues. Chapters illustrate how multi-faceted 'attachment-based' group interventions increase parental sensitivity, empathy, and mentalization, delivered across venues and continents. -- Joan Raphael-Leff, Psychoanalyst/Transcultural Psychologist and Leader, Academic Faculty for Psychoanalytic Research, Anna Freud Centre, London