MERTIL (Hunter New England)

The MERTIL online modules provide a strong grounding in early relational trauma, including addressing the needs of special population groups (e.g. drug and alcohol, family violence, refugee/asylum seekers, culturally diverse populations, those experiencing various forms of mental illness and neuro-developmental conditions).

MERTIL has 8 online modules (12 hours) that:

• Build capacity for earliest detection of relational trauma
• Extend skills and enhance confidence in response to early relational trauma
• Enhance prevention of complex sequelae for parents, infants and young children

MERTIL operates as an online portal; learning is self-paced, allowing for reflection and pauses as required. The course includes 8 learning chapters, totalling approximately 12 hours of learning. The chapters are presented in three themes as outlined below:

Theme 1: Development in a relational context

1. Infant trauma: a relational, developmental and humanising framework

The relational, developmental context as the organising frame for understanding and responding to all forms of trauma in early childhood; Understanding the developmental implications of trauma during the critical infant period of development.

2. Attachment development and the transmission of caregiving trauma

A tour of attachment development and what it means for early development; creating a context for observing attachment in your consultations; recognition of early signs of disorganising caregiving and disorganised attachment.

Theme 2: Signs and symptoms of early relational trauma

3. Recognising caregiver trauma

Observational skills; critical history taking; impact of trauma on the health and wellbeing of adults and parenting; core mental health implications of trauma on parents and parenting capacity; behavioural indices; tools for recognising trauma responses in the adult.

4. Recognising neonate and infant trauma

Impacts of trauma for immobile and mobile infants; neurologically, biologically, psychologically and socially. Behavioural indices, screening tools and skills for recognising trauma exposures and responses.

5. Recognising pre-school trauma

The impacts of trauma for pre-schoolers; neurologically, biologically, psychologically and socially. Screening indices, tools and skills for recognising trauma exposures and responses.

Theme 3: Conversations and interventions

6. Creating supportive conversations for a shared recognition of risk

Trauma informed observation and screening principles; strengths based approaches to risk screening conversations; tips for difficult conversations, engaging the parent in “knowing together”; the infant as contributor to risk recognition.

7. First response education and brief relational interventions

Brief encounters that make a difference. In-person, in-the-moment support to parents and children who have experienced trauma; supporting parenting states of mind; strategies to assist parenting of children who have experienced trauma; working on “The Line”: trauma informed telephone advice and support; enhancing your referral network.

8. Enhanced interventions

Recognition of and response to trauma in the context of multiple risk factors; skills for provision of higher level support for in-home, group and community settings; enhancing trauma informed linkages with other support systems

Bonus content

As part of your purchase of MERTIL self-paced online learning, you will also be provided with access to:

• MERTIL Library
• Mini-MERTIL Refresher

Instructions on how to access this content will be provided within the MERTIL course once you are underway.