About IPI

Philosophy
Training
Research
Professional Staff

Founded in 1986 by Michael Trout, The Infant-Parent Institute is a private clinical practice and research and training facility dedicated to understanding the relationship between early social experiences and how our lives form. The Institute believes that early social experience — and the working models that arise out of babies’ interpretations of that experience — is at the heart of many developmental and clinical disorders in babies, young children and adults.

Philosophy

The Institute believes that prevention makes more sense than remediation. However, when remediation is necessary, it makes no sense to ignore the past. We believe in:

Our commitment to these principles leads us to push for societal change through our practice and research. We challenge families (even as we defend them) and sit every day with parents who want their babies to have a better life. We are driven by a belief that the person we become as an adult is rooted in the attachments made in the first three years of life. Our goal is to make a contribution to understanding how families make those relationships and what they need to sustain and support them along the way.

For more information about the Institute’s clinical services, click here.

Training

The Institute is nationally recognized for its training programs in clinical infant mental health. Over the past two decades, we have trained hundreds of clinicians in a specific method of assessment and intervention with troubled families and their babies. Mr. Trout has also conducted seminars at universities and clinics across North America. The Infant Mental Health Clinical Traineeship Program accepts one seasoned clinician each year for intensive training and supervision. MORE

An important part of the Institute’s outreach has been our development of 14 training videos that are used by facilities around the world. Tackling areas as diverse as domestic violence, a family’s reaction to the birth of a disabled child and the meaning of divorce to a young child, the videos have one common theme: understanding the importance of early life. Our videos explain this theme in a way that is meaningful to clinicians, program directors and parents alike. MORE

Research

The Infant-Parent Institute's Research Division explores ways to improve service delivery to children in need of mental health services due to disruptions in their family lives. We also examine new issues in women’s health, children’s mental health, treatment outcomes and program evaluation. MORE

NEW PRODUCT - Click here to
find out more about Baby Verses










By Michael Trout
Published by the
Infant-Parent Institute
112 Pages
ISBN 978-0-9761546-1-7
$22.95 Hardcover, with CD
Listen to an exerpt

The Jonathon Letters
By Michael Trout
and Lori Thomas
Published by the
Infant-Parent Institute
192 Pages
ISBN 0-9761546-0-9
$22.95 Print Format
$29.95 Audio Format