News and Trends

The Infant-Parent Institute, Inc., founded in 1986 by Michael D. Trout, specializes in the study, assessment and treatment of problems of attachment in infancy and throughout life. Mr. Trout-who completed his specialized training in infant psychiatry with Prof. Selma Fraiberg at the University of Michigan Medical School in the early 1970's-brought a novel approach to understanding the behavior and development of infants and young children to assessment and clinical practice. Clinical practitioners at The Infant-Parent Institute, Inc., including Martin Srajek, PhD, MS, LCSW; Jim Linder, MS; and Michael Trout, MA, LCPC-work with children in foster care, conduct divorce mediation, consult about the development of infants through pre-school children, work with special issues in the emotional development of boys and men, and treat individuals and families of nearly every age.

The Infant-Parent Institute, Inc. is also a national training center in clinical infant mental health. Over the years, 750 professionals (from child psychiatrists to child welfare workers) have come to The Infant-Parent Institute, Inc.'s Brief Summer Course in Infant Mental Health from all over the United States, and another 1,500 have graduated from presentations of the Course in Florida, Pennsylvania, Maine, Virginia, North Carolina, Washington, Illinois, Michigan, Maryland, Ontario, Washington, D.C., and New York City. The Infant-Parent Institute, Inc. has produced 15 documentary films that are in use around the world.

Mr. Trout's book, The Jonathon Letters, co-written with a foster-adopt mother from Virginia, was published in 2005, and another book-Baby Verses now finished and being offered through our online store.

The Research Division of The Infant-Parent Institute, Inc. - as well as our affiliate non-profit foundation, Collaborative Solutions, Inc., includes professionals from clinical, developmental and experimental psychology, social work, criminal justice and related fields, all eager to turn their attention to significant new issues in children's mental health, women's health, treatment outcome and program evaluation. The Research Division has a staff of 17, with offices in Chicago and Champaign.

A new specialty center at The Infant-Parent Institute, Inc. - The Center for Men and Masculinity-was founded by Dr. Martin Srajek in 2005. CFMM's express purpose is to investigate issues in the emotional development of boys and men, and developing specialized services to meet these needs.

Further information about The Infant-Parent Institute, Inc. may be obtained through the web site (www.infant-parent.com) or calling 352-4060.

Announcements

The Institute has accepted, as a Clinical Trainee in Infant Mental Health, Carlos Pitillas, a psychologist from Madrid, Spain. Mr. Pitillas will arrive in late October.

URBANA SPRING WORKSHOP ON PRENATAL BONDING: A TERRIFIC BEGINNING

The introductory workshop on Prenatal Bonding (BA), sponsored by the Institute on March 27-28 in Urbana, Illinois, was a grand success. This was the first clinical training on Prenatal Bonding in the United States, and was authorized by Dr. Jenoe Raffai of Hungary, who developed the strategy for supporting the mother's growing acknowledgment of the baby inside, as well as her preparation for releasing the baby at birth.

Led by Gerhard Schroth, psychoanalyst from Speyer, Germany, and his wife, Anne Goertz-Schroth, the workshop included 35 participants from 13 states and 3 countries. We studied theory and cases together, ate together, and rejoiced about the possibilities inherent in this new strategy for improvingconnections all around.

A smaller number from this group will form the backbone for the certification-training group, whose work will begin in April, 2011, in Urbana, Illinois. If you would like more information about this long-term training (four sessions of four days each, plus supervision, over two years), or would like to register, please contact Michael Trout, Director of The Infant-Parent Institute (mtrout@infant-parent.com).

The extraordinary success of the two-day workshop--attended by 35 participants representing a variety of fields, from 13 states and 3 countries--made it possible for Dr. Schroth and Mr. Trout to announce the commencement of a clinical training program in Prenatal Bonding (BA), leading to certification. The program will include four sessions, of four days each, over a period of two years, plus clinical supervision.

The dates for the certification training series have now been established, and many of the arrangements completed. The 2011 dates will be April 26-30 and October 10-14. The training site will be the I-Hotel, on the campus of the University of Illinois. Many of those coming from out-of-town will be able to stay (at no charge) with registrants who live in the area, which will help to create far lower room and board costs than originally anticipated. Lunches will be included in the registration fee, which is $760.

Dr. Schroth will be handling the registration process, which will include a personal phone interview. To register, contact Dr. Schroth at schroth.apv@t-online.de.

SPECIAL STUDY PROGRAM FOR FOSTER/ADOPT PARENT GROUPS

We are now donating The Jonathon Letters by Michael Trout and Lori Thomas which is published by the Infant-Parent Institute to parent support groups around the United States for their use and study. To find out more about this great offer, please click here.

SPANISH-LANGUAGE VERSION OF MULTIPLE TRANSITIONS

In response to a great many inquiries and suggestions from child welfare and infant-parent programs serving Hispanic populations across the US, we set about the task of turning our film, "Multiple Transitions: A Young Child's Point of View About Foster Care and Adoption" into a Spanish-language, culturally-attuned film that could be used with Hispanic audiences.

We knew it would not be enough to simply translate the words into Spanish. The film had to take cultural differences into account, the little voices had to be those of children of Hispanic origin, and the music had to be just right. Now, 15 months later, we are ready to release "Transiciones Multiples: El Punto de Vista de un Nino Sobre el Cuidado de Familias de Acogida Temporal y la Adopcion".

In the process, we had the priceless help of Janet Rodriguez, MSW, Director of Hispanic Cultural Awareness in Columbia, South Carolina. Not only did Janet supervise the three translations (to make sure we had accounted for various dialects), recruit the little children to speak the parts, and advise us on cultural issues, but she even organized two pilot showings to varied Hispanic audiences. She also helped us find Enrique Cardenas, of Bayamon, Puerto Rico, who composed the original music for this version of our film.

Cost of this version of the film remains the same as the English-language version ($70, including shipping), in either VHS or DVD version. Click here to purchase.

Trout Travels - 2010

September 9 - National conference on "Integrating Caring Theory Into Practice, Traverse City, Michigan - keynote and workshop on "The Therapeutic Relationship in Practice", for physicians and nurses.

September 23 - 22nd Annual ATTACh Conference, San Francisco - workshop on clinicians hearing the pleas of foster and adoptive parents of seriously troubled children, with Lori Thomas and Juli Alvarado.

September 20-22 - Kingman, Arizona - 3-day version of the Brief Course in Infant Mental Health, sponsored by the Superior Court Infant/Toddler Mental Health Program.

October 19-20 - Champaign, Illinois - two-day workshop on The Therapeutic Relationship, for physicians and nurses, sponsored by Creative Health Care Management.

November 16-19 - Urbana, Illinois - four-day Brief Course in Infant Mental Health, sponsored by The Infant-Parent Institute.

THE INFANT-PARENT INSTITUTE
announces an offering of the four-day intensive seminar:

“INFANT MENTAL HEALTH:  A PSYCHOTHERAPEUTIC MODEL OF ASSESSMENT AND INTERVENTION”

November 16-19, 2010
Urbana, Illinois

For further information, see www.infant-parent.com;
email mtrout@infant-parent.com; or call 217-344-3212.

To register, fill in, mail in, or fax in
the registration form below to:

The Infant-Parent Institute
2808 East Concord Road,
Urbana, IL 61802
217-344-3212
Fax 217-352-4257

Your payment can be made by check,
on the phone or online with a credit card.

Registration form
Pay on our online store

Library of Articles

To Learn About Babies is to Learn About Interdependency - The following brief articles were included in this series by Michael Trout, published in the Newsletter of the Illinois Association for Infant Mental Health, during 2009:

It's The Stories
Who We Are
Second Chances
On Being There

Christmas Letter 2009 - PDF format. For the second year in a row, we are privileged to publish the amazing Christmas letter of one of our dear friends, and a member of the Institute community. I don't care much for Christmas letters, usually, but Leslie's always knock me out. She is kind to let us share the bounty of her writing…Michael Trout

I Have a Dream - PDF format

My Grandfather's Chair - PDF format

Father Loss and Transference in Adolescent Parenting - PDF format

Sometimes It Seems We Have Made No Advancements At All - PDF format

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

NEW PRODUCT - Click here to find out more about The Hope-Filled Parent


By Michael Trout
$14.95 Booklet and CD
Listen to an exerpt