Mind in the Making Trainer Certification

Online • Live • 18 PD Hrs

This program trains early childhood education professionals to coach families and practitioners working with children on best practices identified in Ellen Galinsky’s groundbreaking child development research.

Overview Course Outline

Overview

NHSA’s Mind in the Making (MITM) Trainer Certification bridges the gap between knowledge and practice. The program prepares early childhood education professionals to coach families and practitioners on strengthening children’s critical executive function skills that help them manage their thoughts, actions, and emotions. This program was developed in partnership with the Bezos Family Foundation to share the science of children’s learning with families and professionals.

To become certified, candidates must complete a 18-hour training. Attendance at all sessions is mandatory. Candidates are encouraged to keep their cameras on and must actively participate. Once you receive your certification, you will be able to train Head Start staff, families, and other community members as well as host your own "Train-the-Trainer" events.

Start Date: New cohorts are accepted on a monthly basis (See registration page for more information on upcoming availability)

Course Level: Intermediate

Requirements/Prerequisites:

NHSA requires trainers to host a minimum of two train-the-trainer workshops (24 hours) and three in-service community training (16 hours) within one year, all of which will be compensated. This certification can be used to consult on your own and earn extra personal income.

Target Audience: Instruction and Effective Practice, Parents and Families, Support Services

Course Meeting Times: Tuesdays and Fridays at 2:00 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. ET

Completion Timeline/Duration: One month

Course Outline

Each of the eight MITM Learning Modules offers transformational opportunities to:

ENGAGE in an experiential process of self-reflection and self-discovery to explore competence in each of the executive function-based life skills, probe why each skill is important in their own lives, and propose strategies to improve the skill in themselves.
CONNECT adult experiences to the research on the skills in children’s lives—why it’s important, how it develops, and how it can be promoted—through virtual field trips to the labs of the most respected and compelling child development researchers.
EMPLOY specific, evidence-based activities through individual action plans that promote key skills in children.
CREATE action plans to promote the skills in themselves and in children, which they revisit in subsequent modules.

The training provides a common language and approach to supporting children and their families to develop important life skills needed to thrive. It also provides evidence-based professional development, which fits nicely with existing systems of professional development and equips attendees to share the information within their organizations and communities.

Course Author

Ellen Galinsky

Ellen Galinsky is the chief science officer and executive director of Mind in the Making at the Bezos Family Foundation. She also serves as President of Families and Work Institute. She’s conducted research on child-care, parent-professional relationship, parental development, work-family issues and youth voice. She is currently at work on a book about adolescence called The Breakthrough Years. Ellen is the author of the best-selling Mind in the Making, more than 100 books/reports and 300 articles. Other highlights include serving as a parent expert in the Mister Rogers Talks to Parents TV series; as child care expert on Dr. T. Berry Brazelton’s TV series What Every Baby Knows; being the elected President of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC); and being elected to the National Academy of Human Resources. In 2018. the Work and Family Researchers Network established the ongoing Ellen Galinsky Generative Researcher Award.

Course Facilitator

Shawn Bryant

Shawn M. Bryant is director and principal consultant with YesToECE (formerly Teaching Excellence Center), an early childhood training, coaching, and consultancy. A nationally recognized professional development facilitator, Shawn brings three decades of experience, expertise, and commitment to advancing the work of adults involved in the lives of young children. In addition to his work at YesToECE, Shawn is lead coach/consultant for the State of Pennsylvania Early Head Start/Child Care Partnership Project. He supports coaches throughout the state. As program manager with Yale University Center for Child Development & Social Policy, Shawn trains and facilitates use of the CHILD Scale tool for early childhood mental health consultants across the country.

Shawn is contributing author of Trauma-Responsive Family Engagement in Early Childhood: Practices for Equity and Resilience (Fall 2021).

Shawn has taught preschool, college, provided early childhood mental health consultation, led a county-wide early childhood program, and provided training and technical assistance for a state universal prekindergarten program.