Perinatal professionals regularly encounter relational strain during pregnancy and early parenthood.

What’s often less clear is how to recognise that strain early, how to respond within scope, and how to hold the relational context — even when you’re only seeing one parent, briefly, or at the edges of care.

This on-demand Masterclass offers a prevention-focused orientation to this work.

Not to turn you into a relationship therapist.

And not to add more to your role.

But to help you see more clearly what you’re already encountering — and respond with confidence.


What this Masterclass offers

Holding the Space is a self-paced professional Masterclass for mixed perinatal professionals, including midwives, obstetricians, psychologists, social workers, lactation consultants, health visitors, and others working with expecting and new parents.

It focuses on:

  • recognising early relational strain

  • understanding how that strain is shaped by the transition to parenthood

  • responding in ways that normalise and contain, without over-reaching your role

The emphasis throughout is on orientation, prevention, and risk reduction — not intervention.


Why it matters

Pregnancy and early parenthood reorganise identity, roles, expectations, and emotional capacity.

Relational strain during this stage is common — and often expected.

When it goes unnamed, it doesn’t usually disappear. Parents often move through multiple services, and early relational pressure can remain unspoken, sometimes resurfacing later with greater impact.

Prevention here doesn’t mean doing more.

It means seeing sooner — and helping parents make sense of what they’re experiencing as part of a developmental transition, rather than carrying it as a personal or relational failure.


Who it's for

This Masterclass is designed for perinatal professionals who:

  • work with parents briefly or episodically

  • usually see only one parent

  • work in medical, mental health, community, or home-based roles

  • want to practise in a way that is preventative, relationally aware, and ethically contained

No prior relationship training is required.


What you'll take away

  • Clearer Recognition

    Understand what’s common and expected during pregnancy and early parenthood — and recognise signs that may indicate emerging relational risk.

  • Scope Confidence

    Feel surer about what sits within your role — and what doesn’t — reducing anxiety about over-stepping or missing something important.

  • Proportioned Responses

    Learn scope-safe ways to respond in your professional role, without opening issues you can’t hold, or risk unnecessary escalation.

  • Relational Orientation

    Hold the relational context in mind, even in brief or one-off interactions, and gently orient parents without requiring both partners to be present.

  • Practical Language

    Use simple, immediately applicable language that names and normalises relational strain without blame or intervention.

  • Containment & Edges

    Ask questions that symbolically bring the relationship into the room, while recognising and respecting your professional edges.

Access and CPD details

  • Enrol any time

  • Forever access

  • 1.5 hours of CPD, inclusive of guided reflection time