MotC Practice Pathway – using the MotC to understand families and plan intervention (requires intro training)

NEW: redesigned to coincide with publication of The Meaning of the Child Interview: Making Sense of Parent-child Relationships (ed. by Ben Grey, Palgrave texts in Counselling and Psychotherapy).

23-24th February 2026

This 2 day online course (taught live on Zoom) will teach participants how to use the MotC as a model for applying attachment and caregiving theory in child welfare, safeguarding or mental health practice.  It offers a pathway for practitioners to think with their clients about the difficulties they encounter and come up with solutions.

Report writing and feedback to parents will also be covered.

Attendance at the MotC intro course (Principles of practice) is required.  Attendance at the Coding the MotC course or previous full MotC training is recommended.  You do not need to be a reliable coder, however this course can lead to accreditation as an experienced coder upon submission of a coding report, confirmation of peer support/cpd arrangements, and a year of coding for others.

Course Tutors:  Dr Ben Grey and Juliet Kesteven

Teaching is online through provision of course materials and videos taken from live teaching.  Participants can move forward at their own pace and there is no end date.

The approach of the MotC is not about providing a ‘diagnosis’ of generalised pathology but rather building an in depth understanding of resources and difficulties in the context in which they occur, from which to think about support, intervention, and in some cases, risk. This 2-day course will focus on using information gained from the MotC and/or case history and practice observations, to think about families and how to help them. It will not teach or recommend a specific therapeutic approach but rather support practitioners in whatever service or context they work in to use the MotC to make sense of parent-child relationships in ways that allow them to make the best use of whatever tools, powers or resources at their disposal to improve life for children and their families.