Real Baby Milk is delighted to be among the first breastfeeding organisations to be offering accredited peer support training in the UK. The training course, accredited by the National Open College Network, is now up and running in Cornwall with plans to deliver it elsewhere in the UK currently being developed.
Trainees undertake a six week training course and are assessed on elements such as active listening skills, positioning and attachment, hand expressing, peer supporting and the many different aspects of being an effective peer supporter.
The course has been accredited to level 1 and 2 with the Open College Network credit based learning and Real Baby Milk CIC is now a registered training centre. Trainees are reporting that the course really empowers them and builds their confidence in their own skills and capabilities as peer supporters.
So far over 16 trainees have completed the training course, with a further 30 peer supporters converting their previously unaccredited training through a series of accreditation days in Cornwall.
The National Institute of Clinical Excellence recommends that breastfeeding peer supporters should be trained under an independently accredited training course and it is this recommendation that has led Real Baby Milk to take this step. Based on the original course as written by Lactation Consultants, Helen Shanahan and Stephanie Heard, the course is specific to equip volunteers with the skills to provide effective mother-to-mother support within breastfeeding group settings.
For more information please contact bec@realbabymilk.org