Author: Julie Ribaudo
Author title: Clinical Professor of Social Work, University of Michigan School of Social Work, USA 
Description: This article explores the ‘ways of being’ (Pawl, 1994) that promote an alliance between the parent and provider and illuminates the concept of ‘parallel process’, otherwise known in Infant Mental Health (IMH) work as the platinum rule, ‘Do unto others as you would have others do unto others’ (Pawl, 1994:23). Parallel process illuminates the interconnected nature of providing for a parent what we hope parents can provide for their infant (Weatherston & Ribaudo, 2020). Often, parents who struggle the most to provide for their infant’s emotional and relational needs have not had reliable experiences of their own needs being met. By offering emotional containment and care, practitioners across a spectrum of perinatal services can be a source of healing and, thus, therapeutic. 

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