The course is intended to prepare expectant parents for the changes that are known to await them with the arrival of a child.
Among other things, it will cover:
- Promoting emotional regulation and stress management
- The importance of good and secure attachment in the family
- Promoting intimacy in the couple’s relationship
- Knowing where to seek support in the first years
The course is for pregnant couples who are expecting their first child together and one of them must be a paying member of Efling union.
The course is taught in Icelandic and English with text interpretation between these languages and bilingual slides.
A suitable time for participation is at any time during pregnancy. At the end of the second class, couples will be let out with a surprise treat.
The course will be held in two parts on Saturdays, March 29 and April 12 from 10:00 – 15:30.
Breakfast and lunch refreshments will be provided. Course fee is 2,500 kr.
The course is supervised by:
Ólafur Grétar Gunnarsson, family and couples counselor.
Gottman Bringing Baby Home & Seven Principles educator. In recent decades, Ólafur has specialized in education and counseling for couples in the process of having a child. He has also provided education for expectant fathers at the Center for Children Mental Health and at the Reykjavík Maternity Hospital and written articles, including for the Journal of the Icelandic Mental Health Alliance. He had previously worked in preschools abroad and in Iceland. Ólafur has a practice in Samskiptistöðin, Skeifan 11, Reykjavík.
Margrét Gunnarsdóttir, psychotherapist MSc and mental health physiotherapist.
Specialist in attachment therapy and trauma therapy.
Margrét worked as a physiotherapist for many years and then studied psychotherapy with emphasis on attachment and trauma therapy. She has worked in her own practice in recent years, both with individuals and groups, as well as organizing courses and teaching. For a couple of years she worked part-time at the Center for Parents and Children (now the Center for Children Mental Health), where she provided specialized counseling for expectant parents and parents of young children. Margrét now has a practice in Grænahlíð Family Center, Sundagörðum 2, Reykjavík.
Together with Íris Dögg Jóhannesdóttir, assistant preschool principal of preschool and HighScope teacher.