Facilitating Attuned Interactions (FAN)
Facilitating Attuned Interactions (FAN) is a conceptual framework and training model for improving the communication skills of professionals who serve families. It was developed by Linda Gilkerson, PhD of Erikson Institute, a national expert on early childhood development. Dr. Gilkerson’s FAN approach has been used across the US and internationally as a tool for helping professionals feel more connected and responsive to families. Cooper House, in partnership with Dr. Gilkerson, has brought the FAN model to more that 300 prenatal-to-five professionals in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Alaska.
FAN is more than a typical training, it is an approach to building better relationships between professionals and parents, and ultimately between parents and their children, because it helps providers adapt to clients’ needs in the moment and stay emotionally in tune. It also helps professionals reflect on the meaning of a client’s behavior, and it helps them find more compassion for themselves through self-regulation. As a result, professionals feel more effective in their work and parents are ready to read their children’s cues and know in any given moment how to respond to their needs.
FAN has been implemented with prenatal-to-five professionals in home visiting, early intervention, early childhood mental health consultation, pediatrics, and in child welfare programs and the court system FAN works in tandem with your program model by supporting how you do the work.
Practitioner FAN Grant Opportunity
Supervisor FAN Grant Opportunity
Join us for a free information session about FAN on May 9, 2024
“The most valuable thing I learned from the FAN? The importance of sitting back and letting the parents come to a solution and not jumping in to fix problems, ultimately empowering them!”