invest in play® (iiP) is an international, not-for-profit organisation with a mission to support children and their caregivers using practical and compassionate strategies which have been proven to work over many decades. We have co-created our parent and teacher programmes with local communities to provide the most current and culturally appropriate, research-based interventions to support parents and other caregivers around the world.
Building stronger foundations for children
iiP Programmes
The iiP Core Parent Programme, Six Bricks for Kids model, outlines research-based strategies that help caregivers build a strong foundation for their child’s life. These include:
- Play and positive attention to create solid parent-child relationships and trust.
- Support for children’s learning, emotion and social skills.
- Caring boundaries that create a predictable and safe framework for children to thrive.
- Self-regulation strategies for caregivers and children.
The 12-session iiP programme can be delivered in groups or with individual families in prevention or treatment contexts for parents of children aged 2-12 years. The strategies in this core model build on 50 years of research on what works to support all children, both neurodiverse and neurotypical, including those with challenging behaviours, social difficulties, anxiety, ADHD and who are autistic.
Culturally sensitive materials
invest in play® Core Parent Programme Facilitator Manual, Videos and Parent Workbook are included in the training price and are available online after you have purchased the initial training. The programme is currently available in UK English, US English, US Spanish, Danish, Norwegian, Slovenian, Dutch and Icelandic. As additional language versions are co-created, all trained users will have access to all languages.
Here you see how the parent strategy, “Play with descriptive commenting” is culturally adapted in 3 different languages:
The iiP Team
Caroline White
Founder and Director
Consultant Clinical Psychologist
Caroline has a proven track record of creating and developing sustainable implementations of evidence-based interventions for children and families.
International consultant, trainer and keynote speaker. Based in Manchester, UK.
Our funky leader – brave and curious.
Jamila Reid
Programme Developer
Clinical Psychologist and Researcher
Jamila has extensive experience in supporting the dissemination and implementation of evidence-based programmes for children, families and professionals. Experience in research and evaluation of interventions for families, children and professionals. International trainer and supervisor. Based in Seattle, USA.
Our master – focused and hard working.
Line Møller Sletting
Programme Developer
Clinical Psychologist
Line has extensive experience in implementation of face-to-face and online evidence-based interventions for children, families and professionals. National trainer and supervisor. Based in Aarhus, Denmark.
Our cool kid – playful and ambitious.
Siri Gammelsæter
Programme Developer
Clinical Psychologist
Siri has extensive experience in supporting the implementation of evidence-based programmes for children, families and professionals. International trainer and supervisor. Based in Trondheim, Norway.
Our intergalactic diplomat - intentionally inclusive and kind.
Maxine Crawley
Business Manager
Maxine has +20 years’ experience in Event Management and administration alongside a passion for the Project Management of a house renovation portfolio. Based in Manchester, UK.
Our magic Max – makes it all happen.
Julie Steffen
Client Development Specialist
Master in early childhood education
Julie has extensive experience in early childhood and implementation of evidence-based programs. Julie has special expertise in supporting kids who struggled with social and emotional skill development from her position as a childhood educator. She is based in Denver, Colorado, US.
The iiP Advisory Board
Ph.D. Senior Implementation Specialist, Children and Youth Cabinet of Rhode Island & The National Race Equity Implementation Center
Amanda Fixsen has a background in Applied Behavior Analysis, Social Work and Social Research, and Implementation Practice. For more than 15 years Amanda has worked to understand how human and health services can be effectively implemented and scaled-up in real world contexts.
Amanda most recently served as Vice President of Programs and Implementation at Invest in Kids in Denver, Colorado working to ensure the high quality delivery of evidence-based programs in early childhood throughout Colorado. Invest in Kids was the first organization in the United States to film video vignettes with local Colorado families, and pilot the invest in play parenting program. Previously, Amanda worked at the National Center for Child Traumatic Stress serving mental health sites nationally through consultation on methods of effective clinical training, and of the implementation of trauma-focused evidence-based programs.
Leading with her values of community, compassion and joy she currently focuses her efforts integrating equity and implementation practice with The Children and Youth Cabinet of Rhode Island and the National Race Equity Implementation Center in the USA.
Joel Sherrill, Ph.D. is the Deputy Director of the Division of Services and Intervention Research at NIMH. The Division supports research focused on optimising and personalising preventive and therapeutic interventions to ensure they are maximally effective and matched to individual needs; and services/clinical epidemiology research focused on access, continuity, equity, efficiency and quality of mental health care across the lifespan, and across service settings.
During his tenure at NIMH, Sherrill has overseen research portfolios focused on psychotherapeutic and pharmacologic approaches to treating mental disorders among youth and adults. He has led and collaborated on various clinical research initiatives and has been integrally involved in establishing and implementing NIMH’s approach to supporting clinical trials research.
Following his doctoral degree in clinical psychology at Stony Brook University, Sherrill completed his clinical internship and postdoctoral fellowship and then pursued research on the long-term course and treatment of early-onset affective disorders at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine/ Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic.
Education
BA in Organisational Learning and Communication from the University of Copenhagen and HD(O) from Aarhus School of Business.
Bio
Michael has been working as a management consultant and senior advisor for more than 10 years, supporting both public and private organisations in developing and realising strategies and improving operational management. In addition, Michael has sat on a number of boards and committees within the educational sector and the NGO sector.
Sally Hogg is the Senior Policy Fellow in the Centre for Research on Play in Education, Development and Learning (PEDAL), University of Cambridge, where she works to mobilise knowledge about early child development to support national policy and local decision making.
Sally has had a varied career in charities, and national and local governments, leading teams to develop and implement interventions for families in the early years, and campaigning successfully to drive policy change. Prior to joining PEDAL, Sally was Deputy CEO at the Parent-Infant Foundation, where she established and chaired the First 1001 Days Movement, a campaigning alliance of over 200 charities and professional bodies.
Prior to this, Sally’s roles included Strategic Lead at the Maternal Health Alliance, Senior Commissioner in a Local Authority and Development Manager for Children Under One at the NSPCC. Sally started her career as a Civil Servant working on Children’s Policy in Westminster and, for a short time, in New South Wales, Australia. Sally has authored a range of influential policy reports relating to the importance of the earliest years of life and issues affecting families during that time.
Shirley lives in the UK. She was the first woman in her family to go to University and the only person in her family with a PhD. She was twice nominated for the ITV National Diversity Awards in 2023 in the categories of Positive Role Model Award for Age and Positive Role Model Award for Disability. She helped to write the devolution deal for Greater Manchester on early years and presented evidence of what works for children to both the Education and Science and Technology Select Committees of the UK Parliament.
She is a Member of the Advisory Panel for Children’s Viewing for the British Board of Film Classification. She is also a Trustee for the charity Respect For All who provide counselling to people who are either autistic and/or have a learning disability in Greater Manchester.
During the pandemic she was in the clinical extremely vulnerable covid category and lost her father to covid. He was admitted to a covid ward the morning after Shirley received her autism diagnosis letter. He would never know of her late diagnosis. In the absence of being able to tell him, she ended up telling the world instead.
Education
B.A. in Environmental Studies from the University of California at Santa Barbara and a Master of Public Administration from Harvard University.
A trained mediator, Susan has over 25 years of experience resolving complex public policy issues. She specialises in environmental policy, facilitation and project management. She has fostered consensus building within numerous diverse groups through creative facilitation.
Our friends and collaboration partners
The iiP programme has been co-created with collaboration and generous support from the following organisations:
Become an iiP Partner
Contact us if you are interested in co-creating the iiP programme in your country or in co-developing specific iiP modules or programme versions for a certain population or segment.
Please enquire about possibilities and rates: info@investinplay.com