Practice Certificate for Health Professionals
Blunden Responsive GeMSS Method
Approved by the Australian Psychological Society and reviewed by The Sleep Health Foundation
In 2018, Professor Sarah Blunden launched her “Gentle Methods of Sleep Settling (GeMSS) Practice Certificate training program for health professionals.
The GeMSS Practice Certificate training program is based on published and evidence-based science and designed for health professionals who wish to assist families with “responsive” attachment based strategies to help their infant or young child to sleep independently
WITHOUT
leaving them to cry, (often called cry-it-out, controlled crying / comforting).
GeMSS has now become a recognised international accreditation system for all health professionals anywhere in the world, who want to upskill in Paediatric Sleep management. GeMSS training requires proficiency in English.
GeMSS practitioners are now found in Australia, France, New Zealand, Turkey, Israel, United Arab Emirates, Netherlands, and Ireland and include Doctors, Paediatricians, Respiratory Physicians, Psychologists, Midwives, Community Nurses and Lactation Consultants.
A list of GeMSS practitioners will soon be available here.
Who can use the GeMSS method with their families?
Only those health professionals who have registered with the GeMSS organisation, have completed the GeMSS training and achieved competency in the assessments, can deliver the GeMSS program to their families.
All GeMSS practitioners are issued a registered and individual license number and certification.
Who can train health professionals in the GeMSS method?
Only GeMSS approved academic leads for each jurisdiction can facilitate training health professionals in the GeMSS method.
Academic lead all countries: Professor Sarah Blunden (s.blunden@sensiblesleep.com)
Academic lead specific to Türkiye: Professor Perran Boran (drperran@yahoo.com)
Please contact info@sensiblesleep.com to enquire about GeMSS practitioners in your area.
Steps to gaining competency and accreditation as a GeMSS practitioner
Applicants who are currently or have recently worked with children must be fully registered health professionals and have a graduate level of knowledge and at least an undergraduate degree.
Qualifications must be approved before completing the course.
Practice Certificate Level 1 requires a graduate level of knowledge with a level of clinical expertise but no expertise in sleep is required. Level 1 contains four modules and assessments.
If the health professional has previous expertise in sleep medicine in children, the GeMSS organisation will consider an advanced entry condition (Practice Certificate Level 2) with the completion of only three of the four modules after an entry level assessment and a reduced price.
The Practice Certificate is designed for a sequential progression through the content. Each module will assess mastery of the knowledge and skills presented in the previous modules and before progressing to the next module.
The content of the learning experience has been developed using adult learning principles and active learning approaches throughout the four modules. These include reading, writing, reflections, checking of learning quizzes/activities and videos to aid learning.
See below for a Course Outline.
Yearly updates to keep abreast of new research developments in the areas of children’s sleep will be offered by webinar to all international GeMSS providers.
Course Information:
Course instructor:
Professor Sarah Blunden – Author
Read more about Professor Sarah Blunden
Cost of training:
Normally AUD $895.00.
email info@sensiblesleep.com to get access Practice Certificate Level 2
Included in course:
Membership to the community of International GeMSS license holders
Pre-reading manual
Copies of eight seminal academic papers on the GeMSS method
Infant treatment manual
Toddler treatment manual
Marking and re-marking of assessment one, two and three.
Ongoing access to 3x training video presentations of Professor Blunden
Certificate of completion
Ongoing peer support (regular webinars, access to members only page, resources and GeMSS social media)
Not included in course:
The cost of The Boss of My Sleep Book AUS $49.50
The cost of the Sensible Sleep Solution infant book AUS $29.95.
The Course Outline
Welcome to the GeMSS Course:
Module One:
- Prior to assessing, diagnosing and treating sleep problems in this age group, it is imperative to read the Pre-reading Manual. It is necessary that you read “The Sensible Sleep Solution: a guide to sleep in your baby’s first year” and “The Boss of My Sleep Book” to complete this Module. Links and resources presented in the Pre-Reading Manual are also recommended reading.
- Viewing of Module 1 introduction video.
- Further reading is available on:
snoozeforkids.com.au - Undergo a brief assessment of knowledge about sleep in infants and young children. The assessment will be based on the readings, including the optional readings and the video presentations. You will submit your assessment online and it will be assessed by the GeMSS team for 85% pass rate. Participants will be notified if they need to redo their assessment before they can progress to the next module.
Module Two:
- Systematically go through the Treatment Manuals for (1) Infants and (2) Children 3-8 years of age. Purchase and reading of the Boss of my Sleep Book and the Sensible Sleep Solution is expected (see below for costs) as the manuals DO NOT cover the detail of information necessary to understand the GeMSS method in practice. Assessment tasks will include questions from each of the books.
- View the video of Module (2a) Infants and (2b) Children 3-8 years of age
- Undergo a brief assessment of acquisition of knowledge about the GeMSS sleep intervention method in infants and young children, either online or at the workshop. You will need to achieve 85 % pass rate to continue onto the next module. You can repeat the assessment as many times as you wish in order to achieve that goal. The assessment will be based on the readings, including the optional readings and the video presentations. Participants will be notified if they need to redo their assessment before they can progress to the next module.
Module Three:
- View the final video of Module 3. Module 3 is a series of case studies aimed at putting into practice the skills learned during the first two modules.
- Complete the final assessment for certification
- You will need to achieve 85 % pass rate to continue onto the next module. You can repeat the assessment as many times as you wish in order to achieve that goal. Participants will be notified if they need to redo their assessment before they can progress to the next module.
Issue of certificate of competency in the GeMSS method and registration with the GeMSS license holder registry.
Ongoing professional development
Registered and qualified practitioners of the GeMSS method will be made aware of new research findings and new information through community forums and regular and yearly updates. Any new training materials and research outcomes will be shared amongst GeMSS practitioners to ensure they are able to continually deliver best practice and evidence based sleep interventions and education within a responsive therapeutic framework.
Sleep Education Programs for Schools and Teachers
International estimates of sleep problems in young people range between 10% and 45%. This suggests that approximately one in four children report significant sleep disturbance. How can we reduce that and/or prevent sleep disturbance from becoming a real problem in students at school? Sleep education is an obvious answer.
The first step is to increase awareness through sleep education in schools. Changing sleep patterns, through dedicated sleep education programs in schools, may be a potentially effective preventive health model. Teachers and schools are in a prime position to deliver sleep education to young people. Helping teachers and training them in sleep, is an imperative part of improving sleep in our young people.
Professor Sarah Blunden developed sleep education programs through The Australian Centre for Education in Sleep (ACES©) back in 2006. ACES programs for primary and senior schools have been written, trialled and adopted in schools in Australia and internationally and are still available in hard copy for teachers and schools.
The junior school program is available as hard copy and has also been adapted online in the free junior school program SimplyHealthy@Schools and is available free for teachers and schools with lesson plans and age appropriate activities.
The Senior School program has been adapted online into a state of the art sleep education program especially for teachers in the Healthy Sleep for Healthy Schools (HS4HS) which is now in final trials in Australia and Canada.
Finding ways for teachers to embed this important information into existing curricula on an ongoing basis, may result in more significant inroads into increasing the sleep health of the children in our classrooms so that changes can be achieved in meaningful and long lasting ways.
ACES Junior and Senior Sleep Education Programs
ACES Junior School Sleep Education Package:
- For children aged 8 – 11 years.
- Trialled and researched in South Australian primary schools.
- Contains 3 x 35 minute sessions presented in power point presentation.
- Has accompanying Teacher’s Manual that has sleep background information and explanations of every power point slide.
- Has an accompanying Student Workbook with interactive exercises and web based activities for student engagement. Here is a sample of the Junior School Sleep Education ACES junior school workbook.
ACES SimplyHealthy@Schools Online Junior School Sleep Education Program
In conjunction with Philips, we have developed the online version of the ACES junior school program called Simply Healthy@Schools package, this includes:
- Adapted from the ACES program
- Free for junior schools
- Banner for healthy Heroes of Sleep
- Teacher interaction manual
- Sleep assignments for students
- Sleep education slides
- Sleep Sticker
ACES Senior School Sleep Education Package
100% of students who attended the ACES high school program said the ACES program should be in all high school curricula. A trial of this program funded by the South Australian Health Department and Australian Government has shown that this sleep education package improved sleep in middle school students (Rigney et al 2015).
- For children aged 11 years and older.
- Integrated into selected Australian high schools with adapted versions adopted into high schools in New Zealand, the UK and Canada.
- Contains 4 x 5minute sessions presented in power point presentation.
- Has accompanying Teacher’s Manual that has sleep background information and explanations of every power point slide.
- Has an accompanying Student Workbook with interactive exercises and web based activities for student engagement. Click here to download an example of what is in the high school student workbook.
- Has ideas for homework activities for teachers and families to ensure a whole of school community approach.
Group Sleep Education Sessions
INTERESTED IN OUR SENSIBLE SLEEP GROUP SESSIONS?
The Paediatric Sleep & Psychology Clinic run regular group sleep education sessions across a number of locations in Adelaide, as well as online via Telehealth. This gives us the opportunity to deliver our sessions to those outside of metropolitan centres.
Our sessions are run by our experienced sleep psychologists Brooke Michell and Sarah Blunden.
These group sleep education and therapy sessions are run for:
Parents and carers of children with sleep problems
Adults with sleep problems
Health Professionals and Community centres
Parents and carers of children with sleep problems
These sessions of between 4-10 families are now being run online and typically run for 1-2 hours and cover important information about children and sleep, followed by ‘question time’ to allow attendees to obtain advice about their own situation. The sessions aim to give parents enough basic strategies to overcome the most common sleep problems in children.
After the Sleep Solutions Session there are opportunities for parents and carers to decide whether they would like to further engage with the Sleep Specialists for individualised follow-up support and assistance.
SESSION COST – $80.00 per family
Adults
Sessions for adults are run as required and available throughout the year. Session are run by either Professor Sarah Blunden or Brooke Michell.
SESSION COST – $80.00 per participant
Health Professionals and Community Centres.
Child care centres, community centres, schools and any other organisation can book a video link sleep education session for their families or their staff.
Session content and length can be tailored to the audience.
SESSION COST – $250/hour.
Course Information
Course Instructor
