Check for additional qualifications. At this point you might be asking, “how can I tell the difference between people who are qualified to help me? First, if someone is a coach or consultant, check for additional qualifications. What is their approach to sleep? Does it align with your values?
There are two groups of people who offer sleep consultation and advice. I do not mean medical sleep consultation here. For this, you need to see a doctor. Here I mean, people who provide sleep advice.
- People in unregulated fields such as consultants, coaches, and “specialists”.
- People with another professional designation. These are people in regulated fields such as registered social workers, psychologists, psychotherapist, occupational therapists and more
Take me as an example. I am a registered social worker in Ontario, specializing in child and family therapy. This means, I have a bachelor’s degree in psychology, a master’s degree in social work, and have obtained additional training, reading and consultation focused on infant and children mental health. In addition, I have obtained certifications and read books to learn more about baby and toddler sleep. I have several years of experience working with baby and toddler sleep and at the time of this article I have helped over 1000 families get sleep without cry it out or sleep training of any kind. Still, I continue learning more, because information and knowledge about babies and toddlers continues evolving and because I want to continue improving how I support my clients.
