About accreditation in Neuroprotective Developmental Care (NDC or 'The Possums Programs')

NDC offers health professionals innovative clinical tools and a wealth of resources for assisting parents with breastfeeding, sleep, unsettled infant behaviour and mental health challenges.

NDC is an integrated and evidence-based approach to the care of babies and their families. It has been developed, peer reviewed, and published over the past 15 years from an integration of the research across the fields of neuroscience and medical science, lactation science, the psychology of attachment, evolutionary medicine, and applied functional contextualism. We invite you to become part of a groundbreaking, evidence-based movement for change in early life care!

Pathway to Becoming NDC Accredited

To become NDC Accredited, you are required to complete the following:

Introductory Workshops 1 and 2

The workshops lay the evidence base for Neuroprotective Developmental Care and are the prerequisites for the Masterclasses and NDC Pathway.  

• Introductory Workshop 1: Evidence-based care of mothers and babies
• Introductory Workshop 2: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Perinatal and Infant Mental Health

Masterclasses

The Masterclasses are a mandatory requirement of NDC Accreditation and do incur an additional separate cost to the NDC Accreditation pathway. You can choose to do the masterclasses live online, or you can access a pre-recorded version. If you access the pre-recorded version, and you wish to attend the live version at a later date, you can do so free of charge i.e. you only pay once for the masterclasses.

To purchase the pre-recorded masterclasses you first need to purchase the introductory workshops and NDC accreditation pathway. Once enrolled in the accreditation, this is where you are given the chance to purchase the pre-recorded masterclasses ($500) from the dashboard section of your account.

NDC Accreditation

Once you have purchased the NDC accreditation pathway, you will also be able to complete the following mandatory activities:

• Pre Course Assessment
• Live Network Hours
  • Held via Zoom videoconferencing each week, where participants join in to discuss cases and NDC related topics. Live Network Hours are different to the Masterclasses in that they provide a fantastic opportunity to discuss clinical cases, debrief, and provide learning opportunities as they arise. These sessions are facilitated by an NDC Accredited practitioner, and allow you to have discussions amongst other participants on the NDC Accreditation pathway. The sessions are scheduled at pre-set times where you can opt to join in/register for Zoom attendance. Participants are required to attend a minimum of 12 Live Network Hours as part of the NDC Accreditation pathway.
• Clinical Demonstration Hours
  • Four hours of observation in online consultations with our senior NDC accredited educators. Registrants observe four consults which may cover the domains of either breastfeeding, cry-fuss and/or sleep challenges. The online consults are scheduled at varying times to cater for different time zones.
• Post Course Assessment/Final Exam

Cost Summary

• Introductory Workshop 1 & 2 (prerequisite for Masterclasses): $50 each workshop if enrolling for the NDC Accreditation Pathway or registered for the Masterclasses
• Pre-recorded Masterclasses: $500 or Masterclasses Live Online: Medical Drs and Psychologists $500 and other Health Professionals $450
• NDC Accreditation Pathway Cost: Stream 1 = health professionals: $370; Stream 2 = medical doctors: $450.

Benefits of becoming an NDC accredited practitioner and maintaining accreditation

• Ability to use the NDC Accredited Practitioner logo in your promotion and marketing
• Promotion of your name, your website and your location on possumsonline.com
• A congratulatory post once accredited via our social media platforms
• The option of licensing the right to set up a Possums Clinic.
• Access to a closed, supportive online professional network of NDC practitioners via Facebook (while in accreditation period and during re-accreditation)
• Access to NDC Live Network Hours, facilitated by NDC accredited practitioners, who are available for support and case discussion whenever you want to tune in throughout your two year registration
• Ongoing access to the NDC portal which contains NDC clinical tools including videos, sets of photographs, parent handouts and other publications and resources.

CPD Points – NDC Accreditation

Please note: CPD hours/points for NDC accreditation have yet to be confirmed for the new triennium (01/01/2023 - 31/12/2025) 

CPD hours/points allocated to this activity are in addition to the CPD hours/points available for our Masterclasses. 

NDC Reaccreditation

Following the two-year NDC Accreditation period, NDC practitioners are required to undertake re-accreditation every two years to maintain competency and clinical knowledge. This re-accreditation process aims to ensure that those health professionals identifying as NDC Accredited Practitioners and using our parent handouts and other resources are providing high quality care in a way which aligns with the NDC programs, which may change as the evidence develops. 

The re-accreditation process aims to provide a supportive and high-quality evidence-based programme that promotes flexibility to suit your professional and personal circumstances, to ensure your passion and commitment to the NDC programme continues. 

The re-accreditation process is completed over two years and involves NDC practitioners accruing 20 points during this period. These 20 points should be comprised of 10 points annually, including at least 5 points for mandatory activities. The remaining points can be made up by mandatory or elective activities. 

Refer to this brief overview for further information regarding the types of activities you can participate in to accrue points. 

Cost of the Re-accreditation pathway:

• Doctors Reaccreditation: $350
• Health professional Reaccreditation: $250

Testimonial

"I came across the Possums program when I was struggling with adequately responding to desperate mothers in the sensitive and challenging time as they transition to motherhood. Often, they were going to heroic lengths to feed and settle their babies and were overwhelmed with conflicting, and non-evidenced based advice. [NDC Accreditation/the Possums programs are] based on five domains that interact to affect parent-infant wellbeing. Once I began to incorporate this model into my practice, I immediately noticed a significant improvement in pain-free breastfeeding, reduction in cry-fuss issues, improvement in sleep, and finally and most importantly of all – much much happier mammas!

The upskilling for me as a lactation consultant/midwife has been life changing. Networking with other health professionals through the NDC Network who have completed the NDC pathway has created a ‘village’ of like-minded professionals growing to support families in the continuing challenges of parenting. The fact that that I can access their collective experience, wisdom and knowledge is both professionally and personally supportive.  How exciting to be part of an evidenced based new paradigm which empowers and engages families in early life care!

I am so indebted to Dr Pamela Douglas – her research and dedication to improving early life care for mothers and babies is inspiring."

Robyn Fitzgerald, International Board Certified Lactation Consultant, NDC Accredited Practitioner, Midwife, Melbourne, Victoriax 

Click here for other testimonials.

Cancellation Policy

If you are unable to proceed with your NDC Pathway Accreditation enrolment, please email education@possumsonline.com. Cancellations made within 30 days will be refunded less 20% to cover administrative costs. Unfortunately, refunds cannot be made after 30 days of purchase.