The NDC Provider/Educator title: what it means, how it differs from NDC Accreditation, and ethical use of the NDC or Possums programs for the benefit of families

What an NDC Provider/Educator is

An NDC Provider/Educator has completed NDC for Providers + Educators, The NDC Institute's course in Neuroprotective Developmental Care (NDC). Providers and educators are NDC-informed professionals whose scope of practice falls outside that of registered health professions, but who support families with babies and toddlers every working day. For example: doulas, childbirth and parenting educators, sleep consultants, and IBCLCs without health professional registration. The course teaches NDC approaches across the Possums domains of care.

The NDC Provider/Educator title

Once someone has completed NDC for Providers + Educators, and while they're within their 12-month course period or a member of Maintenance of NDC for Providers + Educators, they may use the title NDC Provider/Educator and the NDC Provider/Educator badge, and they're listed on The NDC Register unless they choose not to be. The title is always used in full: "NDC Provider/Educator", said as "NDC Provider-Educator". It is never shortened to "NDC Provider" or "NDC Educator".

An example of an ethical bio:

Jane Smith is an NDC Provider/Educator, having completed NDC for Providers + Educators with The NDC Institute (Possums).

And for social media, for example an Instagram bio:

Birth and postnatal doula | NDC Provider/Educator

How this differs from NDC Accreditation

NDC Accredited Practitioners are the only professionals qualified and licensed to deliver Neuroprotective Developmental Care (NDC or The Possums Programs) in clinical practice. NDC Accreditation is restricted to registered health professionals, for example doctors, nurses, midwives, psychologists, and IBCLCs who also hold health professional registration in their own country. The right to promote NDC or Possums services is limited to those who are NDC Accredited, or who are members of Maintenance of NDC Accreditation, to keep the standard of NDC qualifications high, for the sake of mothers and babies.

So people with the NDC Provider/Educator title don't describe themselves or their services as "NDC care", "Possums care", "NDC Practitioner", "Possums Practitioner" or "NDC Accredited", or any variation of these. They're welcome to describe their work as NDC-informed, NDC-based, or drawing from NDC or The Possums Programs.

We know that providers and educators, too, are providing important and valued services to the families and clients they work with. We’re very grateful for their understanding and support, for the sake of parents and their babies.

Checking someone's NDC title

The NDC Register shows who is currently qualified through The NDC Institute, and explains what each NDC qualification means.

The Neuroprotective Developmental Care (NDC) or Possums programs intellectual property

The NDC Institute operates as a social enterprise.

The intellectual property of NDC or the Possums programs comprises

• Around 200 discrete terms or concepts which are unique to NDC or the Possums programs, and which were not in use in the care of mothers and babies, or were used with a different meaning, until developed and applied by Dr Pamela Douglas as part of the NDC or Possums programs. Used in combination, these many terms or concepts comprise the various NDC or Possums programs;

• Trademarked names (Neuroprotective Developmental Care, The NDC Institute, The Possums Clinic and the Possums programs, and Breastfeeding Stripped Bare);

• Extensive amounts of copyrighted materials, videos, flashcards and text, located both in The NDC Institute and in the Possums parent programs.

Why respecting the NDC or Possums intellectual property matters

At The NDC Institute, we do our best to live by our values. They guide our education and clinical programs, and how we bring the NDC or Possums programs into the world, including how we represent ourselves and NDC in our marketing and promotions. This commitment includes

• Respecting other people's work, including by acknowledging their work when it has influenced our own, and (if relevant) supporting their survival as a business or organisation

• Declining to participate in or profit off popular trends which might otherwise drive sales, but which are not in the best interests of mothers and babies, or parents and babies.

If the NDC or Possums programs are to continue to transform the lives of families with babies, The NDC Institute needs to

• Survive and thrive

• Guard the quality and integrity of the programs

• Maintain control over who is licensed to deliver them, in order to maintain quality and integrity of the programs.

We believe that the NDC project will survive and thrive because of the ethical behaviours of those who care about NDC or the Possums programs. We celebrate those many human beings who are committed to ethical actions, and who do this because they are committed to living by their values - even when no-one is looking.

How to use NDC ethically

We hope that everyone who completes NDC for Providers + Educators takes NDC and makes it their own as they work with families and their babies or toddlers, regardless of how little or how deeply they go into the NDC materials. No one is obliged to tell anyone that they've participated in some NDC education! Using what you know of NDC in your work is not the same as using the NDC or Possums name to promote your services.

Everyone who studies with The NDC Institute agrees to abide by the NDC Code of Ethics. For people with the NDC Provider/Educator title, that means:

• Using the title NDC Provider/Educator in full, and describing their work as NDC-informed, NDC-based, or drawing from NDC or The Possums Programs
• Keeping what they promote aligned with NDC
• Linking back to possums.org whenever they use the NDC name or their title in their promotions or presentations
• Linking their NDC Provider/Educator badge to possums.org/ndc-status wherever it appears digitally and can be linked, so that parents, colleagues and employers can quickly confirm they're current
• Using the NDC resources, including the parent handouts, with the families they work with only, and not sharing or publishing them
• Acknowledging the influence of NDC or the Possums programs on their own work, whenever it is professionally and ethically appropriate to do so

The title and badge are used only while someone's course period or Maintenance is active. Anyone who stops being a member of The NDC Institute removes the NDC Provider/Educator title, the badge and any reference to NDC or the Possums programs from their promotions, and deletes all NDC digital and printed materials. They're welcome to keep using the concepts and principles of NDC in their work, as part of their professional knowledge.

Professionals without an NDC qualification are also welcome to use what they know of NDC in their work. We ask that they acknowledge NDC by name when they do, and point families to the free resources on possums.org, and that they don't use the NDC or Possums name to promote their services.

Please email education@possums.org if you notice someone using the Possums or NDC name inappropriately, or please have a quiet chat with them yourself. They may not be aware of the information contained in this article.