On the way to an emotionally healthy daycare centre: The double power of positive interaction with the ICDP training programme
an Online-Talk by Rita Crecelius, ICDP Germany
It was a pleasure for me to present the ICDP program to a large audience (530 participants) on June 4, 2025. The participants included specialists, managers, and specialist advisors from the daycare world, as well as representatives from universities and adult education. They came from all over Germany, but also from Austria and Switzerland.
My presentation was part of a series of lectures put together by NIFBE (Lower Saxony Institute for Early Childhood Education and Development). The reason for this was a survey conducted by NIFBE, in which 1,500 daycare centre managers were questioned about the current stress situation in Lower Saxony daycare centres. The results showed that two-thirds of the managers rate their teams as “highly to very highly stressed.” A significant increase in challenging behaviour among children is cited as the main cause. But daycare professionals also have to cope with other stress factors: staff shortages, increasingly difficult cooperation with parents and inadequate spatial conditions.
In my presentation, I was able to draw attention to the fact that high levels of stress among caregivers cause them to become stuck in “autopilot.” Permanently elevated cortisol levels are detrimental to health. On the other hand, children lack their main (psychological) source of nourishment, namely an emotionally available companion. The result is a gradual attachment deficit. And this, in turn, often leads to behaviour on the part of the children that the caregivers experience as challenging. For professionals, this sets off a vicious circle that leads directly to what the German empathy researcher Tania Singer calls “empathic stress”: They know what the child needs, but are unable to provide it.
My task was to demonstrate that ICDP was created precisely for such stalemate situations, because the training helps us in a very concrete way in everyday life to raise awareness of the dual power of Positive Interaction. By strengthening our attitude through self-awareness and self-regulation, we can use the eight guidelines to safeguard both the foundation of the relationship for the children and the health of the professionals, even under difficult circumstances. As a health psychologist, I was able to demonstrate that positive, co-regulatory interaction is equally important for children and professionals.
The WHO has once stated: “ICDP is food for a healthy brain.” In my presentation, I was able to emphasize that ICDP is food for TWO healthy brains! During my remarks, a positive dialogue developed among the participants in the Zoom chat about the content presented – many now want to learn more about ICDP and contacted me via email. The presentation was recorded and is now available on YouTube at this link: https://youtu.be/9mAN24VYvmo
It can be viewed in any language using YouTube’s subtitle function.