Highlights from the 2026 Mentor Meeting

2026, University of Turku, Finland

Incredible Years Hot Tips: Small Tune Ups

by Carolyn Webster-Stratton

What an incredible and happy few days we had together with Incredible Years mentors and coaches in Turku. We are very grateful to the Finnish team, who arranged the hotel, meals, University of Turku meeting venue and even a sauna and “cold plunge”.

There were 38 participants representing twelve countries: Canada, England, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Lithuania, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Scotland, United States, and Wales.

Top Tips:

Each day there were two panels where mentors shared their hot tips for delivering various IY programs, including the Preschool 2.0 Parenting Program,  Incredible Beginnings, Autism Parent and Teacher programs, and integrating puppet use across programs.

Some sample hot tips that emerged from our small group break outs:

• Trust Yourself and Trust the Process

• Use Your Community to Identify Solutions

• Be Proactive Prevents Poor Performance

• Be Curious and Ask “I Wonder” Questions

• Listen First & Don’t Make Assumptions

• Collaboration Includes Guidance

• Spotlighting Strengths Enables Validation

• Confident and Collaborative Peer Coaches Build Psychological Safety

• Reach Out to IY Network for Support

• Look After Yourself So You Can Be Mindful and Effective

• Be Your Authentic Self

Each day I also talked about aspects of the new Preschool 2.0 program materials that might be useful across other IY programs.  

Current Research Going On:

⭐ On the final day, we had research presentations by the Finnish team on their 20 years of delivering the IY Parent and Teacher Programs. 

⭐ Maria McAleese updated us on her research with the IY Autism Program in Northern Ireland.

⭐ Maria Filomena Gaspar shared an update on Teacher Classroom Management implementation in Portugal.

⭐ Marie-Josée Letarte shared her pilot of the Incredible Beginnings Program in Quebec.

⭐ Dean Coffey presented the Filipino Basic plus Advanced study in California. 

This year, Dr. Dean Coffey received a Distinguished Career Award for Practice and Training, Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology (SCCAP), APA. Cheers to Dean on this incredible award!

New Mentors and Coaches in Training

To our delight we have six new coaches in training – some near completion – and seven new mentors in training, also with several nearing completion.

Celebrating Newly Accredited Mentors

Six mentors completed their mentor accreditation:  

⭐ Lucy Gregory (New Zealand) – Autism Parent and Basic Parent programs 

⭐ Sandra Pickering (New Zealand) – TCM   

⭐ Lisa Christensen (New Zealand) – TCM  

⭐ Karen Legge (England) – Basic Parent   

⭐ Rhian Carter (Wales) – Basic Parent

⭐ Annemarie Ó Murchú (Ireland) – Basic Parent

Celebrating Our Luminaries

Seven mentors received Luminary plaques recognizing 20+ years of disseminating IY programs since receiving their mentor accreditation.  We are deeply grateful for their long-standing commitment to supporting group leaders and coaches and promoting high-quality, faithful program delivery. 

Our Luminaries were Oddbjørn Løndal and Kari Walmsness from Norway, Kate Rhee from Scotland, Sue Evans from Wales, Cathy Morrissey from the United States, Dianne Lees from New Zealand, and Jeannie Gordon from England.

IY Implementation Manager Lisa Wallace-Gloria received the Cornerstone Award in celebration of 25 years of extraordinary dedication, with gratitude for her ongoing and lasting impact on the Incredible Years community and those we serve.

There was so much shared learning over these days—renewing our enthusiasm for IY program delivery, continued innovation, and ongoing research. Most of all, these days reminded me of the importance of our IY family—learning from, supporting, and inspiring one another.

And since we were together in Finland, I thought I would end with Tove Jansson and the Moomins. Her stories are filled with very different characters, each bringing something different, yet somehow finding a place and belonging in the community. 

Perhaps one lesson from our Incredible Years journey is that while we need to keep learning, changing, and innovating, some things are worth holding on to: relationships, trust, collaboration, and belonging. Those have been at the heart of Incredible Years for forty-five years. I believe they are what makes our IY community work—and I hope they remain at the heart of our next innovations.

Thanks to all for your time, effort, and participation in making this meeting a success. 

- Carolyn and IY Team