May is Mental Health Awareness Month! |
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Early Relationships Matter |
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In this issue...
- Babies, toddlers, and young children have mental health needs, too!
- Who's looking out for the mental health of infants and toddlers?
- Presidential Executive Order on increasing access to high-quality care and supporting caregivers
- Conference keynote speaker announced!
- WI-AIMH welcomes...
- Pyramid Model news
- Rolling deadline for applications
- Upcoming Training
- Celebrations!
- Congratulations newly endorsed professionals!
- Endorsement reminder
- We want to hear your voice!
- Racial equity work
- Facebook feature articles
- UW Capstone Program application available
- Support WI-AIMH with Amazon Smile
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Babies, Toddlers, and Young Children
Have Mental Health Needs, Too!
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Governor Evers has proclaimed this week as Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week, with Thursday being Children’s Mental Health Awareness Day. Governor Evers previously declared 2023 as the Year of Mental Health.
There is bipartisan support for funding mental health priorities in Wisconsin, however what stays in remains to be seen. The Joint Finance Committee will be meeting each Tuesday for the next five weeks to make their final recommendations. You can find links to the members of the JFC here.
Please let your family, friends, neighbors, and elected officials know that babies, toddlers and young children have mental health needs too!
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Who’s Looking Out for the Mental Health of Infants and Toddlers?
excerpted from the article by Emily Tate Sullivan, EdSurge
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“We like to say that the social-emotional health [and] mental health of little ones is all our jobs — anyone who touches the life of a child — because of the fact that brain development is so rapid in the prenatal-to-3 space of life,” says Meghan Schmelzer, senior manager of infant and early childhood mental health at the nonprofit Zero to Three. “We can see the huge consequences when things don’t go right in the first three years of life.” Babies and young children may not be able to communicate verbally what is going on with them, but they are still communicating, Schmelzer notes.
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Without intervention and a nurturing environment, the impacts of trauma and stress can be immediate and long-lasting, explains Nancy Kelly, the mental health promotion branch chief at the federal government’s Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
Those consequences can present in a lot of different forms, Kelly says. Some children may struggle to form attachments. They don’t want to be held, perhaps. Or they don’t want to be touched. Some children may act out. Babies may reject food or cry inconsolably. Kids who may have already been toilet trained could revert to wetting the bed or wetting themselves. Some will develop separation anxiety.
“Behaviors that are ‘challenging’ — that’s a red flag. It’s a signal to us,” she says.
For educators and caregivers, Keyes offers a couple of examples of how children’s behaviors can signal to adults that something is up.
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Executive Order on Increasing Access to High-Quality Care and Supporting Caregivers |
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Excerpt (emphasis added):
The Congress must provide the transformative investments necessary to increase access to high-quality child care — including preschool and Head Start — and long-term care services, as well as high-quality, well-paying jobs that reflect the value the care workforce provides to families and communities...
A sizeable majority of families and individuals in the United States who require care cannot access the affordable, high-quality care they need. The markets for child care and long-term care for persons with disabilities and older adults who need support in their homes and communities fail to deliver enough high-quality care because of a persistent gap between the costs of providing this care and the prices families can pay. High-quality care is labor intensive and requires skilled workers, and providers have limited ability to reduce costs.
Nearly every other advanced country makes greater public investments in care than the United States. Investing in care is an investment in the future of America’s families, workforce, and economy.
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Tina Payne-Bryson will provide Keynote Address |
Dr. Tina Payne Bryson is the author of the Bottom Line for Baby and co-author (with Dan Siegel) of two New York Times Best Sellers—The Whole-Brain Child and No-Drama Discipline—each of which has been translated into over fifty languages, as well as The Yes Brain and The Power of Showing Up. She is the Founder and Executive Director of The Center for Connection, a multidisciplinary clinical practice in Southern California.
Dr. Bryson keynotes at conferences and conducts workshops for parents, educators, and clinicians all over the world, and she frequently consults with schools, businesses, and other organizations.
An LCSW, Tina is a graduate of Baylor University with a Ph.D. from USC. The most important part of her bio, she says, is that she’s a mom to her three boys. You can learn more about Dr. Bryson at TinaBryson.com.
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Stay tuned for additional Conference information.
Registration will open on July first!
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Kavya Kumar has joined Team WI-AIMH as the Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation Project Manager.
Kavya grew up in Cary, NC before going on to graduate from UNC Charlotte with a B.S. in Public Health & B.S. in Health Systems Management. She is passionate about breaking down barriers and building bridges as a part of the advancement toward health equity.
Before joining the WI-AIMH team she gained experience in health education, leadership, HIV/AIDs research, and project management. Now, she coordinates projects and high-level management for the consultation program. Kavya can be reached at kkumar@wiaimh.org.
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APPLICATIONS ARE NOW BEING ACCEPTED ON A ROLLING BASIS! |
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Program-wide adoption of the Pyramid Model refers to a systematic and intentional effort within a program to implement Pyramid Model practices. Program-wide implementation is the most effective way to broaden practice, reduce challenging behaviors, and support social and emotional development of each and every child in your program.
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Upcoming Pyramid Model Trainings |
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Positive Solutions for Families Facilitator Training
JUNE 8-9
9:00 AM-3:00 PM
$295
(scholarships may be available pending State budget)
This event will train facilitators on the Wisconsin Positive Solutions for Families content. Facilitators will use the materials to help parents understand and use positive behavior support to enhance social and emotional competence in the young children they care for.
The Positive Solutions for Families content is designed to be delivered over seven weeks of face to face parent networking sessions.
This workshop session is for anyone who has:
- responsibility for providing parent education to families of preschoolers and
- availability to facilitate parent groups.
Participants who attend this training will be able to train parents in evidence based practices to promote social emotional development and therefore decrease challenging behavior.
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Pyramid Model Individualized Intervention
JULY 26-27
9:00 AM -4:00 PM
$95
This professional development program provides content and resources to support the use of evidence-based problem solving to develop individualized social and emotional interventions for children ages 18 months to 8 years who are being cared for in ECE settings.
Discussion will focus on how and whether individualized support can be distinct from high quality universal and targeted practices promoted in teacher training content. Specifically, the training will emphasize the intersection between function-based intervention and infant and early childhood mental health consultation.
This training is designed for people who create and sustain individualized support for young children who exhibit behavior that challenges adults, e.g. home visitors, Head Start directors/ consultants, Birth to 3 teachers/ therapists, early childhood special educators/therapists, school psychologists, mental health consultants.
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Celebrating the Wisconsin Pyramid Model!
Your Wisconsin Pyramid Model Team: Lifelong Teachers and Learners
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With a strong belief in lifelong learning and pride in the good work being done in Wisconsin, our Pyramid Model Team traveled to Florida for the National Consortium for Pyramid Model Intervention's annual conference to share Wisconsin’s work and learn from other Pyramid Model practitioners from all across the nation.
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Julie Betchkal and Yia Lor provided information about infant and early childhood mental health and the Pyramid Model to close to one hundred attendees of the annual BRAIN Conference in Eau Claire.
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Members of the Madison Community-wide implementation team gathered to begin their Pyramid Model journey as they learned about the Pyramid Model framework, discussed community goals, and created an initial action plan. |
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Congratulations to Newly Endorsed® Professionals
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Congratulations to the following professionals who earned Infant Mental Health (IMH) Endorsement® for Culturally Sensitive, Relationship-Focused Practice Promoting Infant Mental Health in 2022! Welcome to the growing network of dedicated IMH professionals. Thank you for your commitment to Wisconsin's infants, toddlers and their families.
Infant Family Specialist
- Margaret EJ Dietrich
- Mykenzie Lemberger
Infant Family Reflective Supervisor
Endorsement for Culturally-Sensitive, Relationship-Focused Practice Promoting Infant & Early Childhood Mental Health (Endorsement®) is an internationally recognized credential that supports and recognizes professionals who have acquired the specialized knowledge and skills for working with or on behalf of infants, toddlers, and their families within their chosen discipline. Earning Endorsement® is Good for Babies as it affirms a professional has acquired the competencies that equip them with the culturally-responsive and reflective skills to promote early relational health and social and emotional wellbeing leading to best outcomes for babies and their families. It’s the largest and most recognized IMH credentialing system in the United States and it’s available to you here in Wisconsin!
We are also excited that WI-AIMH officially began the process to expand Endorsement to include the Early Childhood Mental Health Endorsement® which supports and recognizes professionals who have acquired the specialized knowledge and skills for working with or on behalf of young children 3 to 6 year-olds and their families within their chosen discipline. Once the initial leadership cohort has completed the process, WI-AIMH will be poised to begin offering this additional set of professional credentials to Early Childhood professionals statewide, likely as we move into 2024.
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It's Time to Submit Your
Endorsement® Application!
June 15th Deadline
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We Want to Hear Your Voice! |
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We’d like to invite you to take a brief survey to help us understand your awareness and use of the IMH-competencies. This survey will take about 4 minutes to complete and will remain open from May 10th- May 31st. We are so grateful for your time and feedback, as this will help us continue to improve to meet your needs and better serve children and families. Thank you!”
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Healthy Minds Healthy Children Coming Soon!
Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation
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The development of WI-AIMH's Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation Program, recently named Healthy Minds Healthy Children, is well underway! This IECMHC Program will begin serving Early Care Education professionals in the South/Southeast region of Wisconsin starting in July 2023 with scale up to additional regions occurring over the next year.
On a broader scale, WI-AIMH is working with state partners to also develop the infrastructure to eventually scale up the program to a universal model serving all professionals across systems that work with and on behalf of infants, toddlers and young children birth through 5. At present, we are finalizing key marketing and branding, evaluation components, referral processes, and building our consultation workforce. Stay tuned for more details including professional development opportunities for consultants, IECMH clinicians, and how to make a referral if you are or work with Early Care Education professionals.
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Black Joy: Impacting the Mental Health of Black Communities
We recognize that learning about the history of systemic racism, particularly in the mental health system, and how it harms Black communities in the U.S. and around the world is key to creating a mentally healthier world. This panel-style webinar recording focuses on how Black culture and joy have a positive impact on individual and community mental health.
Join MHA and guests to watch this free, 90-minute recorded webinar where you will hear:
- what Black History means to the panelists
- a discussion of the many strengths of Black communities and how that directly impacts mental health
- how Black joy and cultural practices create space for mental health to flourish
Click on the video below to access the webinar.
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This training meets the IMH-Competency area of Theoretical Foundations and supports professionals in a stronger understanding of family relationships and dynamics as well as cultural competence.
- 1.5 hours of training
- Certificate of attendance available upon request
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Black Lives Will Always Matter |
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Three years after the nation and world was sickened, angered, and moved to action by the murder of George Floyd by a police officer, black people continue to be brutalized by law enforcement. We restate our intent to work to dismantle oppression in all its forms.
We are infusing equity into everything we do: in our trainings, our website, our language and our actions. We know that this is a lifelong journey for each of us as individuals and for WI-AIMH as an organization.
At left you will see the diversity poster created by our staff and board of directors. Please feel free to download, print and share this image.
We seek to know where we may be falling short, so we welcome your ideas and suggestions about how we can be more inclusive and culturally responsive. Email Tina at thogle@wiaimh.org
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Maternal Health Equity and Well-being
Free Webinar Series
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Maternal mortality and morbidity in the U.S. is rising, and Black birthing people experience the greatest risk. This growing crisis in maternal health equity underscores the structural and systemic racism that has disproportionally impacted birthing persons, families, and communities of color. In reality, eighty percent of maternal deaths are preventable. Given the deep relationship-building that happens within home visiting, home visitors and the organizations that support them have a key role to play in reducing disparities and helping new families thrive.
This three-part learning series is offered free of charge and will build home visitor skills in supporting people who are pregnant and/or have recently given birth. The webinar content is designed around the Perinatal Maternal Health Promotion Model and will include information about physical recovery, maternal health warning signs, mental health and wellness, maternal and home visitor self-care, and systems of social support. The series is grounded in racial equity and social justice. Speakers will bring diverse perspectives and backgrounds to each webinar and offer action steps for change.
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This training meets the IMH-Competency area of Direct Service Skills and supports professionals in a stronger understanding of observation and listening, screening and assessment, responding with empathy and is grounded in racial equity and social justice
3 hours of training
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Most Popular Facebook Posts |
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Professional Development Opportunity in Infant, Early Childhood and Family Mental Health
Applications are now being accepted for the 2021-2022 UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN Infant, Early Childhood and Family Mental Health Capstone Certificate Program!
Application & Scholarships:
Participation is by application and enrollment is limited. Apply by June 12, 2023 to ensure consideration for admission and scholarships. Applications will continue to be accepted as space allows. Information about the Capstone Certificate Program and application guidance, including the application form, is available at this site: https://ifmh.psychiatry.wisc.edu/.
Description
The Capstone Certificate Program is an interdisciplinary, graduate credit one-year academic program for practicing professionals who provide relationship-based services to families in the perinatal period and/or families of children ages birth through five years, supervisors and consultants. This program is designed for licensed mental health clinicians and health care practitioners in nursing, pediatrics, family medicine and psychiatry and professionals from Home Visiting, Birth to 3, Early Childhood Special Education, Early Head Start, Head Start, Childcare and Child Protective Services/Child Welfare.
Those who complete this Capstone Certificate Program will have gained knowledge and competencies to assist them in pursuing endorsement as an Infant Family Specialist, Infant Mental Health Specialist or Infant Mental Health Mentor through the Wisconsin Infant Mental Health Endorsement, Wisconsin Alliance for Infant Mental Health (WI-AIMH).
Following a cohort model, enrolled participants are provided with three days of class instruction each month as well as a Mindfulness Class and small Reflective Mentoring Groups to reflect upon and integrate program content into their professional work experiences. Participation in this program provides an increased knowledge base and skills in providing screening, assessment, diagnostic and therapeutic or supportive intervention services to support the mental health of parent, infants, young children and early relationships. Those who complete the Capstone Certificate Program will earn 10-12 graduate course credits from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Program Directors:
Roseanne Clark, PhD, IMH-E®
Capstone Certificate Program Faculty Director
Sarah Strong, MSSW, LCSW, IMH-E® Capstone Certificate Program Co-Director
Questions:
For questions about the application process, please contact:
Bryn Abramson, BS
Capstone Certificate Program Administrative Assistant
For questions about whether this Capstone Certificate Program is right for you or about the application process, please contact:
Sarah Strong, LCSW, IMH-E®
Department of Psychiatry, UW School of Medicine and Public Health
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Support WI-AIMH While You Shop!
or in the Amazon app with AmazonSmile turned on in Settings,
you'll find the same products and same low prices as the Amazon you already know - plus, they donate a portion of your purchases to your chosen charity.
Select WA-AIMH as your AmazonSmile charity by visiting:
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WI-AIMH | 6213 Middleton Springs Dr., Ste 204, Middleton, WI 53703 | (608) 442-0360 | www.wiaimh.org |
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