Latin American children and families represent diverse histories, lived experience, and unique needs and strengths. The tenets of anti-racist, trauma-informed, and culturally responsive practice applied to infant and early childhood mental health consultation (IECMHC) are paramount to nurturing these unique needs and strengths. Explore this resource to learn promising practices aligned with the Revised IECMHC Competencies to improve equity and care for Latin American children, families, and communities. See the webinar, Centering Latin American children, families, and communities through an anti-racist, trauma-informed, and culturally-responsive lens in IECMHC, that features a panel discussion on the importance of anti-racist, trauma-informed, and culturally-responsive practices for IECMH consultants, supervisors, and leaders working with Latin American children, families, and communities. Primary Focus Area: Latinx Resource Type: Toolkits/In-Depth Implementation Guidance
This tool, from ZERO TO THREE, is designed to help mental health professionals, early childhood educators, program leaders and policymakers plan and budget for mental health consultation services. The resource features customizable cost estimates, scenario planning, and enhanced collaboration. The IECMHC Cost Calculator helps professionals plan effectively and ensure that program resources are directed to where they are needed most. Primary Focus Area: Financing Resource Type: Toolkits/In-Depth Implementation Guidance
Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander children and families need – and deserve – more opportunities to feel a sense of safety, connectedness, and belonging. These values are rooted in AANHPI families’ strengths and assets of community, family, and cultural pride. This resource offers strength-based strategies for IECMH consultants and programs to foster connection and belonging for AANHPI children and families amid heightened anti-Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander hate, a global pandemic, and increasing socioeconomic challenges. Explore this resource to learn promising practices aligned with the Revised IECMHC Competencies to build safety, connectedness, and belonging for AANHPI children and families. See the webinar, Centering Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Children and Families to Combat Racial Bias and Promote Connection & Belonging in Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation that features a panel discussion on the importance of combating anti-AANHPI bias and promoting connection & belonging for IECMH consultants, supervisors, and leaders working with AANHPI children, families, and communities. Primary Focus Area: Asian American/Pacific Islander Resource Type: Training Guides/Guidance
Through a series of checklist-style reflection questions, this brief resource guides readers in best practices for interpreting research studies about IECMHC. You will be empowered to understand the strengths, weaknesses, main points, and implications of various empirical articles and, ultimately, apply the findings to your own work. Primary Focus Area: Evaluation Design Resource Type: Resource Briefs
This is the third in the series of resources to support infant and early childhood mental health consultants and supervisors to strengthen cultural responsiveness in IECMHC for children and families in Tribal, African American, Latine, and Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander communities (AANHPI). This third resource focuses on the importance of combating anti-AANHPI bias and promoting connection & belonging for IECMH consultants, supervisors, and leaders working with AANHPI children, families, and communities. Primary Focus Area: Asian American/Pacific Islander Resource Type: Online Trainings/Tutorials/Webinars
This is the second in the series of resources to support infant and early childhood mental health consultants and supervisors to strengthen cultural responsiveness in IECMHC for children and families in Tribal, African American, Latin American, and Asian American and Pacific Islander communities. This resource focuses on the importance of anti-racist, trauma-informed, and culturally-responsive practices for IECMH consultants, supervisors, and leaders working with Latin American children, families, and communities. Primary Focus Area: Latinx Resource Type: Online Trainings/Tutorials/Webinars
This brief provides an overview of important mental health concepts and psychological processes that IECMH consultants employ to understand, support, and build capacity in consultees.s Primary Focus Area: MHC Skills/Attributes Resource Type: Resource Briefs
A monograph summarizing the May 1998 Roundtable on Mental Health Consultation Approaches for Programs/Systems Working with Infants, Toddlers, and Preschoolers and Their Families. This monograph broadens the discussion on mental health consultation and presents approaches for early childhood programs, facilitates integration of mental health consultation into early care and education settings, and shares current thinking of program administrators and practitioners on promoting healthy development through mental health consultation in early childhood settings. Primary Focus Area: Definitions/Background Information Resource Type: Resource Briefs
Trauma exposure is common among populations served by Head Start. However, little is known about how to use the current Head Start Mental Health Consultation model to promote identification and response to early childhood trauma. This storytelling presentation will illustrate strategies employed to adapt the existing Mental Health Consultation model to support Head Start children with exposure to trauma.
Our project qualitatively examined Head Start Mental Health consultant notes for 165 children who had known trauma exposure, suspected trauma exposure, any social services involvement, and/or were identified by teachers as engaging in aggressive behaviors. A content analysis was conducted to identify strategies for adapting the existing Head Start mental health consultation model to engage trauma-exposed families and address signs of potential trauma exposure (e.g., sexual behaviors, aggression).
Findings included the following strategies: (1) preparing teachers and other school personnel for difficult discussions with parents about mental health, (2) psychoeducation about boundaries and appropriate touch, (3) teaching emotion regulation skills, and (4) trauma screening, brief intervention/psychoeducation, and referral to treatment. Our presentation highlights one story illustrating the adaptations made by consultants to meet the needs of a Head Start family experiencing recent intimate partner violence. It is our intent that this presentation be used to inform clinical adaptations to existing services provided by Head Start Mental Health Consultants and other early child Mental Health Consultation settings to improve early intervention services for trauma-exposed youth. Primary Focus Area: Messaging/Making the Case for IECMHC Resource Type: Online Trainings/Tutorials/Webinars
A brief narrative session talking about how managers in the IECMH field can improve efficiency and increase equity within their teams. Strategies and Observations are shared from the experience of A Disability Director in a large Urban & Rural Head Start Program. Primary Focus Area: Equity Resource Type: Online Trainings/Tutorials/Webinars
This product was developed [in part] under grant number 1H79SM082070-01 from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The views, policies and opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of SAMHSA or HHS.