Over the last 10 years, an increasing number of states, communities, and programs have been building their capacity to deliver and evaluate mental health consultation services for young children and their caregivers. In some states and communities, this work focused on helping to design and deliver consultation services through specialized programs that are specifically designed …
Despite affirming findings about the efficacy of ECMHC as an intervention, the research syntheses by Brennan, Perry and colleagues (2008, 2009) also highlighted a lack of data-driven guidance around what makes ECMHC effective. To fill this void and continue to move the field forward, GUCCHD embarked on a study examining the essential components of effective …
As state and community interest in ECMHC began to grow, a critical question emerged: “Is it effective?” A highly-publicized 2005 study by Yale Child Study Center researcher Walter Gilliam helped shed light on the answer, indicating that access to ECMHC significantly decreases the likelihood of expulsions from preschool programs. Further, researchers at Georgetown University and …
In 1999, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) awarded funding to the Georgetown University Center for Child and Human Development (GUCCHD) to explore key questions about early childhood mental health consultation, including the most basic: “What is it?” Through a roundtable discussion with early childhood mental health experts, the group came to …
Consultation has become a primary strategy in Head Start and Early Head Start mental health services for promoting the mental health of young children and families as well as preventing and reducing the impact of troubling or challenging behavior. Concurrent with the evolution of mental health services in HS/EHS, the last 10 years have brought significant …
Learning Objectives At the end of this module, you will be able to: Describe the evolution of early childhood mental health consultation including its definition, evidence-base, and essential effective components, as well as community capacity for delivering services.