Structure the service
Here you'll find program design documents, logic models, and our program manual. They show how consultation is structured inside a program.
What's in this collection
Program structure: the nuts and bolts of IECMHC service delivery and IECMHC program infrastructure, what you provide, to whom, where, and how, and how to pull it all together.
Laying the groundwork: community context
As programs and practitioners develop IECMHC services, it is important to explore community needs and strengths, including the cultural and systemic context, and apply findings strategically to the consultation approach.
Sample Needs Assessment: Conducting a needs assessment with stakeholders is a crucial first step in designing an IECMHC program.
Program design
Program Planning & Reflection Tool (PPRT): The PPRT is a comprehensive program design tool, and a good starting point for program design efforts.
Design element 1: mission, vision, and values
Program design should be grounded in a well-articulated vision that reflects program values and aligns with program goals. To organize concepts for both program development and evaluation purposes, theories of change and logic models serve as “roadmaps” that graphically depict the connections between the community context, the actions to be undertaken, and the desired outcomes.
Design element 2: service settings and eligibility
An essential component of service design is specifying where and to whom services will be provided.
Designing an IECMHC Program: Four Essential Building Blocks: This brief reviews four key areas of program design, including eligibility determination, and offers examples of how they have been implemented in a range of IECMHC programs.
Design element 3: service array and intensity
Clearly delineating the services that your program does, and does not, provide, as well as the “dosage” of consultation offered is critical.
The Essential Activities of Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation: The CoE conducted a consensus-building research study to distill the essential activities of IECMHC.
Design element 4: consultation phases
The sequencing of consultation services is another important design element. The Center of Excellence has identified three major phases of IECMHC work: Initiation, Service Delivery (encompassing plan development, implementation, and revision), and Service Conclusion.
A Day in the Life of an Early Childhood Mental Health Consultant: This resource contains a series of real-life vignettes that describe the different phases of the work that a MHC may encounter in the course of an average day.
Design guidance from the field
Program Manual Planning Document: The Program Manual Planning Document was created to help programs with the complex task of creating a program manual. Each of the eight sections has recommendations, sample language and links to resources.
IECMHC and the Pyramid Model: different yet complementary
Understanding Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation and the Pyramid Model: Many programs have both IECMH consultants and Pyramid coaches working together or in parallel. This brief provides information on how consultation and coaches fit together and highlights important differences.
Program sustainability
Sustainability Modules: Initiating and ultimately sustaining infant and early childhood mental health consultation activities involves more than just having a great program.
Infrastructure and administrative tools
Sample program manuals, memoranda of understanding, and contracts are in the library below.
Browse the library
Everything is free, and you don't need an account.
Webinars and eventsCOVID-19 and IECMHC: How to Provide Services When Everything is Different GuideFive Action Steps to Address Maternal Depression in Head Start ProgramsHead Start programs can take five steps on maternal depression. They run from screening families to reducing stigma. This set also has posters for mothers, families, and providers. Webinars and events2022 CoE Conference (Workshop Session): Colorado Model of ECMH Consultation Building Steps to EvidenceThis session uses adult learning principles to describe Colorado’s work on a high-quality statewide consultation model. The model aims to meet the needs of diverse children, families, and providers, and to be adopted by practitioners, delivered with fidelity, and evaluated. It will also include reference to the broad set of thought partners and intentional outreach including a national scan of what is working well, targeted core teams, workshops, focus groups and online surveys required to develop a high impact, efficacious and equitable model of consultation. As we move into 2022, we would like to share the progress we have made, the lessons learned, efforts to infuse equity, and our next steps in building evidence for the Colorado model in the hope it provides insight to other similarly positioned states and programs Webinars and events2022 CoE Conference (Workshop Session): Developing Essential Activities of IECMHC: Workshop to Explore Equity in ActionA workshop featuring preliminary results from a consensus-building (Delphi) study on the essential activities of IECMHC. The study is designed not only to shed light on what consultants do, but on how they do it in a way that infuses equity and fosters positive relationships between and among consultees. Webinars and events2022 CoE Conference (Workshop Session): Going Where the Children Are: Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation Across SectorsThis panel discussion will feature IECMHC programs serving professionals in childcare, pediatrics, obstetrics, and home visiting. Presenters will share experiences from one state’s cross-sector efforts to support providers serving majority low-income minority populations in their efforts to promote development, screen for/recognize mental health challenges, support/guide children/families, and connect families with services in the community, as needed. Panelists will discuss activities, principles, and tools used by IECMHCs, noting commonalities/differences between settings. Sector-specific special considerations and findings will be highlighted. Embedded in the discussion will be an understanding that the work of consultants and consultees across settings must recognize and address the impact of inequity on children and families of color, support resilience-building, and share hope with families who are disproportionately affected by systemic issues. Webinars and events2022 CoE Conference (Workshop Session): Naqayeht’ana T’uh Our Community PlaceThe purpose of this presentation is to share insights from two indigenous Head Start program leaders and their mental health consultants in order to understand how historical traumas and injustices of Alaska Native Peoples have helped to frame mental health supports and services in their program. The speakers will share how they have worked to develop a sense of community place, Naquayht' ana Tuh, through a focus on Alaska Native values that are infused in their environment, curriculum, vision, and culture in order to support Native children and their families to reach their full potential, of which mental health is a central component. The speakers will share how they have begun to infuse the Pyramid Model framework while aligning with their mission and values, emphasizing culturally-responsive practices. Webinars and events2022 CoE Conference (Workshop Session): Ohio’s IECMH Journey: Building a Statewide IECMH Consultation Model From Logic to OutcomesSpeakers: Valerie Alloy, State IECMH SME, Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services; Maureen Black, IECMH Workforce Coordinator, Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services; Lisa Golden, IECMH State Administrator, Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services. Webinars and events2022 CoE Conference (Workshop Session): The Consultant is In Reducing Barriers to IECMH Consultation through “IECMH Virtual Office Hours”“IECMH Virtual Office Hours” is a new service model that has expanded access to mental health consultation in Pennsylvania. This workshop will introduce Virtual Office Hours as a short-term, solution-focused consultation service where IECMH Consultants meet directly with early learning/childcare program staff, parents/families, and other child-serving professionals via video conference. In this workshop, we will demonstrate how Office Hours works and discuss “lessons learned” from piloting the program. We will share how we launched the program, how consultants acquired new skills, and how Office Hours complements Pennsylvania’s existing child-specific IECMHC services. Equity considerations are at the heart of the Office Hours model, since we have successfully reduced barriers to consultation. We focus on equity with data collection and publicity efforts to reach families and early learning professionals who have not had access to IECMHC in the past. Webinars and events2022 CoE Conference: Leveraging Reflective Opportunities: Building Organizational Capacity for IECMH ConsultationJoin us for a discussion about how reflective moments can deepen and expand the work of early childhood mental health consultation. We will discuss how our agency brought consultation services into our own center-based and family childcare programs. We will also share how we found ways to deliver the right doses of reflection to build staff reflective capacity and increase access to both mental health consultation and psychotherapy. We will walk through ways we have successfully incorporated reflection into our programs and how these efforts have strengthened equity, staff self-regulation, and self-awareness, as well as interdisciplinary collaboration. Target audience: This presentation will be useful to program managers and administrators, and to clinicians delivering consultation services. Particularly relevant for people in the process of developing consultation programs and smaller agencies implementing consultation (i.e., not large state or county mental health agencies). Webinars and events2022 CoE Conference: Reflective Consultation: An Opportunity for Organizational WellnessReflective Supervision/Consultation (RSC) is a core tenet of work with young children and families, including IECMH Consultation. RSC holds incredible value for supporting direct services with young children and families, supporting a consultant’s experience of the work, increasing attention to equity in service delivery, and bolstering model fidelity. RSC also holds value for program directors and organizational leaders to slow down, consider organizational decisions that impact the delivery of IECMH Consultation, and promote the reflective practice as an embodied characteristic of organizational culture. This workshop will highlight current programs using RSC to support program and organizational leaders. The focus will be given to themes common to reflective spaces for leaders, similarities and differences with RSC provided to direct service staff, and equity as a central tenet for reflective work. Resources for organizational readiness assessments and reflective practice data collection will be shared. Participants will be invited to participate in discussion and reflection on opportunities to replicate RSC for organizational leaders within their respective programs/organizations. TemplateAgreement of PartnershipSample contract between SEP-CAP Head Start and partnering agency for mental health service provision. ReportAn Interdisciplinary Evaluation Report of Michigan’s Childcare Expulsion Prevention (CCEP) InitiativeMichigan State University evaluated Michigan's Childcare Expulsion Prevention program from 2007 to 2010. Parents saw their children improve more than a comparison group on hyperactivity, attention, and social skills, and reported less parenting stress.