The IN-TIME Training in Infant Mental Health, developed by Libby Zimmerman in consultation with Thom Child and Family Services, is designed for experienced Early Intervention Practitioners from a wide range of educational backgrounds and disciplines.
IN-TIME is based on current research about the central role of relationships and their influence on early brain development. Course content integrates interdisciplinary research and field practice experience and promotion of reflective, relationship-based, case consultation practices. Participation by directors and/or supervisors alongside direct care EI practitioners helps to embed skills and understandings acquired in the training into Early Intervention practice.
IN-TIME is divided into 30 hours of seminar style modules and 6 additional hours of small group mentoring and reflective, relationship-based, case consultation. Course focus includes awareness of cultural similarities and differences as well as integration of social-emotional screening and assessment tools. IN-TIME scholarships are available; for the application, please click here.
To learn more about IN-TIME training in your region of Massachusetts, contact info@connectedbeginnings.org.
The IN-TIME Train the Trainer Seminar was offered in October 2008 and may be offered again in coming years. It is designed to support facilitators, who will teach the IN-TIME curriculum to Early Intervention (EI) practitioners, with the tools and confidence to help them explicitly integrate an infant mental health perspective into their assessments and interventions with infants, toddlers, and their families. Facilitators who successfully complete this seminar will deliver IN-TIME training in Massachusetts. In addition to attending the 30 hour seminar, facilitators also participate in follow-up mentoring and consultation sessions sponsored by Connected Beginnings Training Institute on the process of teaching IN-TIME to EI practitioners.
Issues in Early Childhood Mental Health is a 32 hour seminar-style course, designed primarily for licensed mental health professionals who work with three to six-year-olds and provide consultation to their caregivers. Created by Deborah Hirschland, LICSW, the course focuses on creative approaches to helping young children who are experiencing difficulty with emotional, behavioral and/or social competencies.
Issues in Early Childhood Mental Health integrates both theoretical and practical considerations about the nature of consultation with caregivers (parents, teachers and childcare providers) and focuses particular attention to how clinicians can support warm and reliable relationships between children and the adults who care for them. It provides a framework for classroom-focused mentoring and intervention, parent and teacher training, and effective strategies for working with families. Additional topics explored in the seminar series include the impact of trauma as well as ways to support traumatized children and the caregivers upon whom these children rely for healing.
To learn more about the Issues in Early Childhood Mental Health seminars, contact info@connectedbeginnings.org
Mind in the Making (MITM) ©, created by the Families and Work Institute in New York, is designed for teachers of young children who work in either center or home-based settings.
MITM is a series of 12 Learning Modules that take 30 hours to cover and offer a comprehensive, science-based and practical approach to professional development for people who work with infants and young children in childcare settings.
The MITM and materials focus on what is known from science about the central role of relationships in supporting all domains of child development and learning as well as, "understandings about teaching adults so that they learn to teach children in new ways" (Mind in the Making © Learning Modules Facilitator Guide, Version 03.01.2006).
If you would like to learn more about MITM Learning Modules taking place in your community, contact gpai@supportunitedway.org . To learn more about MITM and the work of the Families & Work Institute, visit www.mindinthemaking.org .
The Infant-Parent Training Institute is for experienced professionals who wish to broaden their knowledge and develop skills specific to clinical work with infants and families. It offers an integration of neuro-developmental and psychodynamic approaches to parent-infant psychotherapy.
The Connected Beginnings Scholars meet regularly with the Executive Director of Connected Beginnings to integrate the training experience into practice. Each scholar provides pro-bono consultation applying the content of the supported training to a non-profit child and family-serving organization within one year of receipt of the scholarship. Past CB Scholars are already working to make a difference the field.
Three Connected Beginning Scholarships were awarded to support participation in a training program at the Infant-Parent Training Institute from September 2007 to June 2008:
Loraine Araujo is a native of Brazil, where she earned her degrees in the field of Psychology. She will soon complete her Master's Program in Mental Health Counseling. Loraine has been working as a Trilingual Clinician at The Parents Program at Newton Community Service Center (NCSC), serving primarily immigrant families from Latin America who have experienced trauma through abandonment, abuse and/or neglect. Loraine assists parents in mobilizing internal and external resources to break intergenerational patterns of vulnerability and promote a nurturing and wholesome relationship with their children. Loraine has also been working as a consultant for the infant/toddler day care programs at NCSC, supporting and enhancing relationships between parents, providers and children.
April Haefner Maloney, MS, CEIS, is currently the Assistant Director of Thom Mystic Valley Early Intervention, where she oversees services for infants, toddlers and families and supervises Early Intervention staff and clinical teams. Before entering the Early Intervention field, April worked with infants and toddlers in child welfare and childcare. April is dedicated to supporting infants' and toddlers' development within the context of their relationships.
Shelah R.E. Corey, MS, MSW, LCSW, is a social worker for Thom Springfield Infant Toddler Services, an Early Intervention program serving a wide range of children and families. Shelah has a background in child development, and brings to her work with families a focus on the ways in which all areas of development impact one another. As a clinical social worker, she is particularly attentive to the social-emotional well being of infants and young children. In addition to working with children and families in the EI program, Shelah works with her agency's Early Intervention Partnership Program, serving women experiencing high-risk pregnancies.
Each Connected Beginning Scholar must meet the following requirements:
Employed 20 hours per week or more in an agency or consultation/therapy practice serving infants, toddlers, and/or preschoolers. This may include Early Head Start, Head Start, a child care center, family child care setting, Early Intervention or home visiting program, or mental health setting including group or private practice. The applicant must also submit a letter, signed by the applicant’s program director that includes organizational name, address, and phone number, endorsing participation in the training and indicating an understanding and acceptance of the requirements of the training. Applicants in a group or individual mental health practice must provide a description of the practice and letter from a supervisor or colleague.
Scholarship awards for Connected Beginnings Scholars may be paid directly to the agency/institution providing the training or directly to the Scholar. The total amount of the scholarship may vary depending on availability of funds and agreements with sponsoring institutions.
Each Scholar will be mentored by Connected Beginnings’ professional staff and will have the opportunity to meet with other Scholars to support integrating the training experiences into practice. Each Scholar will be required to provide a pro-bono consultation, applying the content of the supported training, to a non-profit child and family-serving organization within one year of receipt of scholarship.
2007-08 Connected Beginnings Infant-Parent Training Institute Scholars were supported by a generous gift from the Howard and Geraldine Polinger Foundation that is also helping to fund 2008-2009 IN-TIME training and support in integrating infant and early childhood mental health research into professional practice.
Mary E (Meme) English, Ed.D. is currently the behavioral health manager for a clinical practice within Commonwealth Care Alliance, Inc, a community health center in Springfield, MA. She is the lead clinician in a project to implement depression screening of mothers in “well-baby” visits.
Annastatia (Stacey) K. Keane, M.S. is a pediatric physical therapist currently working as co-ordinator of the Thom Boston Regional Consultation Program in Boston, MA,where she is integrating a relational perspective into her practice and supporting the integration of those principles within the agency. Ms. Keane may be contacted at akeane@thomchild.org