Support social-emotional development in Montana’s early childhood system.
What is Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation (IECMHC)?
- A prevention-based approach that pairs a mental health consultant with adults who work with infants and young children in the different settings where they learn and grow, such as child care, preschool, home visiting, early intervention and their home. 1
What is it NOT?
- It is not direct therapy or treatment
Mental health consultation equips caregivers to facilitate children’s healthy social and emotional development.
What is social and emotional development?
- Social development is a child’s ability to create and sustain meaningful relationships with adults and other children.
- Emotional development is a child’s ability to express, recognize, and manage their emotions and respond appropriately to others’ emotions.2
Sources:
- 1. Center of Excellence for Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation. Georgetown University Center for Child and Human Development. https://www.iecmhc.org/iecmhc-basics/
- 2. Head Start Early Childhood Learning and Knowledge Center (ECLKC) https://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/school-readiness/effective-practice-guides/social-emotional-development
What’s happening in Montana?
Conversations about IECMHC have been happening in Montana for nearly two decades with pilots implemented with a variety of models, settings, providers, and scope/size.
Mountain Pacific deeply credits the shoulders we now stand on of many experts in state and local governments, child care resource and referral centers, child care providers, mental health practitioners, and workgroups of MANY passionate and dedicated stakeholders!
NEXT, now equipped with a historical state investment in early childhood, with the years of research, lessons learned, and service development…WE WILL…
- CREATE a mental health consultant training program
- Montana-specific education program that considers lessons learned from previous models, and adapts to our state’s unique geography, population, and systems.
- Standardized training that blends new and existing curriculum – unifying the workforce
- Montana certification criteria and pathway for mental health consultants and reflective supervisors.
- SUPPORT the mental health consultant workforce
- Ongoing professional development opportunities
- Community of Practice
- Reflective supervision from mentors
- Peer networking and support
- Training on various child care topics
- Policy, procedures, and forms hub
- BUILD the infrastructure and system to deploy workforce to early childhood settings
- Marketing and education campaign
- Connect consultants to child care providers and support the relationship
- Offer in-person, group, and virtual consultation and office hours to child care providers
- Website registry to look up, locate, and access mental health consultants
- LEARN and GROW
- Use the lessons learned, adapt
- Continue to enroll, support, and deploy more cohorts
- Expand capacity
Why is this important?
A program to support Montana’s early childhood providers and educators with and infrastructure of training, tools, and a networking community to be more confident and capable in their important role.
A new collaboration
DPHHS, Mountain Pacific, and the University of Montana are partnering to unify a workforce of early childhood mental health consultants to support providers where they are.
Program Partners
This project is funded in whole or in part under a Contract with Montana Department of Public Health and Human Service. The statements herein do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Department.
