The method is particularly relevant to
early childhood mental health consultants who face the challenges of working with families and young children of diverse cultures and helping staff and families to negotiate and dialogue cultural differences.
Purpose and Overall Goal The purpose and overall goal of this tutorial is to
help early childhood mental health consultants as well as Early Head Start and Head Start staff understand what is meant by trauma, recognize the developmental context of trauma in early childhood, and extend their own knowledge for intervention through consultation.
Purpose and Overall Goal The purpose of this tutorial is to provide
early childhood mental health consultants with an understanding of what is meant by partnering with families within a consultative approach as well as key practices that support the building and maintenance of strong, relationship - based partnerships.
Purpose and Overall Goal The purpose of this tutorial is to
provide early childhood mental health consultants with a detailed understanding of the behaviors related to social and emotional health in infants and young children as well as strategies that adult's (parent's and other caregivers) can use to support these behaviors within every day routines in the home and within early care and education settings.
Early childhood mental health consultants promote healthy development by working to support social and emotional wellness in all young children and make every effort to prevent the occurrence or escalation of social and emotional problems in children at - risk.
Purpose and Overall Goal The purpose and overall goal of this tutorial is to help
early childhood mental health consultants understand what is meant by cultural and linguistic competence and to recognize the preparation, skills, and practices that support effective service delivery within and across diverse cultures and communities.
Although many prevention and best practice strategies were shared in modules 2 - 4, there are times
when early childhood mental health consultants and the other adults in a child's life are worried about a child's behavior and prevention strategies are not warranting positive change.
study, by describing common and diverse approaches to training and supervision
of early childhood mental health consultants, incorporating additional research on this topic, as well as showcasing models, strategies, and tools that contribute to a prepared and supported workforce.
Describe the state of work force development and preparation for early childhood mental health consultants
Although there are a number of models for
training early childhood mental health consultants and increasing the availability of a prepared workforce (Korfmacher & Hilado, 2008), there are few formal training programs that emphasize the consultative stance as an important skill in effective mental health consultation.
For the purposes of this tutorial, cultural competence is defined as a set of values and principles, behaviors, attitudes, policies, and practices that
enable early childhood mental health consultants to work effectively in cross-cultural situations.
Early childhood mental health consultants promote healthy growth in young children's social and emotional development by guiding and supporting the caregivers and parent's in the child life to recognize, understand and support social and emotional development.
In 2007, the Michigan Department of Community Health (MDCH) required infant and
early childhood mental health consultants to meet the guidelines for endorsement as Infant Family Specialists.
She currently serves as
an early childhood mental health consultant in Marin County, supporting parents and professionals in meeting the emotional needs of young children (ages birth - 6 years).
When problems arise,
early childhood mental health consultants can facilitate planning and support for young children at risk of or experiencing social and emotional concerns in partnership with the child's family and caregivers.
Reflect on the following vignette for Zachary, a 3 year old male referred by his teacher to
the early childhood mental health consultant for biting in his classroom setting.
Early childhood mental health consultants can use information from this tutorial to strengthen their understanding of how to facilitate strong partnerships with families within the consultation approach and overcome common barriers, building a framework within which the quality work begins and develops.
Early childhood mental health consultants can act as the bridge between families and staff, helping each to better understand their differences in perspectives, making adjustments to interventions as needed, and supporting ongoing and mutual collaboration.
My name is Dolores Delgado and I am
an early childhood mental health consultant to a small Head Start program in a rural town south of Chicago.
Explore those that may be offered in your state or community and that will help you pursue your interests in becoming an Infant or Infant - Family Mental Health specialist and
early childhood mental health consultant.
Early childhood mental health consultants can use this resource with parents and caregivers of children birth through three years of age.
Effective
early childhood mental health consultants must possess a high level of cross cultural communication skills including resources to support linguistic competence, using interpreters and translators, accommodating non-verbal and high or low context styles, and skilled dialogue for negotiating cultural differences.
Some programs, however, still struggle to find a good match with
an early childhood mental health consultant as well as community services and / or supports for early childhood mental health.
In addition to helping to frame and inform clinical diagnosis, these same elements could contribute to
the early childhood mental health consultant's efforts to complete a child assessment, define the concern in collaboration with families and staff, assist families and staff in understanding any clinical diagnosis, and design responsive interventions.
This resource is designed to support your work as
an early childhood mental health consultant.
A study of effective early childhood mental health consultation programs,» (Duran et al, 2009), affirmed key skills and attributes for effective
early childhood mental health consultants.
In practice,
early childhood mental health consultants will complete observations of both individual children and classroom environments.
Early childhood mental health consultants can facilitate the process by:
Using reflective practices to focus on culture's influence on your work as
an early childhood mental health consultant can help explore how your personal / professional attitudes, behaviors, and practices influence your work with young children, families, and program staff in diverse communities.
Early childhood mental health consultants can provide positive feedback and encouragement to parents and caregivers when they see the many experiences they already provide on behalf of young children's social and emotional health, «Ms. Johnson when you read that book to Jasper about feelings, did you see how he held onto your leg and modeled your facial expressions?
Special thanks to
those early childhood mental health consultants working in Head Start, Early Head Start, and Migrant Head Start programs who provided vignettes and case studies as teaching tools for this tutorial.
Although there are a number of models for training and professional development of
early childhood mental health consultants (Korfmacher & Hilado, 2008), this remains an important area of resource development in the field.
Mental health practice disciplines, early childhood professional and service organizations, and competency - based preparation for infant and
early childhood mental health consultants have set national, practice, or ethical standards for addressing cultural and linguistic competence in ECE settings.
Potty training is a common endeavor that caregivers and parents tend to begin focusing on during this time and a question that is posed quite frequently to
early childhood mental health consultants is, «When should I potty train my child or children in my care?»
For
early childhood mental health consultants, opportunities for specialized preparation and training in infant and early childhood mental health are guided by principles and standards of practice related specifically to consultation in the context of ECE settings.
Specifically,
early childhood mental health consultants can play an important role in helping caregivers to engage in all of the above practices with families through modeling and through direct contact with families during the consultative process.