Findings from an Infant Mental Health Training Evaluation: Promising Evidence of Effectiveness of Reflective Practices (original) (raw)
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The fields of special education/early intervention and infant mental health are moving closer, as practitioners find common ground in understanding and intervening to support vulnerable infants and toddlers. The importance of the impact of relationships on all developmental domains has been brought to the foreground. This includes relationships between parent and interventionist, as well as parent and child. Ongoing professional development in the form of reflective consultation supports the work of interventionists by fostering reflective functioning and facilitating a greater understanding of the impact of interactions and emotions in their work with families. This may lead to a broader and deeper range of intervention approaches and a better choice of intervention based on a better understanding of individual and family needs. This article describes a collaborative pilot project that integrates an infant mental health approach to support early interventionists within a special education system. The project supported the services of an infant mental health consultant to facilitate ongoing reflective consultation for 2 home-based school district teams working in an urban community. Data were collected to explore the effects of reflective consultation in supporting early interventionists, decreasing burnout, and increasing skills needed to work with diverse families. As a result of this project, the participants advocated for use of district professional development funds to continue reflective consultation with the consultant.
The Evidence Base for How and Why Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultations Works
HS Dialog: The Research to Practice Journal for the Early Childhood Field
Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation (IECMHC) is an evidence-based service in which consultants build capacity for early childhood professionals and programs to promote the social-emotional development of infants and young children. This paper describes the current state of the evidence for IECMHC, mapping the evidence to a new theory of change from the Center of Excellence (CoE) for IECMHC. There is a substantial literature base regarding the effects of consultation on outcomes for infants and young children; yet the evidence for consultation’s specific mechanisms of change, moderators of impact, and reductions in disparities have been understudied. The authors identify gaps in the scholarly literature, articulate next steps for research, and conclude with a call to action for IECMHC researchers to expand rigorous studies to the range of settings in which IECMHC is implemented and to center social justice in the research questions, methods, and dissemination.
The Clinical Supervisor, 2019
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Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 1999
As Marriage and Family I;berapists (MFTs) enter Head Start programs, systems consultation emerges as a viable alternative to providing therapy to enrolled children and families. As systems consultants, family therapists can offer organizational consultation, training, and support to Head Start stafi classroom interventions, and direct work with families. n i s article describes a multidimensional model for providing comprehensive mental health consultation to Head Start programs. It Wlores the skills necessa y for MFTs to work effectively as systems consultants. Finally, recommendations are made for applying the model in both university and private settings. Offering therapy to Head Start children and families may be the most readily identified option, if not the only one considered by marriage and family therapists (MFTs) who are interested in working with Head Start programs. Head Start can serve as an effective placement site for interns in MFT training programs who need experience doing therapy. In fact, Head Start programs often solicit clinicians to work directly with enrolled families. The fit between MFTs and Head Start programs can, however, be expanded far beyond the limits of traditional family therapy. This paper presents a model of multidimensional systems consultation that can be used by MFTs to offer comprehensive services to Head Start. It also explores several areas of skill development necessary if MFTs are to work as systems consultants. The model has the potential to enhance MFT training programs, broaden MFTs' experience working with diverse systems, and improve the overall functioning of Head Start programs. MFT training programs must meet the challenge of preparing trainees to enter a changing field competitively. Health care reform has moved training programs to better prepare MFTs to work in managed care settings (Patterson, McIntosh-Koontz, Baron, & Bischoff, 1997) and to expand employment opportunities beyond traditional agency placements and private practice. Widening the definition of family therapy by incorporating systems consultation into MFT programs offers trainees an additional area of competency that improves their overall skill and increases their employability.