What About The Baby? The Basics of Infant Mental Health and Clinical Interventions in the Earliest Years of Life

Presenter:  Jessica Taylor-Pickford, LCSW, IMHE-III(C)

Cat 2 | CEUs: 1.5

Description: The importance of an individual's early relationship experience is now widely accepted among developmental scientists and clinicians. John Bowlby's ideas about inner working models, Daniel Stern's ideas about representations of self and relationships with others, and Selma Fraiberg's Ghosts in the Nursery metaphor all offer conceptual guidance for understanding how early experiences of "being with another" are internalized, carried forward and utilized to remain on a trajectory of healthy social-emotional development across the lifespan. 

So, if these early experiences are so crucial, why do so many clinician’s experience discomfort and/or confusion engaging in clinical work with infants, toddlers and very young children? This training will offer a brief description of history of the field of infant mental health, explore some of the field’s core beliefs, offer insights into what contributes to the healthy development of an infant and toddler, as well as delve into some of the key interventions provided by the infant mental health specialist.

Objectives

Participants will learn: 

• A working definition of infant mental health and exploration of core beliefs 
• A very BRIEF history of the field 
• From a social-emotional perspective, what makes a healthy infant and toddler 
• The role of the infant mental health specialist
  

Schedule

12:30-12:45 | Sign In and Introductions (15 minutes) 

12:45 | Infant Mental Health and Core Beliefs (10 minutes) 

12:55 | History of the Field (15 minutes) 

1:10 | Healthy Infant-Toddler Development (25 minutes) 

1:35 | Infant Mental Health Interventions (15 minutes) 

1:50 | Questions (10 minutes)