Initiative

Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Endorsement®

The Competency Guidelines for Endorsement for Culturally Sensitive, Relationship-Focused Practice Promoting Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health® (Endorsement) are internationally recognized credentials that support and recognize the development and proficiency of professionals who work with or on behalf of pregnant women, young children, birth up to 6-years old, and their families. Infant Mental Health Endorsement® (IMH-E®) and Early Childhood Mental Health Endorsement  (ECMH-E®) are based on a set of competencies designed to support and enhance culturally sensitive, relationship focused practice within the framework of infant/early childhood mental health (IECMH).

The NC Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Association (NCIMHA) knows that working with this population requires specialized training and experience, and IMH-E® ensures professionals have attained a certain level of expertise with 0-6-year-olds and their families. IMH-E® and ECMH-E® are relevant for professionals across disciplines including early care and education, early intervention, home visitation, medicine, child welfare, mental health, policy, academia, and more.

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Fast Facts

Relevant Actions
State or Local? State
CountiesAll Counties
Lead Agency North Carolina Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Association
Type of Agency

Non-profit

Racial Equity Lens

NCIMHA is committed to working towards diversity, equity, inclusion, and access for all professionals that the Endorsement® seeks to support and engage. 

  • Interested Endorsement applicants will be placed into cohorts to move through the process and NCIMHA will select cohort members with an emphasis on diversity and inclusion.
  • Endorsement fees are structured and scaled by category to make it accessible across various workforce sectors.
  • Ample scholarships are available for NCIMHA membership, which is required to move through the Endorsement process, to ensure equitable access. 

 

Impact

Beginning in spring 2022, IMH Endorsement® will:           

  • Create an early childhood workforce that is prepared and supported to identify, promote, prevent, treat, and lead in ways that support the healthy social-emotional development and early relational health for children ages birth to 6. 
  • Support the provision of high quality, culturally informed, reflective, and relationship-based services to pregnant people, infants, toddlers, young children and their families across a variety of disciplines, systems, and early childhood workforce sectors.
Next Steps
  • Increase knowledge of and training in IECMH competency areas for early childhood professionals across the state, including knowledge of and access to reflective supervision/consultation.
  • Work with higher education and evidenced based intervention modalities to align their curriculum with various competency areas emphasized within the Endorsement credential.
  • Partner with state and local organizations whose initiatives and programs focus on early childhood social emotional wellbeing, early relational health, and IECMH.
Primary Partners
  • NC Division of Child Development and Early Education
  • Advancing Resources for Children (ARCh) Project
  • Alliance for the Advancement of Infant Mental Health
Primary Funders
  • NC Division of Child Development and Early Education, through the Preschool Development Grant
  • Advancing Resources for Children (ARCh) Project: Connecting NC’s Systems to Advance Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Outcomes
Contact Jessica Taylor-Pickford

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