Connecting Communities: Support for MA Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Workforce
What is Connecting Communities Support for the MA Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health (IECMH) Workforce grant??
Connecting Communities is an Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health workforce development grant supporting IECMH providers in MA. The grant is funded by the Executive Office of Health and Human Services for Strengthening Home and Community Based Services and Behavioral Health Services.
Connecting Communities aims to :
- Strengthen IECMH capacity across the five Dpt of Mental Health regions in MA
- Particular focus on increasing the diversity of infant and early childhood and family serving professionals across the state including Community Behavioral Health Initiative (CBHI), home visiting, etc.
- Create pathways to seek MassAIMH Endorsement for Culturally Sensitive, Relationship-Focused Practice Promoting Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health® (IMH-E®/ECMH-E®) for the workforce
MSPCC and MassAIMH partnership will provide these supports, which will help prepare 500 IECMH professionals across Massachusetts with the opportunity and access for MassAIMH Endorsement® by Spring 2025.
Training partners collaborating in this grant include: Brazelton Touchpoints Center, Jewish Family and Children’s Services, Massachusetts Association for Infant Mental Health (MassAIMH), Diversity Informed Tenets Reflective Supervision and the evaluation partners are Boston University.
The Need for a Diverse , Trained and Supported IECMH Workforce
The MA Kids Count 2022 calls for expanded efforts to drive equity in behavioral health supports for children, including IECMH support. The MSPCC and MassAIMH partnership strives to play a prominent role in preparing IECMH professionals for this work. A robust, diverse, well-trained, and interdisciplinary workforce is central to ensuring that all children in the Commonwealth have equitable access to infant and early childhood mental health (IECMH) supports and services that can help to not only mitigate negative impacts of adverse childhood experiences, but also support thriving early relational health and wellness of our youngest and their families in the state. The current IECMH workforce must be expanded and relationally supported in order to meet this need
In efforts to consolidate and have a single point of access, below is a MA IECMH statewide training calendar inclusive of trainings from the Connecting Communities grant and other IECMH state supported training.