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Leading Side-by-Side: How Shared Leadership Is Reshaping Power, Purpose, and Possibility at MI-AIMH
Danie Rice, Joni Zieldorff, Stefanie Hill, Meghan Schmelzer, and Rebecca Wheeler Author Note: This article is written by a group of colleagues working within and alongside MI-AIMH. It reflects our collective learning and shared belief that leadership in infant and early childhood mental health must evolve in relationship, just as the field itself does. What…
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Small Steps to Big Changes
Some years ago, I worked in a school district that had a graduation rate of just above 50%. The district was experiencing a significant financial crisis and was embarking on consolidating with a neighboring school district. The tension among staff members was palpable, as a consolidation meant some positions would be lost, leaving some staff…
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Supporting and Connecting Those Who Care for Children to Early Intervention Services
Written with collaboration from her team! Young children grow and develop at different rates but generally will reach specific developmental milestones (social-emotional, language/communication, cognitive, movement/physical, and self-help) approximately around the same time. When a family or professional has a concern about a child’s development, resources are available to support a child and their family in…
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Bringing awareness to our own relationship with play and exploring its influence on how we create play spaces with young children (3-6 years) and their parents/caregivers.
Introduction Preschool play is complex and between the ages of 3 and 6 years, imaginative fantasies, narrative language and mentalization all begin to emerge (Davies, 2011; Luby, 2006; Meersand & Gilmore, 2018). It is during this developmental period that play becomes one of the “primary mediums for communication, relationship building and therapeutic action” (Meersand &…
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Creating a safe haven to stop and feel for early childhood educators and young children
Covid-19 exacerbated the already cracking foundation of our childcare and education systems in the United States, as parents grappled with childcare arrangements while attempting to balance the demands of work and home, children were witnesses to it all. This pandemic has left no one unscathed and that includes our infant and early childhood mental health…
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Letter from past Infant Crier Editor Joan Shirilla, LMSW, IMH-E®
Infant mental health home visiting — as well as the Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health (MI-AIMH) — evolved from a request by Selma Fraiberg to the director of the Michigan Department of Mental Health (MDMH) in 1972 to fund graduate students to train in the developing Child Development Project in Ann Arbor. Betty Tableman,…
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Letter from the NEW Infant Crier Editors: Danielle Davey, LMSW, IMH-E® and Kristyn Driver, IMH-E®
As infant mental health clinicians who have both been in the field for over a decade, we’ve found that the Infant Crier has always been a consistent part of our experience. It has informed our work and has created conversations and deeper relationships that have allowed us to feel more connected within the greater MI-AIMH…
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Supporting Feeding Challenges in Young Children through Occupational Therapy and Infant Mental Health Interventions
In the 10 years I’ve been an Infant Mental Health clinician, picky eating habits in children top the list of things families come looking for support in. “My kid only eats mac and cheese” or “He won’t eat a vegetable” are common phrases heard at an initial intake appointment. I’ve often wondered: What is…
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Risk and resiliency: Failure to Thrive in the First Year of Life
Reprinted from July-September 1997 issue Carol Oleksiak, Thomas M. Horner, Ph.D. Intervention: Carol Oleksiak Terry was referred to an infant mental health program located in an urban community because a children’s hospital social worker was concerned about his poor weight gain. Although he weighed 6 pounds, 7 ounces when he was born at 33 weeks,…
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Therapeutic Presence: The Critical Component in Providing Relationship-Based Services Via Telehealth
COVID-19 has dramatically shifted how we provide clinical and supervisory services to families and mental health practitioners. Home- and office-based in-person meetings have been replaced with video and telephone calls. Never before has the idea of “how we are is as important as what we do” in our clinical work been so important to remember…