The Infant Toddler Mental Health Coalition of Arizona
The Infant Toddler Mental Health Coalition of Arizona
Competency Guidelines and Endorsement; Levels and Requirements
We gratefully acknowledge the original members of the MI-AIMH Endorsement® Committee who guided the development of the Competency Guidelines® and the Endorsement® process:
Sheryl Goldberg, LMSW, IMH-E® (IV-C)
Kathleen Baltman, MA, IMH-E® (IV-C)
Brooke Foulds, MA, IMH-E® (IV-C)
Melissa Kaplan-Estrin, PhD, IMH-E® (IV-RF)
Judith Fry McComish, PhD, IMH-E® (IV-RF)
Carol Oleksiak, LMSW, IMH-E® (IV-C)
Julie Ribaudo, LMSW, IMH-E® (IV-C)
Sally Stinson, MA, IMH-E® (IV-C)
Betty Tableman, MPA, IMH-E® (IV-P)
Deborah Weatherston, PhD, IMH-E®(IV-C)
We thank Valerie Brown, Consultant, Triad Performance Technologies, Inc., for her organizational efforts.
We give special thanks to the W.K. Kellogg Foundation for generous support toward the completion of the MI-AIMH Endorsement®.
Copyright law does allow individuals to print out or make ONE copy of copyrighted material for personal, non-commercial purposes only. None of the copyrighted, endorsement documents included here may be reproduced, displayed, distributed or otherwise used in any format, including electronically, without the express written consent of MI-AIMH. Legal action will be taken against those who violate the copyright.
To date, there are 23 U.S. state infant mental health associations using the MI-AIMH Competency Guidelines® and Endorsement® with new state associations pursuing the purchase of a license to use these systems. As a group, they are known as the Alliance for the Advancement of Infant Mental Health (formerly League of States). As of December 2015, the associations are:
Alaska Association for Infant Mental Health
Infant Toddler Mental Health Coalition of Arizona
Connecticut Association for Infant Mental Health
Colorado Association for Infant Mental Health
Idaho Association for Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health
Indiana Association for Infant Toddler Mental Health
Iowa Association for Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health
Kansas Association for Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health
Massachusetts Association for Infant Mental Health
Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health
Minnesota Association for Infant & Early Childhood Mental Health
Mississippi Association for Infant Mental Health
New Jersey Association for Infant Mental Health
New Mexico Association for Infant Mental Health
New York State Association for Infant Mental Health
Oklahoma Association for Infant Mental Health
Oregon Infant Mental Health Association
Rhode Island Association for Infant Mental Health
First3Years Texas (formerly Texas Association for Infant Mental Health)
Washington Association for Infant Mental Health
West Virginia Infant/Toddler Mental Health Association
Wisconsin Alliance for Infant Mental Health
Virginia Association for Infant Mental Health
And one international association:
Australian Association for Infant Mental Health West Australian Branch Incorporated
Associations who have purchased a license to use the Competency Guidelines® and Endorsement® honor reciprocity of Endorsement® status. If your association is interested in purchasing a license to use the Competency Guidelines® and Endorsement, please visit http://mi-aimh.org/alliance/endorsement-licensing/fee-schedule/.
Copyright protection of Competency Guidelines®:
The materials supporting the Infant Toddler Mental Health Coalition of Arizona Endorsement for Culturally Sensitive, Relationship-focused Practice Promoting Infant Mental Health® are copyrighted by the Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health (MI-AIMH). The Infant Toddler Mental Health Coalition of Arizona is able to make these materials available to our membership and collaborators through a licensing agreement with the MI-AIMH.
Copyright law does allow individuals to print out or make ONE copy of copyrighted material for personal, non-commercial purposes only. None of the copyrighted endorsement documents included here may be reproduced, displayed, distributed or otherwise used in any format, including electronically, without the express written consent of MI-AIMH. Legal action will be taken against those who violate the copyright.
INTRODUCTION TO ITMHCA/MI-AIMH COMPETENCY GUIDELINES AND ENDORSEMENT®
Infant Toddler Mental Health Coalition of Arizona (ITMHCA)
The Infant/Toddler Mental Health Coalition (ITMHCA) is a transdisciplinary, voluntary 501c(3) organization that was established in 1995 to promote the understanding that infancy is a critically important period in biopsychosocial development. Therefore, equally critical is the collaboration of professionals and practitioners from local, state, and community-based organizations to work toward policy and social change for the benefit of Arizona's youngest children and their families. ITMHCA offers training around the state and holds a biannual Risk to Resilience Institute. See www.itmhca.org for more information and opportunities to be involved.
In 2008, ITMHCA purchased the license to use the Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health (MI-AIMH) Infant Mental Health Endorsement® (IMH-E®) system to recognize ITMHCA members who have the specialized knowledge and skills to work effectively with very young children and their families. This system is competency based. The process and requirements, established and copyrighted by MI-AIMH, are licensed by a growing number of US states and international provinces, with reciprocity granted to those endorsed by licensees. This document provides current information about Endorsement®, describes the history of its development, and assures those endorsed by ITMHCA that they comply with MI-AIMH IMH-E® competencies and requirements.
MI-AIMH
The Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health (MI-AIMH) is an interdisciplinary, professional organization established to promote and support the optimal development of infants, very young children, and families through relationship-focused workforce development and advocacy efforts. Incorporated in 1977, MI-AIMH has offered training and education related to infant mental health principles and practices to individuals and groups for almost 40 years. Hundreds of service providers participate annually in state, local, or regional trainings that are designed to build a more skillful and confident workforce. Over 600 professionals attend the highly acclaimed MI-AIMH Conference every other year. Many more professionals benefit from MI-AIMH publications such as the Infant Mental Health Journal and The Infant Crier, as well as materials and learning tools that support early relationship development. With an annual membership of nearly 1,000 infant and family professionals and 13 chapters, MI-AIMH is proud of its role as an association promoting infant mental health principles and practices.
Competency Guidelines1
Inspired by the work of Selma Fraiberg and her colleagues who coined the phrase infant mental health (Fraiberg, 1980), practitioners in Michigan designed a service model to identify and treat developmental and relationship disturbances in infancy and early parenthood. The pioneering infant mental health specialists were challenged to understand the emotional experiences and needs of infants while remaining curious and attuned to parental behavior and mental health needs within the context of developing parent-child relationships. Specialists worked with parents and infants together, most often in clients' homes but also in clinics and settings for assessment and service delivery. [Intervention and] treatment strategies varied, including concrete assistance, emotional support, developmental guidance, early relationship assessment and support, infant parent psychotherapy, and advocacy (Weatherston, 2001).
As infant mental health practice evolved in Michigan, clinicians, university faculty, and policymakers became increasingly concerned about the training needs of all infant-family professionals related to infant mental health principles and practices. Competency, as determined by expert consensus, required the development of a unique knowledge base, clinical assessment, and intervention/treatment skills specific to infancy and early parenthood, and reflective supervisory experiences that would lead to best practice. These basic components were approved by the MI-AIMH Board of Directors in 1983 and outlined in the MI-AIMH Training Guidelines (1986) to guide pre-service, graduate, and in-service training of infant mental health specialist in institutes, colleges, universities, and work settings.
In 1990, the National Center for Infants, Toddlers and Families (now known as ZERO TO THREE) published TASK Documents, emphasizing specialized knowledge, areas of skill, and direct service experiences with infants and very young children that would promote competency among professionals in the infant and family field. Although not focused on the practice of infant mental health, the ZERO TO THREE publication reinforced the importance of theory and supervised practice to the development of competency for professionals serving infants, very young children, and their families (ZERO TO THREE, 1990).
By the mid-1990s, federal legislation under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) (1990) and Public Law 99-457-Part H (1994) gave further impetus across the country to serve infants and very young children from a family perspective and to identify core competencies for the preparation of personnel working with them. By 1996, the Michigan Department of Education (MDE), the lead agency for Part H, recognized five areas of competency for early interventionists across many disciplines who work with children from birth to three years and their families. These areas included theoretical foundations, legal/ethical foundations, interpersonal/team skills, directs service skills, and advocacy skills.
In 1996, a group of MI-AIMH members in the Detroit area discussed the role of infant mental health practitioners and concluded that there was a need for an endorsement or certification process for infant mental health practitioners in Michigan. When their conclusions were presented to the MI-AIMH Board, most board members were not convinced that the organization should work toward such a process. Nevertheless, recognized the work done by ZERO TO THREE, federal legislation, and the MDE in relation to early intervention and understanding that infant mental health is a specialization within the early intervention field, a group of MI-AIMH members in Detroit later formed a work group in 1997 to identify early intervention competencies specific to infant mental health, expanding the 5 core areas identified by the MDE. The 12-member group was made up of experts in the infant mental health field, including seasoned practitioners, program supervisors, university faculty, and policy experts. They represented many disciplines, including social work, psychology, early childhood, special education, child and family development, and nursing.
By 1997, the group had agreed upon, and the 40-member MI-AIMH Board approved, a set of competencies that were framed around eight areas of expertise, linking the competencies identified in the MI-AIMH Training Guidelines (1986) with the TASK Documents published by ZERO TO THREE (1990) and the competencies developed by the MDE in 1996. The eight areas included Theoretical Foundations; Law, Regulation, and Agency Policy; Systems Expertise; Direct Service Skills; Working With Others; Communicating; Thinking; and Reflection. The work on the competencies reflected the following belief (ZERO TO THREE, 1990): "The development of competence to work with infants, very young children, and their families involves the emotions as well as the intellect. Awareness of powerful attitudes and feelings is as essential as the acquisition of scientific knowledge and therapeutic skill" (p. 18). Significant to these standards was the inclusion of reflection as integral to best practice in the infant and family field.
During the next few years, the MI-AIMH work group expanded the competencies to detail the practice of professionals from multiple disciplines who worked in many different ways with infants, very young children, and families. MI-AIMH hired a professional skilled in the developments of workforce credentialing to work directly with MI-AIMH members to detail service strategies specific to the promotion of infant mental health. These strategies reflected commitment to the definition of infant mental health as developed by Zeanah & Zeanah (2001): "The field of infant mental health may be defined as multidisciplinary approaches to enhancing the social and emotional competence of infants in their biological, relationship, and cultural context" (p. 14). Members drew on the significant understanding of other leaders in the field (Fitzgerald & Barton, 2000; Lieberman, Silverman, & Pawl, 2000; McDonough, 2000; Shirilla & Weatherston, 2002; Trout, 1985). To thoroughly capture service strategies, committee members reviewed work details included in personal work journals and held focus groups to discuss the relevance of the competencies to the promotion of infant mental health across disciplines, in various work settings, and at multiple services. Interdisciplinary work groups reviewed the materials and reached consensus around a set of core competencies, expanded to four. Their efforts resulted in this detailed publication.
The intent of this publication is to provide a guide for those working with pregnant women and families with children ages birth to three years and for those offering training to them; however, professionals who contributed to these Competency Guidelines agreed that they are appropriate to guide those working with young children up to five years (or 47 months) and their families. The overarching principle of the guidelines is that all development occurs within the context of relationships. Each competency detail and the behaviors identified in these guidelines promote this basic understanding.
The MI-AIMH Endorsement for Culturally Sensitive, Relationship-Focused Practice Promoting Infant Mental Health® was developed over a 10-year period and launched in 2002. Competency-based, the Endorsement® is a reflection of MI-AIMH's commitment to best practices in the infant and family field. Central to the Endorsement® is this document, the MI-AIMH Competency Guidelines®, that identifies knowledge, skills, and reflective practice approaches that support the development of competency across disciplines and in multiple service settings. These competencies provide the framework for the MI-AIMH Endorsement®.
The intent of the MI-AIMH Endorsement® is to recognize the professional development of infant and family service providers within the diverse and rapidly expanding infant and family field. Endorsement® verifies that an applicant has attained a specified level of functioning and understanding about the promotion of infant mental health and provides a level of assurance to families, agencies, and the public at large that the person who provides services to infants and their families meets standards that have been approved by a professional organization devoted to the optimal development of very young children.
The MI-AIMH Endorsement® offers individuals in the infant and family field a professional development plan that focuses on principles, best practice skills, and reflective work experiences that lead to increased confidence and credibility within the infant and family field. The MI-AIMH Endorsement® will inform prospective employers, agencies and peers about culturally sensitive, relationship-focused practice promoting infant mental health. Those who earn the MI-AIMH Endorsement® will be recognized for their education, training, leadership roles, and work experiences within the infant and family field.
There are four levels of competency within the MI-AIMH Endorsement®:
I. Infant Family Associate
II. Infant Family Specialist
III. Infant Mental Health Specialist
IV. Infant Mental Health Mentor
Each level recognizes the educational experiences, specialized in-service training experiences, and work experiences appropriate for best service outcomes for infants, very young children, and families. Detailed information about the requirements for specialized education, work, in-service training, and reflective supervision/consultation experiences are different at each level and can be found within this publication. Details regarding how one can apply for and earn Endorsement® can be found at http://mi-aimh.org/endorsement/.
In Arizona, details about the Endorsement® process is explained at www.itmhca.org under the Endorsement tab. Application for IMH-E® can be found at https://easy.mi-aimh.org/itmhca.
References
Fitzgerald, H.E., & Barton, L.R. (2000). Infant mental health: origins and emergence of an interdisciplinary field. In J.D. Osofsky & H.E. Fitzgerald (Eds.), Handbook of Infant Mental Health: Vol. 1. Perspectives on infant mental health (pp. 1-36). New York: Wiley.
Fraiberg, S. (1980). Clinical Studies in Infant Mental Health: The First Year of Life. New York: Basic Books.
Individuals with Disabilities Act. (1990). U.S. Department of Education.
Lieberman, A.F., Silverman, R., & Pawl, J.H. (2000). Infant-parent psychotherapy: core concepts and current approaches. In C. Zeanah (Ed.), Handbook of Infant Mental Health (pp. 472-484). New York: Guilford Press.
McDonough, S.C. (2000). Interaction guidance: an approach for difficult to engage families. In C. Zeanah (Ed.), Handbook of Infant Mental Health (pp. 414-426). New York: Guilford Press.
Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health. (1986). Training Guidelines. East Lansing: Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health.
Shirilla, J., & Weatherston, D. (Eds.). (2002). Case Studies in Infant Mental Health: Risk, Resiliency & Relationships. Washington, DC: Zero to Three.
Trout, M. (1985). Working papers on process in infant mental health. Champaign, IL: The Infant-Parent Institute.
Weatherston, D. (2001). Infant mental health: a review of relevant literature. Psychoanalytic Social Work, 8(1), 39-69.
Zeanah, C.H., & Zeanah, P.D. (2001). Towards a definition of infant mental health. Journal of Zero to Three, 21(7), 13-2.
ZERO TO THREE: National Center for Clinical Infant Programs. (1990). Preparing Practitioners to Work With Infants, Toddlers and Their Families: Issues and Recommendations for the Professions. Arlington, VA: ZERO TO THREE.
Copyright protection of Competency Guidelines®:
The materials supporting the Infant Toddler Mental Health Coalition of Arizona Endorsement for Culturally Sensitive, Relationship-focused Practice Promoting Infant Mental Health® are copyrighted by the Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health (MI-AIMH). The Infant Toddler Mental Health Coalition of Arizona is able to make these materials available to our membership and collaborators through a licensing agreement with the MI-AIMH.
Copyright law does allow individuals to print out or make ONE copy of copyrighted material for personal, non-commercial purposes only. None of the copyrighted endorsement documents included here may be reproduced, displayed, distributed or otherwise used in any format, including electronically, without the express written consent of MI-AIMH. Legal action will be taken against those who violate the copyright.
1 Excerpted and updated from Weatherston, D., Kaplan-Estrin, M, & Goldberg, S. (2009). Strengthening and recognizing knowledge, skills, and reflective practice: the Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health Competency Guidelines� and Endorsement® process. Infant Mental Health Journal, 30(6), 648-663.