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Greetings from the Executive Director: Heidi Maderia
The Connecticut Association for Infant Mental Health (CT-AIMH) creates space for and is the professional home for all infant and early childhood mental health professionals. Join childcare providers, child protective services providers, early interventionists, pediatricians, nurses, home visitors, social workers, clinicians, and others by becoming a member, joining a committee, receiving reflective consultation, keeping current on your
professional development, and becoming endorsed in
Infant or Early Childhood Mental Health.
We are so thrilled to support each of you, as you embark on your own professional journey!
"The New Year is a great opportunity to begin anew. Because many people look at the new year, the year to come, with hope. “I will do better next year,” you promise yourself…Of course we have made mistakes. Of course we have been not very skillful. Of course we have made ourselves suffer. Of course we have made the people around us suffer. But that does not prevent us from beginning anew and to make things much better next year, or even the next moment."
- Thich Nhat Hanh
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EXCITING *FREE* OPPORTUNITY:
CT-AIMH Pathway to Endorsement
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CT-AIMH
2025 Spring Conference
SAVE THE DATE
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Keynote Presenter:
Dana Hillman-Sabato, LPC, RPT-S, IMH-E®
May 22, 2025
8:30am- 12:30pm
The Woodwinds, Branford CT
*Breakfast Included*
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CT-AIMH's 2024 20th Fall Conference was held Virtually
on Thursday, November 21, 2024
Diversity-Informed Tenet #5: Honoring Diverse Family Structures in work with Infants, Children, and Families
A special thank you to our Keynote Presenter, Discussant, and Panelists
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Key Note Presenter:
Dr. Joseph Crumbley
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Discussant:
Brenda Jones Harden
PsyD, IMH-E®
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Panelists not pictured: Nicole Pace & Margaret Doherty | |
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CT-AIMH's 2025
Training/Conference Schedule
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NEW!
FREE
CT-AIMH
DMHAS 2- DAY VIRTUAL
INFANT MENTAL HEALTH TRAINING SERIES
For DMHAS Women's Services and Maternal Health Staff
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CT-AIMH DEVELOPING A NEW
IMH TRAINING SERIES
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CT-AIMH is excited to collaborate with professionals across CT to create a
NEW IMH Training Series for Foster and Adoptive Families.
If you are interested in collaborating on this project, please connect with Heather Black at heather.black@ct-aimh.org by February 7, 2025.
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2024 Stakeholders Meeting:
It's Time to Celebrate Babies!
CT-AIMH held its 2024 Stakeholders Meeting: It's Time to Celebrate Babies, on October 24th, 2024 at The Lyceum in Hartford, CT. The day was filled with CT-AIMH members and funders discussing CT-AIMH's progress in 2023, there was a special presentation from Carlita Elias, PhD, IMH-E® titled: "Centering Equity as we Celebrate Babies" and a warm Celebrate Babies segment presented by CT-AIMH's Promotion and Education Advisory Committee co-chairs Tanika Eaves and Allesandra Giovanucci, that included Celebrate Babies Week 2024 Connecticut Proclamation Video created by Annie Winneg and the Celebrate Babies Reflections video created by Jennifer Vendetti. A special thank you to all who participated in creating both videos!
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CT-AIMH
Executive Director,
Heidi Maderia, MS, IMH-E®
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CT-AIMH Promotion and Education Advisory Committee Co-Chairs: Alassandra Giovanucci, Tanika Eves & past co-chair,
Jennifer Vendetti
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CT-AIMH Vice President and Featured Presenter
Carlita Elias, PhD, IMH-E®
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Heather Bonitz Moore
CT-AIMH Endorsement Coordinator
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Don't forget about our
IECMH-Endorsement
Open Office Hours, via ZOOM!
Heather Bonitz Moore is offering open office hours for Endorsement weekly on Tuesday’s from 4-5 pm.
The first Tuesday of the month will focus on Endorsement Orientation and Overview, the second and third Tuesdays will focus on providing support to anyone in progress for Endorsement, and the fourth Tuesday will focus on Exam preparation. All are welcome!
All open office hours will be accessed using this ZOOM link:
Zoom Link
Meeting ID for all is 6216202679
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Reminder of changes for :
1.Infant or Early Childhood Mental Health Specialist (MHS) Applicants:
The Revision:
NO EXAM REQUIREMENT
UPDATED REFERENCE RATING FORMS
- The reference rating forms will be moving to a three-point Likert scale and adding an opportunity for areas of strengths and areas of growth.
UPDATED ETHICS
- To include a new ethical statement about the importance of critical self-awareness.
UPDATE NEW WORK REQUIREMENT:
Two years of supervised paid work experience delivering culturally sensitive, relationship-focused parent-infant psychotherapy—a dyadic mental health treatment aimed at enhancing the parent-infant attachment relationship and optimal infant development. These services are provided by a licensed or license-eligible infant and early childhood mental health therapist specializing in the treatment of infants/toddlers (perinatal-36 months or 36 months to 6 years) in primary caregiving relationships (i.e., biological, foster, fictive kin, adoptive parent or guardian).
Please Note:
- One year or full-time equivalent of supervised internship with direct parent-infant/child psychotherapy experience as described above may count towards the 2 years paid work experience requirement if the internship supervisor is an endorsed professional (MHS or Mental Health Mentor-Clinical, MHM-C).
NEW TRAINING REQUIREMENT:
- A minimum of 33 clock hours is required.
- Of the 33, 3 hours must be dedicated to diversity, equity, and inclusion in infant/early childhood mental health.
- Of the 33, 10 hours must focus on parent-infant/child psychotherapy.
2.Endorsed Reflective Supervisor (ERS) is now available for all categories of Endorsed professionals
*Effective 2/1/25*
Key Details of the ERS Add-On Requirement Changes:
- ERS Prerequisites IECMH Endorsement in any category: ERS applicants must hold an active Endorsement in any category to apply.
- Supervision prerequisite: ERS applicants must document completion of 24 hours of reflective supervision/consultation from an Endorsed provider while completing IECMH relevant work.
Key Details to Qualifying Reflective Supervisor/Consultation (RSC):
- For the acquisition and maintenance of Endorsement, qualifying RSC must come from a provider Endorsed with the Endorsed Reflective Supervisor add-on or as an Infant/Early Childhood Mental Health Mentor-Clinical (IEMHM-C).
- Infant/Early Childhood Mental Health Mentor-Clinical endorsees can receive qualifying RSC hours from either an Infant/Early Childhood Mental Health Mentor-Clinical endorsee or an Endorsed professional with the ERS add-on.
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Congratulations to CT-AIMH 2024 Newly Endorsed!
Nashaly Alamo, IMH-E®
Leslei Arana, IMH-E®
Kimberly Braithwaite, ECMH-E®
Shaniece Conyers, IMH-E®
Ines Xavier dos Reis IMH-E®
Malissa Griffith, IMH-E®
Debra Kelly, IMH-E®
Liberty Mahon, IMH-E®
Jennifer Main, IMH-E®
Brigida Mendieta, IMH-E®
Jasmine Oglesby, ECMH-E®
Galit Sharma, IMH-E®
Jane Vizi, IMH-E®
Ines Xavier dos Reis IMH-E®
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NEW ENDORSEMENT VIDEO: Voices of the Workforce
View Video
In the video, IECMH professionals discuss what becoming Endorsed means to them. The video was produced by the Alliance for the Advancement of Infant Mental Health.
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Alliance for the Advancement of Infant Mental Health | |
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A message from:
Ashley McCormick from the Alliance for the Advancement of Infant Mental Health
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The Alliance occasionally receives requests to share research study opportunities, and we are always delighted to promote these, especially when the researcher is an endorsed professional and affiliated with one of our member organizations. We encourage you to share the following opportunity with your AIMH memberships. This important study aims to deepen our understanding of RSC and its significance in capturing the experiences of Black professionals in the field.
I am posting this message on behalf of Danielle Rice, PhD Candidate at Wayne State University. She is conducting a study titled “The Circle of Stories: Exploring the Experiences of Black Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Professionals in Reflective Supervision.” The study aims to explore the unique experiences of Black infant and early childhood mental health professionals within the context of reflective supervision/consultation. Your insights and experiences are invaluable, and your participation will help illuminate the critical aspects of psychological safety, visibility and belonging for Black IECMH professionals.
If you agree to participate, she will ask you to do the following:
1. Complete a pre-screener questionnaire to ensure study eligibility.
2. Participate in 3 healing circles for a total of 6 hours.
1. Allow the team to record the Zoom meeting so they can take notes about your experiences in reflective supervision/ consultation.
3. Bring an artifact (song) that describes your experience in reflective supervision/consultation.
You will be paid $150 for completing three healing circles – you will receive in the form of a gift card.
If you are interested in participating click the link below to complete the pre-screener questionnaire. https://waynestate.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3Iv1fcBXTjzkLlA
Danielle will follow up with those who have expressed interest. If you have questions, you can contact Danielle directly at ei0218@wayne.edu
Thank you for considering this opportunity to contribute to this important research.
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Join a CT-AIMH Committee Today! | |
CT-AIMH Mission:
CT-AIMH works to promote, support and strengthen nurturing, quality relationships for infants, young children, and their caregivers, within the context of family, community and culture,
through education, advocacy, and professional development.
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If you are interested in joining a committee please contact Roxy at
roxy.carboni@ct-aimh.org
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Opportunity to Contribute to Research
Dear Early Childhood Mental Health Provider,
As an early childhood mental health provider, you are on the front lines of responding to young children with suicidal thoughts and behaviors. We are interested in learning more about your experiences and training related to your work with these children via a brief survey. Learning about early childhood suicidal thoughts and behaviors from providers will help deepen our understanding and be able to better support other clinicians who work with these children and families.
If you meet the following criteria, we welcome you to follow the link below to the survey, which will take 10-15 minutes to complete:
- Are at least 18 years old
- Have at least a master’s degree or higher
- Have worked in early childhood mental health for at least 1 year
- Have worked in early childhood mental health within the last 5 years
As a thank you for your time, participants who complete the survey will be offered a $10 Amazon gift card and will be entered to win one of five $50 Amazon gift cards.
ECMH Provider Survey
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Child Health and Development Institute (CHDI)
Exciting Opportunity!
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We're so excited to announce Connecticut Association for Infant Mental Health received $263 through donations during the month of September 2024 from New Haven's Stop & Shops Community Bag Program. Thank you to all who donated! |
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We would like to THANK our 2024 Funders:
CT Office of Early Childhood (CBCAP and CRS funds)
CT Department of Children and Families
CT Department of Social Services (ARPA funds)
Child Health and Development Institute (CHDI)
Stop and Shop
and
Professionals like you, who donated to CT-AIMH!
DONATE HERE
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