Dear IECMH Consultant, child care provider, early child advocate, parent, colleague and friend,  
 
Thank you!   We held our second facilitated community conversation focused on infant and early childhood mental health consultation and all of the related implications for the child care and early education workforce, and our youngest children and their families, during this unprecedented time COVID-19 response. We were joined by 56 participants in a consultant, provider, or advocate roles across the state and region.

Join us again this week, Thursday, July 9, 2020 at 11 AM (details to register below). What you will see in this message is a summary of our June discussion with links to the chat transcript broken down by theme, links to related resources and opportunities to learn about ongoing support from our team.
 
The June consultation conversation appropriately spanned many topics that all focused on how consultation programs and child care providers are pivoting now to continue to support children and families – and what the future will hold.  Given the recent protests in response to police brutality significant attention focused first on discussing racism and anti-racism with young children, and several consultation groups shared some implicit bias work they had initiated internally. 

Themes are all detailed in the chat below and include: Programs providing continued support via tele to families and providers , all while working to manage and support the collective anxiety about reopening , what centers will need and if the workforce will be willing. What children and their caregivers will need to feel safe – and what protocols to ensure health and safety will impact social emotional learning practices.  

The importance of the early childhood workforce to  focus on adults  (parents, caregivers, child care providers and educators) and support their stress responses during this time.  Don’t under-estimate the impact of small interactions, checking in on how the adults are doing, when they are managing big and small stresses without clarity. 


Related Resources:    


Follow Up: 
  1. We will be hosting weekly office hours on Wednesdays at 1 - 2 PM as a drop-in opportunity for consultants to discuss what they are seeing and what supports they need.
  2. We will be hosting monthly group conversations modeled after this one. The next conversation will be held on Thurs, July 9, 2020 at 11 AM. Click here to register for the upcoming conversation.
  3. Click here to access the webinar recording.
  4. Click here to view the participant chat during the conversation.

Please join us next month and reach out to  piec@ssw.umaryland.edu  if we can help in anyway.  
 
We all count ourselves incredibly lucky to support each of you in the important work you are doing during this unprecedented time to continue to support our states youngest children, and their families, childcare centers and first teachers.   
 
Thanks! 

PIEC Team  
Institute for Innovation and Implementation  
University of Maryland School of Social Work