Dear IECMH Consultant, child care provider, early child advocate, parent, colleague and friend, 
 
Thank you!  We held our fifth 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 of COVID-19 response. We were joined by 36 folks across the state serving in the roles of consultant, mental health provider, trainer, coach, and advocate.

The September 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.  Themes are all detailed in the chat below and include: The recent Yale training on the CHILD, the newly developed Maryland Early Childhood Educator Interview Guide, ways programs are supporting newly re-opened child care programs, and ideas for expanding the reach of consultation during this time.

Related Resources:   
 
Follow Up: 
  1. We will be hosting office hours on the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of each month 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, October 18, 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.
 
Join us at our next session on Thursday, October 18, 2020 at 11 AM (details to register below). What you will see in this message is a summary of our September 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. 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