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Celebrating Endorsement®!

January 2022 | Winter

Connecticut Celebrates

100 Professionals Achieving Endorsement®

Congratulations to the 100 Infant Mental Health Endorsed professionals in Connecticut! We have 18 Infant Family Associates, 43 Infant Family Specialists, 13 Infant Mental Health Specialists and 26 Infant Mental Health Mentors! What a tremendous accomplishment for the individuals as well as their affiliating agencies, practices and institutions, the Infant Mental Health field and the workforce in Connecticut.


We also have 12 who have their Early Childhood Mental Health Endorsement®.


The intent of the CT-AIMH Endorsement® is to recognize and document the development of infant, early childhood and family professionals within an organized system of culturally sensitive, relationship-based, infant and early childhood mental health learning and work experiences.


The EASy system is available in English and Spanish and the new Spanish language system was successfully utilized by a newly Endorsed professional! How awesome!


On behalf of Executive Director Heidi Maderia, M.S., IMH-E®, Endorsement Coordinator Heather Bonitz Moore, MS, ATR-BC, LPC, IECMH-E® and the CT-AIMH Board of Directors, we wish to share our great pride in you for achieving Endorsement® status.

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Announcement: Collaboration between

The Alliance and MTB!


We are pleased to announce a new collaboration between the Alliance for the Advancement of Infant Mental Health (Alliance) and Minding the Baby® (MTB) National Office. 
Beginning in 2022, MTB training participants will have the opportunity to earn in-service training credits toward their Infant Mental Health Endorsement (IMH-E®) or Early Childhood Mental Health Endorsement (ECMH-E®) applications or annual Endorsement renewal requirements, provided their association for infant mental health is a member of the Alliance for the Advancement of Infant Mental Health. A crosswalk will be developed detailing which MTB trainings support each Endorsement Knowledge & Skill Area, as well as the number credit hours a professional may earn upon completion.
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Celebrating Accomplishments!

We are pleased to share with you our Bi-Annual Report for 2020-2021. Presented as a short video or PDF file, we thank you for the opportunity to inform you about our steadfast efforts to support and strengthen the Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health workforce in Connecticut! Click above for the PDF download or click below to view the video.

View Bi-Annual Report Video

Celebrate Babies Campaign 2021

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We celebrate all of you who contributed your thoughtful reflections during the week of October 18, 2021. Shared last month at our conference, we invite you to enjoy this year's Celebrate Babies "Reflections from Connecticut" video!

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On behalf of the CT-AIMH Promotion & Education Advisory Committee, we thank you for participating in the Raising of America documentary film screening series that spanned 2020-2021. If you attended at least one of the Raising of America film screenings, would you kindly complete our brief wrap-up survey?


We greatly appreciate it!

Raising of America Evaluation Survey
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Celebrating a Board Position with the Alliance for the Advancement for Infant Mental Health!


CT-AIMH Board of Director, Co-Chair of the Promotion & Education Advisory Committee and Member of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Advisory Committee Tanika Eaves, Ph.D., LCSW, IMH-E is now also a Board of Director for the Alliance! Margaret Holmberg, Ph.D., IMH-E, past president of the Alliance previously held the position.


Connecticut is incredibly fortunate to have representation on the Alliance Board of Directors since its inception.


Dr. Eaves is Assistant Professor in the Undergraduate Social Work Program at the Egan School of Nursing and Health Studies at Fairfield University.


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Tanika Eaves, Ph.D., LCSW, IMH-E

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From Left to Right: Margaret Holmberg, Ph.D., IMH-E, Heidi Maderia, M.S., IMH-E and Carlita Elias, Psy.D., IMH-E.

Celebrating the Annual Alliance Retreat


The Alliance for the Advancement of Infant Mental Health Health held its annual retreat in November and welcomed new members to its Board of Directors in January.


A heartfelt tribute was paid to Dr. Margaret Holmberg, one of the founding members and the first president of the Alliance.


Dr. Holmberg brought the call to action for the Diversity-Informed Tenets of Infant Mental Health to the Alliance.

Please click here to read the updated Code of Ethics from the Alliance for the Advancement of Infant Mental Health

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Marva Lewis, Ph.D., Associate Professor at Tulane University, Founder and Director of the Center for Natural Connections.

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Afiya M. Mbilishaka, Ph.D., Psychologist, Hairstylist and Founder/CEO of PsychoHairapy


Celebrating Highlights from the

CT-AIMH December Conference


Dr. Marva Lewis, sociocultural specialist and keynote speaker and workshop presenter at our recent conference held on December 16th, implored the Connecticut Infant Mental Health community “Parenting requires community supports”.  She encouraged us to develop trauma-informed community activities that connect families to culture and that cultivate routines and rituals to promote positive emotions, “a key interactive mechanism that leads to secure attachment”.  Dr. Lewis began her workshop by defining Rituals and Routines, emphasizing their ability to “organize, stabilize and foster meaning”.  Rituals provide “symbolic communication” (affective) and create a sense of belonging and identity.  Rituals provide “instrumental communication“(momentary) and create “continuity of behavior”. Conference participants learned about Talk, Touch and Listen Routines.  Of interest is Dr. Lewis’ new book Therapeutic Cultural Routines to Build Family Relationships: Talk, Touch & Listen While Combing Hair © (2021, Springer publisher)


Dr. Lewis also introduced us to colleague Dr. Afiya Mbilishaka, who has developed a certification in PsychoHairapy, building capacities to provide emotional support through hair care. (www.psychohairapy.org). 


The conference invited us to consider the ways hair represents identity, culture, degrees of acceptance, community and attachment development. 


Conference students learned about hair combing as an interactive and connecting experience. “Hair is skin with opportunities for multi-sensory experience”.  


To learn more about the psychology and sociology of routines and rituals around hair combing, Visit "A Place for Natural Connections".

Celebrating Support for Refugee Families


Connecticut Institute for Refugees and Immigrants (CIRI), formerly the International Institute of Connecticut (IICONN), was founded in 1918 and is a statewide nonprofit agency that provides legal and social services to immigrants and refugees in Connecticut to help them become self sufficient, integrated and contributing members of the community. CIRI offers legal, social, linguistic and educational programs to help refugees, asylees and immigrants overcome the many barriers they face in adjusting to their new environments. In addition, CIRI provides special services to unaccompanied minors and victims of serious crimes such as human trafficking, torture and domestic violence. Each year, CIRI assists close to 5,000 individuals from its offices in Bridgeport, Stamford and Hartford, and Waterbury.


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CIRI President & CEO Susan Schnitzer presented an overview of CIRI and the resettlement efforts in Connecticut of Afghan refugees at our December conference. CIRI is dedicated to addressing infant and early childhood mental health through awareness of program staff and further program development.

Celebrating Connecticut Historical Society's Exhibition on Mental Health!


CT-AIMH is excited to announce our new partnership with Connecticut Historical Society for their newest exhibition “Common Struggle, Individual Experience: An Exhibition About Mental Health” presented by Hartford Healthcare . CT CT-AIMH will be emphasizing and promoting the importance of children’s earliest relationships beginning prenatally and the impact those relationships have on overall being/ mental health through-out a person’s lifespan.  We are excited to be a part of this educational exhibit and advocate through this partnership, the importance of mental health.  


Click here for website details

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Celebrating Something to Look Forward To!

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CT-AIMH will offer two

4-day, 1-hour courses on Mindfulness for the IMH professional this spring!

Register for the Mindfulness in March Series
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Celebrating Infant Human Rights

In 1990, the United Nation Convention on the Rights of Children developed ~ and the General Assembly of the United Nations activated ~ ten principles which are endorsed by the World Association for Infant Mental Health (WAIMH). Recognizing the differentiating characteristics and unique qualities and needs of infants, WAIMH has expanded "children's rights" to include "infant's rights". CT-AIMH conference attendees reviewed the "WAIMH Position Paper on the Rights of Infants" and through facilitated discussion groups, reviewed and reflected on one particular "infant right" through a policy and practice lens.

Read WAIMH Position Paper on the Rights of Infants
Click Here to Download the Diversity Informed Tenets document in English and Spanish!
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Celebrating WAIMH Congress Highlights: Connecticut Researchers, Clinicians and Program Developers presented in June 2021


Educating Future Parents and Teachers about Infant Mental Health:

An interdisciplinary panel will include Robert Margolies, Ph.D., School and Clinical Psychologist and Chair of the Connecticut Coalition for Child Development Education, Ros Kane, B.A., author, therapist and founder of ‘Before Becoming a Parent’ charity, from the United Kingdom, and Heidi Maderia, M.S., IMH-E, Executive Director of CT-AIMH.


Mechanisms supporting the strains of home visiting: The role of reflective supervision and infant mental health endorsement: A poster about workplace supports home visitors use to cope with work-related stress presented by Tanika Eaves, Ph.D., IMH-E, JoAnn Robinson, Ph.D., IMH-E, Edna Brown, MSW, Ph.D. and Preston Britner, Ph.D.


Self-Care and the Clinical Infant Mental Health Practitioner: A Qualitative Exploration:

A workshop based on a paper about self-care practices clinical infant mental health practitioners use to manage the stressors associated with their work presented by Tanika Eaves, LCSW, Ph.D., IMH-E, Fairfield University, Egan School of Nursing and Health Studies, Laura Mauldin, Ph.D., Department of Human Development and Family Studies (HDFS), Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Cora B. Megan, M.A.HDFS, University of Connecticut, JoAnn L. Robinson, Ph.D., IMH-E, HDFS, University of Connecticut.

Celebrating Language "Cultural Humility"

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The mission of the Alliance for the Advancement of Infant Mental Health is to build and sustain a diverse workforce, informed by infant and early childhood mental health principles, that strengthen early relationships. We accomplish our mission through advancing social and economic justice and becoming an antiracist organization, supporting professional development and research, and engaging Associations for Infant Mental Health as partners.

 

As an organization we aim to continuously focus on organizational self-awareness and we desire to evolve, develop, and learn. One step we are taking in that direction is dismantling the use of the word “competence” related to the knowledge area cultural competence found within the Competency Guidelines and Endorsement for Culturally Sensitive, Relationship Focused Practice Promoting Infant & Early Childhood Mental Health. That term is no longer appropriate as it implies that there is an endpoint in which we will be competent. We understand that the work of diversity, equity, and inclusion requires an ongoing commitment to learning and self-reflection. Cultural competence has been replaced with cultural humility.  Cultural humility​ requires less emphasis on knowledge and competency and places a greater emphasis on a life-long commitment to learning through self-evaluation and critique. Cultural humility addresses power imbalance, promotes interpersonal sensitivity, requires an attitude of openness, entails maintaining an interpersonal stance that is other-oriented, and necessitates learning from differences (Campinha-Bacote, 2019). Language is ever-evolving and we will continue to assess, reflect, and make changes as aligned with our core values.


You will notice that this change has been updated in the Endorsement Application System (EASy)

Campinha-Bacote, J. (2019). Cultural competemility: A paradigm shift in the cultural competence versus cultural humility debate – part I. Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 24(1), 1-10. http://dx.doi.org/10.3912/OJIN.Vol24No01PPT20

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Celebrating Board Member Achievements


CT-AIMH Board Member and Co-Chair if the Promotion & Education Advisory Committee, Jennifer Vendetti LMSW, CEIM, PMH-C, was awarded the honor of Social Worker Award for Excellence During COVID by the National Association of Social Workers Connecticut Chapter. The citation is as follows:

For Your Extraordinary Dedication to

Early Childhood and Infant Mental Health and the

UConn Health Parenting Program,

For Your Ingenuity and Swift Response in Creating

Opportunities for Children, Families, and Colleagues

During the Challenges Posed by Covid,

For Going Above and Beyond in Remarkable Ways to

Educate, Advocate, and Guide,

Exemplifying the Spirit and Integrity of Social Work

During a Pandemic Unprecedented in our Lifetime.

Extraordinary times call for extraordinary people to do extraordinary things and it is with great honor that Jennifer’s colleagues at UConn Health Parenting Program, CT-AIMH, PSI CT Chapter, and Nurturing Families Network of EdAdvance, and other members of the community joined together in this nomination. ~Carlita Elias, PsyD, IMH-E, CT-AIMH Board of Directors Vice President

Celebrating New Staff at CT-AIMH!


Celebrate great staff, c'mon! Let's celebrate! Welcome Tina Pappalardo, CT-AIMH's new Executive Assistant!!!!! Tina comes to CT-AIMH with a background in non-profit management and disability advocacy. She possesses incredible organizational, technical, macro and administrative skills. Tina is a passionate Disability Advocate and the President of a non-profit organization that serves children with disabilities. She has specialized training in policy, psychology, advocacy and education specific to serving people with disabilities. Her interests included spending time with her children, family and serving the community. She is excited about joining CT-AIMH and proud to be a part of an organization that prioritizes the health of infants and young children.


Tina will be assisting Executive Director, Heidi Maderia in the daily executive functions of the organization.

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