Early childhood mental health is key to a child’s healthy development.

How well a child develops in their formative years leads to:

  • Healthy relationships
  • Ability to get along with others
  • Development of resiliency

Early Childhood Development and Lifetime Mental Health

How a child develops in their formative years leads to healthy relations in childhood and adulthood, ability to get along with others in child care, school and society, and develops resiliency for challenges later in life.

This resiliency, the ability to “bounce back” from adversity, reduces the infant, toddler, young child’s risk for developing a variety of emotional, behavioral, social and cognitive delays.

Early childhood mental health services focuses on building and maintaining the important relationships between infants, toddlers and young children and their parents/caregivers to ensure the needed foundation for growth and development throughout childhood.

Infant Mental Health Practice

The Infant Mental Health (IMH) practice model is a needs-driven, relationship-focused multi-faceted intervention serving parents and their infants/toddlers in the mental health system. The infants/toddlers and parent(s) receiving IMH have been exposed to a range of factors that place the infant/toddler at risk for developing a variety of emotional, behavioral, social, and cognitive delays.

dad holding son in the air

Infant Mental Health-Home Visiting services are designed to reduce the likelihood of serious mental health issues during the critical periods of infancy and toddlerhood to prevent costly consequences for both the child and society through increased costs in health care, education, and the justice system.

 

Home-Based Services

In 2022, IMH-Home Visiting provided services to more than 1,800 infants, toddlers, and their caregivers.

 

Endorsed Providers

The IMH model is provided by Masters-prepared early childhood mental health professionals who are endorsed by the Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health - opens in new window.

 

Model Provided

The model is provided by Community Mental Health Services Programs or their network providers as part of the Home-Based Services or as a Prevention Direct Service.