about the project

This project is a collaborative effort involving eight county departments of mental health and their interagency community partners in the development of early mental health services and relationship-based early intervention for children from birth to 5 and their families.

The project:

• piloted approaches for delivering integrated early mental health services in child care and education settings through positive relationships between service providers and families in order to support the parent-child relationship;
• identified effective methods, measures, and resources for screening, assessment, service coordination, service delivery, and funding;
• expanded community education, training opportunities, and support for non-mental health professionals concerning early parent-child relationships and early emotional-social development;
• expanded education, training opportunities, support, and supervision for mental health professionals;
• promoted ongoing interagency and interdisciplinary collaboration; and
• evaluated outcomes and changes for children and families, service providers, service systems, and communities.

The following reports reflect the work performed under California's Infant, Preschool & Family Mental Health Initiative:

1. Building Capacity to Provide Infant-Family and Early Mental Health Services: Training, Technical Assistance, Consultation and Supervision Models. Download PDF
2. The Delivery of Infant-Family and Early Mental Health Services: Training Guidelines and Recommended Personnel Competencies (revised). Download PDF (Note: In order to print this document correctly, you must save it to your desktop and open it in Adobe Acrobat.)
3. Impact & Evaluation Findings: Training Activities and Changes in Providers and Communities Download PDF
4. The Clinical Services Study Executive Summary: Development, Implementation, and Preliminary Findings (Contact 916/492-4011 for a copy of the full report.) Download PDF
5. IPFMHI Phase II Final Report: Consolidation and Sustainability: The Status of Infant Family and Early Mental Health Services in IPFMHI Pilot Counties. Download PDF
6. Compendium of Best Practices/Literature Review
   • Introduction Download PDF
   • Reference and Practice Download PDF
   • Reference and Domain Download PDF
   • Evidence Based Practices Download PDF
   • Emerging Practices Download PDF
   • Promising Practices Download PDF
   • Other Practices Download PDF
   • Early Intervention/Early Childhood Websites Download PDF
7. IFMHI Phase I Final Report Download PDF
8. Infant Preschool Family Mental Health Initiative: Accomplishments and Lessons Learned. Download PDF

The Executive Summary of The California Infant Mental Health Workgroup Report: Recommendations for Screening, Assessment, Service Delivery and Training Related to the Promotion of Infant Social and Emotional Mental Health for All Providers of Education, Health and Human Services to Infants, Toddlers and their Families, provides recommendations related to the promotion of infant social and emotional health and was the catalyst for the Infant, Preschool & Family Mental Health Initiative. Download PDF

An additional publication, "Evolving Perspectives in Infant-Family Mental Health and Reflective Supervision: A Collection of Published and Unpublished Articles," is also available. Please call 916/492-4011 to order a copy.

For more information, contact Sue Bollig at 916.492.4009 or Email: mbollig@wested.org.