Infant Mental Health and Attachment: Promoting Relationships in the Lives of Families and Young Children
Course description
This post-bachelor’s degree professional development opportunity is designed to enhance professional practice and understanding of early social and emotional development. In five Saturday sessions, participants will explore relationship-based principles and practices as well as dig deeper into attachment and its impact on children’s overall development and school readiness.
The course fee includes all required reading materials.
Credentialing
This course meets competencies required for the Virginia Association for Infant Mental Health Endorsement for Culturally-Sensitive, Relationship-Focused Practice Promoting Infant Mental Health. Upon successful completion of the 25-hour course, you will receive a Certificate of Completion from the VCU Office of Continuing and Professional Education and Early Childhood Mental Health Virginia Initiative (ECMHVA)* based at the VCU Partnership for People with Disabilities.
*ECMHVA is a statewide initiative focused on the development, implementation and sustainability of a comprehensive and coordinated early childhood system of care for infant and early childhood mental health serving children birth through age five and their families/caregivers and providers.
Schedule
10 a.m.-4 p.m. with one hour for lunch on your own
Date
Session
Topic
January 11, 2020
Session 1:
Infant Mental Health Principles, History, Endorsement and Introduction to Attachment Theory & Practice
January 25, 2020
Session 2:
Development & Attachment
February 15, 2020
Session 3:
Brain Development, Attachment, Culture & Trauma
February 29, 2020
Session 4:
Attachment’s Long-Term Impacts, Reflective Practice/Supervision, Indicators of Attachment Difficulties, Referral
Christine Wing, CCC, SLP, Ph.D., is a certified speech and language pathologist. She has worked extensively with families and young children, particularly those who have experienced adverse childhood experiences, in collaboration with mental health professionals, health care providers, and educators. Dr. Wing is the former co-chair of the Minnesota Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Association and manager of Developmental and Rehabilitation Services, Children’s Hospitals and Clinics, Minnesota. She currently provides consultation and education to organizations providing services to children and families.
Dr. Wing holds a Ph.D. in language development and a master’s degree in public policy from the University of Minnesota. In addition, Dr. Wing holds a master’s degree in speech pathology from the University of Vermont and a bachelor’s degree in communicative disorders from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Dr. Sood is Professor, Psychiatry and Pediatrics and Senior Professor of Child Mental Health Policy with the Virginia Treatment Center for Children (VTCC) at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). Previously she served at the Medical Director of the VTCC. For the past four years, she has focused efforts on prevention in child mental health and developing an attachment clinic at VCU Health System. This supports work that improves education in early childhood and infancy for all caregivers who interact with children and violence prevention efforts. She has edited two books on mental health policy and prevention in children’s mental health.
Dr. Sood has decades of experience of leading and working on varied task forces and committees focused on mental health. Recent activity includes an appointment by Governor Northam in 2018 to the Governors working group on trauma-informed care to children in the Commonwealth of Virginia. She was honored with the 2018 VA American Academy of Pediatrics Advocate of the Award in the pediatric General Assembly day. Dr. Sood completed her MD from India, her residency at the University of Missouri in Kansas City and a child psychiatry fellowship at Ohio State University. She joined VCU in 1988. She is a 2002 Fellow of the Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine (ELAM) through Drexel University. In addition, she completed a Master’s of Science in Health Administration at VCU.
Bonnie Grifa, State Early Childhood Mental Health & Endorsement Administrator
Bonnie Grifa, State Early Childhood Mental Health & Endorsement Administrator As Virginia’s State Early Childhood Mental Health Coordinator, Bonnie Grifa is responsible for coordinating a state initiative to develop and implement a sustainable early childhood mental health system of care for children birth to five and their families to support young children’s healthy social emotional development. She oversees the Virginia Early Childhood Mental Health Initiative and Strategic Plan and administers the Virginia Association for Infant Mental Health Endorsement.
Bonnie holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Music Therapy from the State University of New York at Fredonia, and a Management Fellowship Certificate through the Graduate School of Management at the University of California, Los Angeles. Recent publications include: Granja, M.R., Smith, S., Nguyen, U., and Grifa, B. (2018) Learning about Young Children’s Challenging Behavior and Impacts on Programs and Families: A State-wide Survey of Virginia’s Early Care and Education Teachers. New York: National Center for Children in Poverty, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University.
Judith Martens, LSCW, IMH-IV, is a licensed clinical social worker with over 25 years of experience working as a parent-child psychotherapist and reflective supervisor in early childhood mental health programs in New York and Florida before moving to Virginia where she was the Director of Training and Professional Development for family and center-based child care providers for eleven years. While in Florida, Ms. Martens spent eight years working with Head Start programs in developing a comprehensive model for mental health services. Currently, she is self-employed as a Reflective Supervision facilitator, consultant and trainer. She is an endorsed Infant Mental Health Mentor (IMH) and has participated in the Reflective Supervision Symposiums sponsored by the Alliance for the Advancement of IMH for the past three years.
Expectations
In this course you will:
Read assigned articles prior to the session and be prepared to discuss in small and large groups;
Create a reflection journal that explores how you will integrate new knowledge into your work with young children and their families; and
Develop an intervention project in a small group and present at the last session.
Who Should Attend
This course is designed for early childhood and other professionals working with children birth to age five in any discipline. A minimum of a bachelor’s degree is required.
Professionals appropriate for this course include early care and education teachers; home visitors; developmental specialists; occupational, speech or physical therapists; social workers; counselors; medical practitioners; early interventionists; special education teachers; university faculty; policymakers, and administrators.
If you have questions about whether this course would be beneficial to you, please contact the VCU Office of Continuing and Professional Education at ocpe@vcu.edu or (804) 828-1322.
Location
This course is held at the Children's Hospital of Richmond at VCU Virginia Treatment Center for Children, 1308 Sherwood Avenue, Richmond VA 23220. Parking information: Enter the Brook Road Campus via Sherwood Avenue. The entrance is on the Sherwood Avenue side of the building.
Continuing Education Units
Participants have the option to earn 2.5 Continuing Education Units (25 contact hours) for successful completion of the course for an additional fee of $30. If you would like to earn CEUs, select this option at registration.
Cancellation and Refund Policies
You may cancel your registration up until December 13, 2019, and receive a full refund minus a $35 credit card processing fee. After that date, no refunds will be given. Cancellations must be received via email at ocpe@vcu.edu.
In the unlikely event that this workshop is cancelled or postponed due to insufficient enrollments or unforeseen circumstances, the university will fully refund registration fees, but cannot be held responsible for any other expenses, including change or cancellation charges to include but not limited to airlines, hotels, travel agencies, or other organizations.
Alternative inclement weather dates:
February 22, 2020
March 21, 2020
Transfer Policy
Workshop registrations may be transferred to a different person if requested in writing via email at ocpe@vcu.edu by December 13, 2019. The participant must meet all prerequisites or qualifications required by the program.
Questions?
For registration questions, contact VCU OCPE at ocpe@vcu.edu or call (804)-828-1322. For questions regarding the course content, or the Virginia Endorsement for Infant Mental Health, please contact Bonnie Grifa at bgrifa@vcu.edu.
