University Course: Introduction to Infant & Early Childhood Mental Health

Overview

This semester-long course is taught online at the University of North Colorado in the School of Special Education. It is available for both undergraduate or graduate credits and may be taken by non-degree seeking students. The fee of $750.00 provides 3 academic credits and is required regardless of degree-seeking status.

This course allows participants to integrate the foundations of infant and early childhood mental health into their own work with infants, young children and their families. The course combines readings, reflective writing, and application of knowledge to a case study. Most of the material is studied independently but online discussion is facilitated as well. This course is letter graded. More details about course outcomes and requirements are available in the syllabus for the courses (graduate and undergraduate) at the course website.

Topics

• social and emotional development
• screening, assessment and intervention
• brain development
• effects of toxic stress and trauma on brain development
• the role of responsive caregiving as a mitigating factor for adverse conditions
• professional areas of development such as reflective practice and infant mental health endorsement.

Schedule

The course runs January 11 through May 7, 2021. The last day to register for the course is January 15. The registration process can take several days. The last day to drop the course is January 25 and March 8 is the deadline to withdraw.

Instructor

Noelle Hause, EdP, LPC, IMH-E® (IV)-Clinical Mentor, is an adjunct faculty of the University of Northern Colorado. Her areas of concentration include infant and early childhood mental health and development, trauma-informed care, secondary traumatic stress, reflective supervision, clinical services, program development and systems building. Noelle is committed to promoting infant and early mental health practices as a trainer, consultant, and reflective supervisor. She volunteers countless hours on workforce development activities, both at the state (Colorado) and national levels. Noelle serves as the Chair of the Training Committee at the Alliance for the Advancement of Infant Mental Health where she has spearheaded the development of a reflective practice tool to support training providers in developing/delivering content. The purpose of the tool is to ensure that training opportunities adhere to core principles and best practices for professional development in the field of infant and early childhood mental health.

Competencies & Endorsement

This course is mapped by the instructor to the infant mental health Competencies® used by multiple states' professional associations of infant and early childhood mental health. To learn more about these Competencies®, please visit the Alaska Association of Infant & Early Childhood Mental Health (AK-AIMH). The Competencies® support professional attainment of the Endorsement for Culturally Responsive, Relationship-based Practices Promoting Infant Mental Health®.

Upon completion of the course, the instructor will provide information specifying the Competencies® covered in the material.