Florida Association for Infant Mental Health

Published by the Alliance for the Advancement of Infant Mental Health, this brief was co-authored by Florida's own Dr. Harleen Hutchinson, FAIMH Vice President, and Dr. Kimberly Renk, former FAIMH Board Member & Professor at UCF. The paper connects the IECMH needs of the workforce to the impact of meaningful IECMH supports could have on both caregivers/teachers and children and their families. It provides policy recommendations and best practice strategies. Read the full text here.

FAIMH believes that a well-supported infant and early childhood workforce is one of the keys to the long-term success of our great state. We encourage reflection and examination of all the ways in which Florida’s broad infant/young children workforce might best be supported in order to most effectively support the children and families so that they do more than survive--they thrive. We share this valuable resource in hopes that it serves as another important step in addressing the challenging issue of suspension and expulsion of young children, the resulting disruptions for caregivers in their professional/employment settings, and of course, the harm experienced by the children themselves.

This year, on National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day, FAIMH will host co-authors, Dr. Hutchinson and Dr. Renk, as well as our partner Tamara Price of the Florida Dept. of Education Division of Early Learning (DEL) as a special guest to have conversation around the strong body of research that demonstrates the lifelong, devastating effects of early childhood education (ECE) suspension and expulsion on infants, toddlers, and preschoolers, and how and why ECE workforce trained in infant and early childhood mental health are essential to ending ECE suspensions and expulsions. 

Join us on Zoom May 5, 2022

11:00 AM Eastern/ 10:00 AM Central

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