Mental Health- Strategies and Resources
Three areas that help address different aspects of mental health promotion of children
- Early Identification and Intervention, with emphasis on pediatric practices integrating early relational health
- Increased access to Parent Programs
- Social Emotional Learning
Following are the major organizations and related articles that focus on early relational health. They address the scope of the problem and potential solutions that address needed improvement in this area.
Organizations Promoting Early Relational Health
Zero to Three
- State of Babies Yearbook: A comprehensive overview of where we are as a nation in the treatment of our children
- Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Supports and Services: A Planning Tool for States and Communities
- Policy and Advocacy
Harvard Center on the Developing Child
Mission is to leverage the power of science in pursuit of better, more equitable outcomes for young children facing adversity.
Nurture Connection
In partnership with families and communities, this organization is building a networked and engaged movement to promote Early Relational Health for every family and in every community.
Child Mind Institute
A global nonprofit working to transform children’s mental health
Mt. Sinai Parenting Center
Mission is to transform the way pediatric healthcare is delivered by maximizing opportunities to promote strong parent-child relationships and early childhood development within everyday healthcare interactions.
Columbia Center for Early Relational Health
Organization dedicated to advancing science, practice, and policy that supports the earliest relationships in life- those between infants, young children, and their caregivers.
Center for Early Relational Health
Organization launched as a direct response to the urgent need to convene, support and collaborate with anyone working with or on behalf of prenatal-to-five families to promote healthy and nurturing early relationships and to disrupt systems and structures that prevent positive early relationships from taking root.
American Academy of Pediatrics
The mission of the AAP is to attain optimal physical, mental, and social health and well-being for all infants, children, adolescents and young adults. To accomplish this, AAP shall support the professional needs of its members.
Center for Study of Social Policy
Organization focused on advancing economic justice, health justice, and family autonomy, with an unwavering commitment to racial justice.
Center for Law and Social Policy: Policy Change to Promote Early Relational Health
Prenatal-to-3 POLICY IMPACT CENTER
A nonpartisan research center at Vanderbilt University that focuses on the rigorous evidence connecting brain science with state policies and programs. Explore a state-by-state look at early childhood governance, showing how programs are administered and which agencies oversee them.
The Family and Youth Institute
Infant Mental Health Toolkit — This toolkit addresses Infant Mental Health, an integral component of raising a healthy child, and provides readings and practical tips for you to better understand your child, foster a positive parent-child relationship, and exercise personal self-care.
UNICEF
Early Moments Matter — UNICEF’s Early Moments Matter campaign aims to raise awareness about the importance of healthy brain development in the earliest years of life, increase investment by governments and businesses in Early Childhood Development programmes, policies and services, and support parents and caregivers to give their children the best start in life.
Help Me Grow
Promoting Social Emotional Development and Early Childhood Mental Health in Young Children: A Roadmap for Long Island — This roadmap proposes the steps needed to guide Long Island, NY in building systems that ensure all young children are supported to reach their optimal development. This proposal features strengthening existing programs and building new evidence-based initiatives to fill gaps and scale up.
Reach Out and Read
Site offers helpful resources for families who want to enjoy reading together.
Articles
From Harvard's Center on the Developing Child:
- A Decade of Science Informing Policy
- Establishing a Level Foundation for Life: Mental Health Begins in Early Childhood
- A New Framework for Science-Informed Investment in the Early Foundations of Health and Development — The resources in this guide are designed to support the efforts of change agents across a rich diversity of sectors, cultures, geographies, and political perspectives to drive a critical re-envisioning of the field.
World Health Organization:
American Academy of Pediatrics:
- Early Relational Health — David Willis, MD
- Can lifestyle medicine improve global mental health? — Steven G. Sugden, Gia Merlo, Sam Manger
- PRiSM- Promoting Research-informed State IECMH Policies
- Saving Brains: A partnership led by Grand Challenges Canada, in partnership with The Center on the Developing Child (Includes an informative video)
From the US Department of H and HS:
- Behavioral Health Consequences of Child Abuse and Neglect
- Long-Term Consequences of Child Abuse and Neglect
- Understanding the Effects of Maltreatment on Brain Development
From the Journal of General Internal Medicine:
- The Long-term Health Outcomes of Childhood Abuse: An Overview and a Call to Action
- Childhood Emotional Neglect: How It Can Impact You Now and Later — Kimberly Holland- Healthline
- Parenting Related to Child and Parental Psychopathology: A Descriptive Review of the Literature
- Separation Is Never Ending: Attachment Is a Human Right — From Jessica Borelli in Psychology Today. Article aimed at understanding the negative consequences of our border policies Why 40 researchers say attachment is a basic right and separation a clear wrong.
- Here’s What It’s Like To Live In A Country That Actually Cares About Mothers - Huffpost