Resources for Mental Health Consultants

A Day in the Life of an Early Childhood Mental Health Consultant

This resource contains a series of real-life vignettes that describe the different phases of the work that a MHC may encounter in the course of an average day.  Reflective questions are included that make this a great resource for on-boarding a new consultant.

This manual describes the implementation of ECMHC in a DC elementary charter school.

Tutorial 4: Mastering the Consultative Stance

The purpose and overall goal of this tutorial is to help early childhood mental health consultants understand what is meant by “the consultative stance” and the practices that support its effectiveness.

Tutorial 5: Partnering with Families in Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation

The purpose of this tutorial is to provide early childhood mental health consultants with an understanding of what is meant by partnering with families within a consultative approach as well as key practices that support the building and maintenance of strong, relationship-based partnerships.

Consultant Assessment

The Consultant Assessment was created to help you figure out where to focus your learning journey. By using this assessment to gauge your knowledge of and skills in the IECMH Consultant Competencies, you will be able to better develop a training plan that fits your needs.

Foundational Modules

Welcome to the Center of Excellence for Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation’s (IECMHC) Foundational Modules. These modules are designed to be flexible and can be viewed in any order. We hope after viewing these modules you are able to understand what it means to be an IECMH Consultant and some of the skills, attitudes and knowledge needed to be successful.

Observation Toolkit for Mental Health Consultants

This toolkit provides mental health consultants with observation forms and processes that they can use to help teachers and program managers promote positive social emotional development and prevent challenging behavior.

Facilitating Individualized Interventions to Address Challenging Behavior

This toolkit is designed to assist the mental health consultant in guiding teachers, teams, and families in developing and implementing an individualized plan of positive behavioral supports that reduces challenging behavior and promotes communication and social skills.

Tutorial 6: Recognizing and Supporting the Social and Emotional Health of Young Children Birth to Age Five

The purpose of this tutorial is to provide early childhood mental health consultants with a detailed understanding of the behaviors related to social and emotional health in infants and young children as well as strategies that adult’s (parent’s and other caregivers) can use to support these behaviors within every day routines in the home and within early care and education settings.

Tutorial 7: Recognizing and Addressing Trauma in Infants, Young Children, and their Families

The purpose and overall goal of this tutorial is to help early childhood mental health consultants as well as Early Head Start and Head Start staff understand what is meant by trauma, recognize the developmental context of trauma in early childhood, and extend their own knowledge for intervention through consultation.

Tutorial 10: Cultural and Linguistic Competence in Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation

The purpose and overall goal of this tutorial is to help early childhood mental health consultants understand what is meant by cultural and linguistic competence and to recognize the preparation, skills, and practices that support effective service delivery within and across diverse cultures and communities.

Teaching Tools for Young Children with Challenging Behavior

We adapted Creating Teaching Tools to provide you and other teachers with practical strategies that we know to be successful in helping young children with problem behavior.

Staff Wellness Package – Taking Care of Ourselves: Stress and Relaxation

Stress is natural and can be inevitable. But stress can take a toll on your health and effectiveness as an early childhood educator or parent. It impacts the quality of care that you can give. When you are too stressed it is difficult to offer the praise, nurturance, and structure your children need. Please use the resources below to help reduce your stress

Foundational Modules

Welcome to the Center of Excellence for Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation’s (IECMHC) Foundational Modules. These modules are designed to be flexible and can be viewed in any order. We hope after viewing these modules you are able to understand what it means to be an IECMH Consultant and some of the skills, attitudes and knowledge needed to be successful.