Applicants pursuing the following credentials must pass an exam prior to earning Endorsement:

• Infant Mental Health Specialist (IMHS)

• Infant Mental Health Mentor-Clinical (IMHM-C)

• Infant Mental Health Mentor-Policy (IMHM-P)

• Infant Mental Health Mentor-Research/Faculty (IMHM-R/F)

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Part 1: 90-Minute Multiple Choice

Consists of 60 multiple choice questions focused on IMH knowledge specific to work with infants, young children, and their families. Questions relate to direct service, reflective supervision/consultation, policy, and research.

Your study of the following topics, learned in a university program, through intensive infant mental health in-service trainings and workshops and self-study is the third component. Opportunities to reflect on what is learned with colleagues and senior clinicians helps to better ensure integration of theory into practice.

• Pregnancy, childbirth, and the newborn period.

• Attachment theory and early relationship development.

• Caregiving practices and behaviors.

• Family, parenting, and childcare issues.

• Infant and toddler development in all domains (e.g., social, emotional, cognitive, language, and physical).

• Temperament and individual differences in infancy and early childhood.

• Indicators of risk, identified disturbance or disorder, as well as capacity, in infancy, early childhood, and early parenthood.

• Infant mental health practice.

• Best practice of infant mental health assessment, diagnoses, and treatment approaches.

• Cultural competence.

• Familiarity with standardized screening and assessment tools.

• Familiarity with service delivery systems that cater to infants, toddlers, and their families.

• Reflective supervisory practice (Infant Mental Health Mentor IV-Clinical).

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Part 2: 90-Minute Vignettes

Part 2 is intended to measure the Applicant’s capacity to apply their knowledge of IECMH principles into practice and demonstrate a reflective, relationship-based approach through written responses to vignettes.

 

Things to Consider

 

Infant Mental Health Specialist (IMHS):

• your work experiences with infants/toddlers and their families, where you are working from a relationship-based perspective practicing infant mental health.

• your experience of reflective supervision (individual or group).

 

Infant Mental Health Mentor-Clinical (IMHM-C):

• One clinical vignette/scenario must be answered from the perspective of a supervisor.

• One of two clinical vignettes/scenarios must be answered from the perspective of the infant mental health specialist/practitioner. Consider:

  • your work experiences with infants/toddlers and their families, where you are working from a relationship-based perspective practicing infant mental health.

  • your experience of reflective supervision (individual or group).

  • your experience as a supervisor/consultant who has provided, or is providing, reflective supervision to practitioners working with infants, toddlers, young children, and parents/caregivers.

 

Infant Mental Health Mentor-Policy (IMHM-P):

You will rely on your extensive leadership experience with the infant-family field ensuring the promotion and practice of infant mental health. Consider:

• Funding

• Systems development

• All that is required to promote change across systems

 

Infant Mental Health Mentor-Research/Faculty (IMHM-R/F):

You will rely on your extensive research and teaching experience in the infant-family field related to the study of pregnancy, infancy, early childhood, and early parenthood; attachment security and relationship needs; risk and resiliency in the early years; caregiving practices; early assessment and intervention strategies, and the mental health needs of infants and toddlers, to name a few.