The VAIMH Endorsement for Culturally Sensitive, Relationship-Focused Practice Promoting Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health® (IECMH-E®) is meant to recognize professionals who apply infant and early childhood mental health principles to their work with infants and children aged 0 up to 6-years-old. It does not replace licensure, certification, or credentialing, but instead is meant as a specialization that complements one’s professional license and/or other credentials. VAIMH Endorsement® is cross-sector and multidisciplinary.

 

The categories of Infant and Early Childhood Endorsement® are:

Family Associate (FA)

Family Specialist (FS)

Mental Health Specialist (MHS)

Mental Health Mentor (MHM)

• MHM-Clinical (MHM-C)

• MHM-Policy (MHM-P)

• MHM-Research/Faculty (MHM-R/F)

 

Those who have earned Endorsement® have demonstrated a specialized education, work, in-service training, and reflective supervision/consultation experiences, if applicable, that have led to competency in the promotion and/or practice of infant and/or early childhood mental health within the individual’s scope of practice. Detailed information about the requirements for specialized education, work, in-service training, and reflective supervision experiences are different in each category and can be found in the Competency Guidelines for the Endorsement for Culturally Sensitive, Relationship-Focused Practice Promoting Early Childhood Mental Health®. Each Endorsed professional is required to renew Endorsement® annually to remain on the Active Endorsement® Registry.

 

The primary mission of the infant and early childhood mental health profession is to promote and support nurturing relationships for young children aged 0 up to 6-years-old. The focus is on the development of the infants and young children within the context of complex relationships. Services are comprehensive and intensive, covering multiple domains, including concrete needs, problem solving skills, and family relationships, as well as infant and early childhood development, parent-infant/young child interactions and developing attachment relationships. Services are supportive, affirming, and strengths-based. They are specifically designed to be respectful of the infant/young child’s and family’s individuality, culture and ethnicity. VAIMH endorsed service providers/professionals work in a variety of settings to assure that all young children have opportunities for nurturing relationships essential for optimal growth and development. Depending on the Category of Endorsement, VAIMH endorsed service providers/professionals offer direct services to young children and families; supervise and train staff; consult with, collaborate, and educate other community professionals; advocate for services; develop best practice policies; and/or teach and conduct research in colleges and universities. All activities reflect a commitment to values that are the bedrock of infant and early childhood mental health practice.

 

Infant & Early Childhood Mental Health Basic Beliefs

1. Optimal growth and development occur within nurturing relationships;

2. The continual care of an infant/ young child offers a family the possibility of strengthening relationships, and promoting growth and change;

3. What happens in the early years affects the course of development across the life span;

4. Early developing attachment relationships may be distorted or disturbed by parental histories of unresolved losses and traumatic life events;

5. The therapeutic presence of an Infant/Early Childhood Mental Health Specialist may reduce the risk of relationship failure and offer the hopefulness of warm and nurturing parental responses.

 

Click here for more information on the Mission and Values of Mental Health Service Providers/Professionals

 

Endorsement involves a standardized process to determine that a professional has accumulated specialized experiences in the infant and early childhood field and has signed a Code of Ethics. (All applicants receive a copy.)

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An applicant’s experiences are documented by the submission of an application that details competency-based training, specialized work experiences, and for most, reflective supervision/consultation (RSC) experiences.  The application also includes reference ratings.  Endorsees as Infant/Early Childhood Mental Health Specialist (I/ECMHS) and Infant/Early Childhood Mental Health Mentor (I/ECMHM) have passed an exam that includes measures of theoretical knowledge, direct service skills, and their capacity to apply these principles into practice. This exam is scored by a team of two reviewers who are blind to the identity of the examinee.  

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​To maintain Endorsement also requires ongoing training and, in the cases of Infant/Early Childhood Family Specialist (I/ECFS), Infant/Early Childhood Mental Health Specialist (I/ECMHS), and Infant/Early Childhood Mental Health Mentor-Clinical (I/ECMHM-C), ongoing RSC. Endorsees are also required to re-commit to upholding the Code of Ethics annually, which includes signing an attestation that the endorsee has not been sanctioned by a licensing board. 

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​Endorsement is not a professional license or a certificate.  VAIMH Endorsement cannot guarantee the quality of service of any endorsed professional, and it does not include a process by which complaints or concerns regarding ethics can be filed.  If VAIMH becomes aware of possible ethics violations by an endorsed professional, complainants are encouraged to, when applicable, contact the individual's professional licensing board.  The VAIMH Endorsement does not offer monitoring for ethics violations, however if VAIMH learns that an endorsed professional has been sanctioned by a licensing board, the individual’s name is moved to the Inactive Endorsement Registry.  Those professionals will follow the policy for reactivation to the Active Endorsement Registry once the licensing board’s sanctions have been lifted.