WAIMH (World Association of Infant Mental Health May, 2015 Prague)

Monday, May 30th, 2016: 17:15 - 18:45 Symposium (Hall 2 Zenit):

ID 220
Building workforce capacity in infant mental health: Three tertiary education training models

Key questions covered by the symposium:

What kind of training models in infant mental health has been developed?
What are the most important benefits of the training methods?
What are the most important insights from this symposium?

In this symposium, 3 distinguished speakers, each shared the experience in a

tertiary education setting; postgraduate degree in Infant Mental Health, along with
the implications for training in global community.

The first speaker was Professor . , she shared her experience with the program for
Training Clinical Psychologists in Infant Mental Health in Western Australia,
Joondalup campus (Perth).
There is a Clinical Training Program in Psychology ; composed of:
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2 years master's program.

2 years internship (with intensive placement program 100 hrs)
Training given to the interns are given in the "Edith Cowan University
Pregnancy and Parenthood Clinic", which is a psychological service center,
that
Gives free services and provide training for the interns,
Provides perinatal and mental health services as early identification and
early intervention
service, and pregnancy counseling through 3 years.
Caseload of the course: couple/ dyadic/triadic family intervention, birthtrauma,
Workshops: done in collaboration with the local city councils.

The course helps in the developmental progression of the students` experiences

and providing them with reflective supervision, as well as preparing them to enter
the work force with a good range of skills.
Students reported that about the course: "new experiences are explored from a safe
supervisory base".

There is also (ECU Master of Infant Mental Health) with the first intake in 2016.

The second speaker was the well-known Professor Hiram E. Fitzgerald, Michigan
state university, USA, who shared his experience, under the title "Graduate
Education in Infancy is strengthened by community partnerships"
He gave a very interesting talk about how the whole idea of developing infant
mental health from the government perspective came as a "Feed Forward", aiming
to enhance school readiness in children to be emotionally ready for school
environment.
The plan was to create a graduate research program in 1989. It aimed towards an
interdisciplinary graduate specialization in infant studies, which included studies in
a multidisciplinary approach. Then later in 1995, the program developed into an
Interdisciplinary Graduate Specialization in Applied Developmental Science, with
competency component areas in Infancy Specialization and developmental science
specialization. For infancy specialization; there were theoretical foundations,
practice foundations, foundations of policy and advocacy, foundation of research
and evaluation. As for developmental science`s specialization, developmental
systems theory, competence in diversity, contextualism, asset building and
university-community partnerships.
Those two programs were merged into "Applied Developmental Science: Pregnancy
to Pre-K, a community university engaged scholarship model.
Data from U.S. regarding the prevalence of specific reported adverse childhood
experiences (ACEs), in a national percentage of children, that revealed that low
income, separation or divorce, family alcohol or drug problems and family mental
illness were related to the highest overall relatedness to ACEs, in all ages, 0-5, 6-11
and also 12-17.
Then a program was designed, as a community example in the state of Michigan,
called "All Student Achieve Potential Parent Involved Education (ASAP-PIE), from
birth to 5 years, and was designed to improve school readiness by: encouraging
positive parenting skills, enhancing the quality of Parent-child interaction, providing
learning opportunities that promote development, and promoting access to needed
community services through a home-school-community partnership.
Another sample of a "community program" is the Jackson Community Action Agency
program. It is an Early Head Start, an infant mental health approach to home
visiting for 0-3 year olds. This included home visits that was positively related to:
Child`s cognitive development and also Child`s emotional regulation.

The 3rd talk: Given by Professor Paul Campbell

The Royal Children`s Hospital Melbourne

History of training in IMH:

The Royal Children`s Hospital has a long history of training in child behavioural
sciences and collaborations.
Just over 20 years ago, a graduate diploma in Parent and Infant Mental health
developed out of a series of training activities of the RCH infant mental health
group.
Dr. Anne Morgan, founder of IMH at Royal Children`s Hospital, Melborne; IMH at RCH
since 1970`s, clinical training in IMH in 1980`s.
Aims of the graduate diploma and masters courses in 1995:
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Aimed at health care professionals working in the infant mental health field,
who wish to develop their understanding and clinical skills in working infants
and parents or who are interested in participating in service development,
delivery and evaluation.
Focus primarily on the baby and the infant/parent relationships
Provide training in skilled assessment and intervention with families which
can greatly assist the capacity of parents to facilitate their child`s
development.
Infant and Parent mental health is therefore able to play a major role in the
prevention of serious psychiatric disabilities.
Professor Campbell then discussed the Master of Mental Health structure, and
the selection criteria of the candidates, for Graduate Certificate, Graduate
Diploma and for Master.
Master of Mental Health Science: Infant Stream.

Delivery modality: Both on Campus (at Royal Children`s Hospital Parkville)

and by distance (live video teleconference link, and online resources).
Interdisciplinary learning: psychology, social work, nursing, child and adult
psychiatry, occupational therapy and psychotherapy.
Adult learning model with a mixture of a large group and small group
activities:
Student`s own clinical work is incorporated into small group activities,
reading and video materials provided, along with direct contact with leading
clinicians and researchers in the field of infant mental health. Course content
relates to broader societal context.
Then Professor Campbell discussed the challenges faced in the way of
developing this program, as the acceptability of IMH as a discipline, the
expenses of University education and training, maintaining coherence but
broadening the theoretical model of IMH, difficulties of clinical training (cost,
time and supervision), monitoring professional training needs of health care
and family service organizations, Tele-learning, keeping up-to-date with adult
learning and teaching methodology.