yblive Summer 2009, Ready, Steady, Grow
Infant Mental Health Awareness-Raising and Training
A reliable, warm relationship with a loving carer when we are babies is the basis of our identity and of our relationships throughout life. Research has shown that support for parents during their baby's first year helps babies form secure relationships and provides a strong foundation for their growth and development.
Infant mental health focuses on and supports the relationship between babies and their primary caregivers, usually their parents. A good beginning for young families is a protective factor in coping with life's inevitable stresses. Infant mental health programmes build on all the positives between the baby and the parent and support parents in maintaining a strong connection with their baby. Every baby-parent relationship has its ups and downs. Infant mental health programmes can help identify difficulties as they arise so that they can be addressed quickly and effectively. Infant mental health programmes support the baby, the primary caregivers, and the interaction between them. Infant mental health practice promotes secure attachment, supports healthy development and addresses parents concerns right from the start.
In Ready, Steady, Grow we are building an infant mental health programme into our work with young families. From September 2009 we will linking up with the Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health to deliver accredited training and ongoing mentoring to staff in services that work with babies, toddlers and families. Our work has been informed by the Infant Mental Health Network active in Cork which has established links with Michigan.
Dr. Deborah Weatherston from Michigan will be visiting Ballymun in the autumn and will deliver two infant mental health training modules as well as awareness-raising workshops for families and those with a general interest in learning more about this field.
