Infant and Toddler Mental Health
Indiana Association for Infant and Toddler Mental Health,
Inc.
The Indiana Association for Infant and Toddler Mental Health
(IAITMH) is dedicating to promoting the social and emotional
development of young children. It strives to build partnerships
among families, professionals, caregivers, agencies, and
organizations to promote positive mental health among young
children. The Indiana Association for Infant and Toddler
Mental Health aims to advance conditions that provide an
early start toward optimal mental health.
Infant and toddler mental health can be defined as the social
and emotional well-being that results when infants and toddlers
are supported by nurturing relationships. Infant mental health
can be enhanced by:
Providing families/caregivers with the necessary skills
and tools to support health, social, and emotional development.
Supporting family/caregiver strengths and cultural values
and beliefs.
Identifying early signs of emotional and behavioral concerns.
Promoting successful partnerships among families/caregivers
and community support systems.
Research on brain development shows that a child's environment
is crucial during the infant and toddler years. Contrary
to popular belief, young children can suffer from clinical
depression, traumatic stress disorder, and a variety of other
mental health problems. Fortunately, there are approaches
to preventing, assessing, and treating young children and
their families. Emotional support and guidance can help parents
foster health, emotional and social, development and detect
problems in their earliest stages, when treatment is most
effective.
There is a growing recognition that the trajectory to success,
both in school and in later life, beings in the early years.
What happens during the first three years of life can lay
the foundation for becoming a productive, contributing member
of society, or it can lay the foundation for intergenerational
cycles of abuse, neglect, violence, dysfunction, and mental
illness. Many of these problems can be prevented if social-emotional
development during infancy and early childhood is understood
and fostered, and if we have programs and services that support
children and their families. Factors which put children at
risk for a mental disorder include violence, intense marital
discord, maternal psychiatric disorder, poverty, abuse, and
neglect. If these at-risk children can be identified early,
intervention and support can lead to better outcomes in terms
of the emotional well being of the child.
Increasingly, research points to the wisdom of investing
resources "upfront" in the areas of promotion,
prevention, and early intervention for children's mental
health . Meeting the mental health needs of all young children
and families through careful planning, integration of services
and supports, and the full participation of families, providers,
and other community members, makes good economic sense and
helps assure good outcomes for our children, their families,
and our communities.
Indiana Association for Infant and Toddler Mental Health,
Inc.
Executive Assistant to the President: Tiffany Peek
tpeek@mhai.net
Mission: To advance conditions that provide an early
start toward optimal mental health.
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Quick links to additional resources:
Quick Links to other Subsidiaries:
Indiana Mental Health and Aging Coalition
Indiana Coalition to Reduce Underage Drinking
Indiana Mental Health Memorial Foundation, Inc.
Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance
Indiana
Indiana Association for Infant and Toddler Mental Health, Inc.
Indiana Addictions Issues Coalition, Inc.
Junior Mental Health America of Indiana, Inc.
APS Industries, Inc. and Community Connections, Inc.
Mental Health America of Indiana Ombudsman
Program
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