Special News / Alerts
Diversity-Informed Tenets for Work with Infants, Children and Families
NJ-AIMH is committed to supporting diversity, equity and inclusion, and the use of the Diversity-Informed Tenets for Work with Infants, Children and Families.
WEBINAR: Grief and Loss through a Self-Reg® Lens
The COVID 19 Pandemic has delivered experiences of loss. Adults and children are grieving. How do early childhood professionals, comfort those who are struggling with feelings and actions based in grief, especially the children and including themselves? How do early childhood professionals care for themselves so that they can offer calm to others? Are there steps to take to build resilience?
Grief is a life process in reacting to loss. It is an individual response with life-changing capacity. One common healing factor is the connections sought for co-regulation. It is easy to miss the signs especially when the cues appear to be undesired behavior for children. The knowledge of the Self- Reg® approach shared in this workshop, emphasizes the response that encourages resilience. Adults are the key to finding calm in the storm of grief and applying the lens of Self-Reg® This approach meets the needs of adults and children in navigating the feelings and behaviors initiated by loss and grief.
Please join Jessica Cowan, LSW, IMH-E® and Jean Budd, LPC, NCC, IMH-E® to understand the benefits of applying the Self-Reg® lens during this difficult time.
Register Now!
Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) COVID-19 Relief Funding
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on child care providers, causing widespread layoffs and closures nationwide. Significant declines in enrollment paired with steep increases in operating expenses have created an unsustainable financial situation for an industry that traditionally relies on razor-thin margins. Recognizing the essential role of child care for children, working families, and the economy, Democrats and Republicans in Congress have sought to prioritize funding and other relief opportunities for child care providers as part of ongoing COVID-19 recovery efforts.
In each of the four major relief packages Congress has passed, the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) has been a primary mechanism for providing funding to child care providers and for ensuring access to child care for thousands of working families – including essential workers. This resource outlines funding amounts for CCDBG provided in each of the bills, how funds can be used, and relevant deadlines for reporting & spending the dollars.
This resource outlines funding amounts for CCDBG provided in each of the COVID-19 relief bills, how funds can be used, and relevant deadlines for reporting & spending the dollars.
COVID-19 and Impact on Teachers, School Administrators, and Families
Kelly Gets a Vaccine: How We Beat Coronavirus
Kelly Gets a Vaccine: How We Beat Coronavirus
by Lauren Block MD MPH and Adam Block PhD; Illustrated by Debby Rahmalia
Discover along with 8-year-old Kelly the science behind the COVID-19 vaccine, what to expect during and after the vaccine, and how vaccination will help us begin to move beyond the pandemic.
Authors of “Kelly Stays Home: The Science of Coronavirus” and “Kelly Goes Back to School: More Science on Coronavirus” which have been downloaded over 25,000 times are back with their most important book yet on how the vaccine works and the importance of being vaccinated.
IECMH Clinical Workforce Solution Pathways
We are pleased to share a 5-part graphic that ZERO TO THREE just released!
IECMH Clinical Workforce Solution Pathways was co-created by stakeholders from around the country to capture the myriad of pathways of influence and opportunity related to increasing the size, diversity, quality, and accessibility of the Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health (IECMH) Clinical Workforce.
NJ-AIMH is pleased further to note that four of our members were a part of the contributors group: Gerry Costa, Kathy Mulrooney, Joaniko Kohchi, and Muhammad Zeshan, MD, our newest Board member, a current ZERO TO THREE Fellow.
Take a look at this wonderful document and join me in thanking our members for their work.
Diez consejos para hablar con niños sobre la violencia en el Capitolio
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Ten Tips for Talking with Children about the Violence at the Capitol
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If you feel uncertain about how to start this conversation with children, practice with adults first. Notice the parts of the conversation where you might need assistance and ask for support from other adults.
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Ask children what they know and what they have heard. Listen to the child’s story and follow the child’s lead. Use simple language and correct any misunderstood accounts. Tell a child what they need to know, not all that you know.
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Be there and be calm. Monitor your own emotion and tone of voice. Pay attention to your gestures, affect, and voice because children pay special attention to these ways of communicating. Children scan the faces, voices, and movements of others to discern safety. Your presence, voice, words, soft and loving touches, provide each child with the best ways of feeling safe.
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Share your feelings. It is okay and important for children to know that the adults in their lives have the same feelings when bad things happen. Ask about their feelings. Often children will experience and express their feelings through their body states. Ask them “what” and “where” they feel (e.g., head, tummy, chest, neck, etc.) as well as “how” do they feel.
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Recognize that there are some feelings that we can only share and cannot fix: Children need us to be there with and for them at such times. It’s appropriate to both not have an answer and be with the children in their sadness and confusion.
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While we encourage telling children about the events of January 6th, monitor repeated exposure to images and reports of the events. Provide enough exposure to inform, but not frighten.
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If children do get scared, remember the 3R’s of security: Relationships, Routines and Restoration. Highlight relationships with familiar and consistent caregivers, family, and friends. Protect and increase routines that are familiar and normalizing.
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Provide structure and communicate safety: Uncertainty is the province of adulthood. While we as adults may feel unsure of the state of our democracy, we must always let children know that we will take care of them and protect them.
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A sense of mastery can help alleviate fear and uncertainty. Encourage your children to get involved in a community or service program such as collecting items for a food bank, making a call to their Congressperson, signing a petition, or writing a letter to someone in local government about something that they would like to help change in their community.
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Remember to take care of yourself: We have all been living with the collective stress of Covid-19 and political uncertainty for a l-o-n-g time. Yet, we know that if the adults in a child’s life are overwhelmed, overstressed, and overtired, it will be more difficult for the child to feel safe, secure and stable. Prioritize the cultivation of the “ABCs” of self-care: awareness, balance, and connection, in your own life.
(Costa, G. & Mulcahy, K, 2021)
Empowering Clinicians in Perinatal and Infant Mental Health in Low Resource Communities
Please join us Wednesday, January 13, 2021, from 12:30 PM to 2:00 PM EST as ZERO TO THREE Fellow, Muhammad Zeshan, MD, leads a discussion of his successful work piloting an Infant and Perinatal Mental Health Program in Pakistan. This session will explore strategies to support parents struggling with PTSD, postpartum depression, or medical conditions. Learn what role cultural, religious, and social values have in building empathy and non-judgmental approaches for distressed families.
Dr. Zeshan is a Clinical Assistant Professor in Psychiatry at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School as well as a Board Member of NJ-AIMH. He is the recipient of 10 national and international awards for academic excellence, teaching, leadership from the American Psychiatry Association, American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, Association of Directors of Psychiatry Residency Training, and Nishtar Alumni of North America.
Certificates will be awarded for 1 hour of Infant Mental Health Endorsement Competencies.
Practitioners can access 1.5 hours of Continuing Education Credits through participation and a $35 fee in addition to the registration fee.
Current NJ-AIMH Members: please click on the promo code space to draw down the appropriate NJAIMH2021 code for either the session alone or to add the CE fee to your member-discounted rate.
Membership Renewals are due January 31, 2021
All NJ-AIMH membership renewals are due January 31, 2021.
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- Alternately, you can mail a check to NJ-AIMH, PO Box 43662, Upper Montclair, NJ 07043.