Our Babies Can’t Wait – A Statement from the Alliance for the Advancement of Infant Mental Health
As an affiliate of the Alliance for the Advancement of Infant Mental Health,
NJ-AIMH fully supports the following statement:
As part of the global infant/early childhood mental health community, we are committed to deepening conversation and promoting reflection and action to address ongoing bias, structural racism, and racial violence that impacts the health and wellbeing of all our babies and their families.
We believe in the power of relationships to raise a collective voice against racism. We stand in solidarity with communities of color across the nation and the world and commit ourselves to mitigating the chronic trauma that racism has had on generations of children of color, their families, and the infant/early childhood workforce.
We hold in mind parents and caregivers of color who are tasked with protecting and creating a safe space for their babies while also managing their own emotions, as we also hold in mind the infant/early childhood mental health workforce of color who strive to hold and comfort families while managing their own emotions.
We believe that change and healing starts with each one of us. We must intentionally examine the ways we contribute to the continuation or dismantling of racial trauma and structural oppression.
We must respond with purpose and action. Our babies can’t wait.
With hope and love,
Staff and Board of Directors
Alliance for the Advancement of Infant Mental Health
POSTER: Supporting Young Children’s Social-Emotional Needs After Change
Relationships, routine, and supportive teaching of social-emotional skills have always been important. After any big change, these become even more essential! Here’s a poster from the Nebraska Association for Infant Mental Health with a few reminders of those important steps you can take towards ensuring young children’s social-emotional needs are met and they are able to thrive!
Rebuilding Your Child Care Organization Video
This video from the Exchange complimentary video series From Surviving to Thriving: Creating a Way Forward in Challenging Times is available!
Rebuilding Your Child Care Organization outlines the new economics of child care, key financial considerations, exploring new sources of income, and other important information and advice on rebuilding your child care organization.
Tips for Child Care Programs on Children’s Social-Emotional Needs in COVID-19
R
elationships, routine, and supportive teaching of social-emotional skills have always been important. After any big change, these become even more essential! Here’s a poster from the Nebraska Association for Infant Mental Health with a few reminders of those important steps you can take towards ensuring young children’s social-emotional needs are met and they are able to thrive!
NJ Early Intervention System Services and Supports Available
Fathering in Challenging Times
Looking for ways to take care of your kids during this challenging time without pulling your hair out? Here are some tips we hope you find helpful.
The Brain Architects Podcast: COVID-19 Special Series “Domestic Violence and Shelter-In-Place”
In the fourth episode from a special COVID-19 series of The Brain Architects podcast, host Sally Pfitzer speaks with Dr. Tien Ung, Program Director for Impact and Learning at FUTURES without Violence, to discuss practical steps those at home can take to keep themselves and their children safe, as well as strategies others can use if they think someone they know may be experiencing domestic violence. Tien also highlights the importance of maintaining social connections during periods of physical distancing.
Talking to and Supporting Children and Ourselves During the Pandemic
David J Schonfeld, MD, a developmental-behavioral pediatrician and Director of the National Center for School Crisis and Bereavement at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, provides resources for early childhood educators on how to talk with young children about the pandemic to promote their understanding and adjustment, as well as practical advice that can be shared with parents on how to support their children’s adjustment and how they can serve as effective models of coping techniques.
The Brain Architects Podcast: COVID-19 Special Edition: Creating Communities of Opportunity
While the current coronavirus pandemic is affecting all of us, it isn’t affecting all of us equally. Some communities—especially communities of color—are feeling the brunt of the virus more than others, in terms of higher rates of infection as well as economic fallout, among many other ways.
In this third special COVID-19 episode of The Brain Architects podcast, host Sally Pfitzer is joined by Dr. David Williams, the Florence Sprague Norman and Laura Smart Norman Professor of Public Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and Professor of African and African American Studies, Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences.
Help Stressed Babies and Toddlers During the Pandemic
Photo by Marcos Paulo Prado on Unsplash
During this time of COVID-19, home quarantine, and social distancing, young children and their grown-ups are feeling the strain but children ages 0-3 have a limited understanding of what is happening. Here’s an article from Psychology Today that shows what stress and anxiety might look like in your little one, and how you can help.
