Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health: Core Concepts and Clinical Practice

Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health: Core Concepts and Clinical Practice
is a groundbreaking book that provides an overview of the field from both
theoretical and clinical viewpoints. The editors and chapter authors-some of the
field's foremost researchers and teachers-describe from their diverse
perspectives key concepts fundamental to infant-parent and early childhood
mental health work. The complexity of this emerging field demands an
interdisciplinary approach, and the book provides a clear, comprehensive, and
coherent text with an abundance of clinical applications to increase
understanding and help the reader to integrate the concepts into clinical
practice.

Offering both cutting-edge coverage and a format that
facilitates learning, the book boasts the following features and content:

A focus on helping working professionals expand their specialization
skills and knowledge and on offering core competency training for those entering
the field, which reflects the Infant-Parent Mental Health Postgraduate
Certificate Program (IPMHPCP) and Fellowship in Napa, CA that was the genesis of
the book. Chapters written by a diverse group of authors with vastly different
training, expertise, and clinical experience, underscoring the book's
interdisciplinary approach. In addition, terms such as clinician, therapist,
provider, professional, and teacher are intentionally used interchangeably to
describe and unify the field. Explication and analysis of a variety of
therapeutic models, including Perry's Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics;
Brazelton's neurodevelopmental and relational Touchpoints; attachment theory;
the Neurorelational Framework; Mindsight; and Downing's Video Intervention
Therapy. An entire chapter devoted to diagnostic schemas for children ages 0-5,
which highlights the Diagnostic Classification of Mental Health Disorders of
Infancy and Early Childhood: Revised (DC:0-3R). With the release of DSM-5, this
chapter provides a prototypical crosswalk between DC:0-3R and ICD codes. A
discussion of the difference between evidence-based treatments and
evidence-based practices in the field, along with valuable information on
randomized controlled trials, a research standard that, while often not feasible
or ethically permissible in infant mental health work, remains a standard
applied to the field. Key points and references at the end of each chapter, and
generous use of figures, tables, and other resources to enhance learning.

The volume editors and authors are passionate about the pressing need for
further research and the acquisition and application of new knowledge to support
the health and well-being of individuals, families, and communities. Infant and
Early Childhood Mental Health: Core Concepts and Clinical Practice should find a
receptive audience for this critically important message.