Early Childhood Mental Health: We Must Address the Most Vulnerable Population Now

This month's FOCUS from the Alabama Partnership for Children is mental health. When most people think of mental health they don’t think about babies, toddlers and preschoolers, but infant and early childhood mental health (ECMH) is an important topic we need to be discussing. 

ECMH is defined by Zero to Three as healthy social and emotional development of children 0-3 years. It includes the ability to: experience, regulate and express emotions, form close and secure interpersonal relationships, and explore the environment and learn.

Addressing early social-emotional development through prevention and early intervention is important to a child’s future mental health and well-being. According to Dr. Jack Shonkoff of Harvard University’s Center on the Developing Child, “nurturing and responsive interactions build healthy brain architecture that provides a strong foundation for later learning, behavior, and health.” When positive relationships and interactions are missing due to circumstances such as extreme poverty in conjunction with continuous family chaos, physical or emotional abuse, chronic neglect, severe maternal depression, substance abuse, or family/community violence, there is interference in the way the brain’s neural circuits mature and form. This affects the brain’s stress management systems, which in turn often leads to difficulties in school, relationships, jobs, and may lead to criminal activities.

To address ECMH, we should build and strengthen communities and homes that promote and facilitate:

• Nurturing/protective relationships 
• Extended family support
• Access to resources/learning 
• Neighborhood safety
• Early learning opportunities/vocabulary
• Parent training and support
• Quality child care
• Health care (including early screenings)

We already have systems, agencies, and initiatives, such as Help Me Grow and others, in place to address child development and family support. By being attentive to social/emotional development in infants and young children just as we are to speech and motor development, and by being vigilant in our efforts to support the child’s relationships and environments, we can give our youngest, most vulnerable children a better chance to grow up emotionally healthy.

-Jane Duer, Early Intervention Coordinator

Alabama Department of Mental Health