Update: Jan. 13, 2017

Re-envisioning update #4: Internal self study underway

Happy New Year! I am pleased to let you know that the internal self evaluation of the Infant Mental Health Certificate is underway. Emily Lamont, who has worked closely with the Barnard Center for many years as the program manager, will project manage this study in coordination with the Family and Child Nursing department. We expect this study to be completed in the next few weeks.

The findings from the self-study will allow us to finalize the scope of work for the external evaluation of the certificate. We will begin formal recruiting for a consultant to lead the evaluation by the end of the month and hope to have the evaluation underway in February. We are in conversations with a few potential evaluators, and we will share more information when it’s available.

This consultant would, in coordination with the infant mental health community, analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the current curriculum and lead a benchmarking study to review other infant mental health program offerings in various formats available across the country. The result of the study would help inform the best course of action to address the program’s structure and to enhance its sustainability. It will also inform strategies for re-envisioning the curriculum that would meet the market’s expectation and attract highly qualified applicants.

Next steps

Steering committee: We are in the process of establishing a Barnard Center steering committee. This committee’s first and most pressing objectives will be addressing the center’s financial stability, developing partnerships between the Barnard Center and key stakeholders in the Infant Mental Health community, and supporting the Barnard Center’s policy and advocacy priorities.

Infant Mental Health research in the news

The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development recently produced a wonderful podcast featuring Barnard Center Interim Director Monica Oxford‘s study of foster care families in Washington State was published on Technology.com. Her study was published in the November issue of Child Maltreatment and showed that Promoting First Relationships, a training program at the Barnard Center for Infant Mental Health and Development, reduced foster care placements for intervention families.

Questions, comments

We look forward to working with key stakeholders in the Infant Mental Health field, supporters, alumni and the community during this process. If you have any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact Jen Thompson at thomjenn@uw.edu or 206.616.3905.