Promoting Infant/Early Childhood Mental Health Practices through Teleconsultation and Training: Lessons Learned from a Statewide Program

Background:

The importance of promoting early childhood mental health has gained increasing recognition over the past decade, particularly as research has demonstrated the lifelong impact of early childhood experiences on later outcomes. However, many early childhood providers lack the training and resources needed to effectively promote early childhood mental health. Teleconsultation is one promising approach to increase access to training and consultation for early childhood providers, particularly in underserved areas. This poster will describe the development and implementation of a statewide teleconsultation program (TCP) aimed at increasing access to infant/early childhood mental health training and consultation (IECMH) for early childhood providers in Utah. The poster will provide an overview of the TCP's development, implementation, and outcome data, as well as best practice recommendations for implementing similar practices in other contexts.

Methods:

The statewide TCP was launched in January 2022 after being piloted in 2021 and receiving state funding. The TCP targets cross-sector early childhood providers and offers a range of services through two primary modalities, group/individual teleconsultation and webinar trainings, which were availably freely to any individuals working with or supporting young children across the state. Groups/individual teleconsultation includes care coordination, resource/referral coordination, case consultation, technical assistance, and reflective consultation. and training webinars. The webinars are provided by mental health clinicians and cover a range of topics related to IECMH (e.g., developmentally-informed care, domestic violence in the context of early childhood) and are tailored to the needs of the workforce, with specialized content development occurring based on identified needs (e.g., bilingual development, supporting healthy gender expression in early childhood, working with Latinx families).

Results:

From the program launch through March 2023, over 1,200 unique early childhood providers received either teleconsultation and/or training through webinars. Providers represented every county across the state, including rural counties, and were from various sectors, including child care (19%), mental health (11.3%), preschool/early education/Head Start (18.2%), early intervention (6.5%) and other sectors (e.g., health care, home visiting, government). Providers participated in an average of 3 webinars (ranging from 1 to 40) and reported high levels of satisfaction. Providers participating in teleconsultation engaged both individually (60%) and in groups (40%), and included primarily individual and group reflective consultation, support around developing internal training and screening processes, and referral support.

Discussion/Implications:

The statewide teleconsultation program provides a promising model for promoting IECMHC and training through teleconsultation. The program demonstrates the potential of teleconsultation to increase access to IECMHC consultation and training for early childhood providers, particularly in underserved rural areas. The findings have implications for promoting early childhood mental health through teleconsultation and highlight the importance of providing specialized training and consultation that is responsive to the needs of early childhood providers.