To best serve infants, young children, and families, we must support all professionals who work with them to incorporate core principles of social and emotional health and well-being into their practice.

To address this need, the Rhode Island Association for Infant Mental Health (RIAIMH) promotes a nationally established set of Competency Guidelines and Endorsement for Culturally Sensitive, Relationship-Focused Practice Promoting Infant Mental Health® (IECMH-Endorsement®) for the diverse array of RI providers in the infant and family workforces.

Building a competent workforce

The Competency Guidelines continue to identify knowledge, skills, and reflective practice approaches that support the development of competency in infant and early childhood mental health across disciplines and in multiple service settings. Competency Guidelines information can be used to build a comprehensive infant and early childhood mental health system. They create a shared framework, "map" for professional development across all sectors and disciplines in the field of infants, early childhood, and families across the full spectrum of service deliver, including promotion, prevention, treatment and intervention, and macro.

Competency Domains

The Competency Guidelines outline the requirements for Endorsement by guiding one's development of knowledge, skills and best practices, gained through specialized I/EC experiences (education, work, in-service training, and reflective supervision/consultation). 

The Competency Guidelines® are comprised of 8 domains:

• Theoretical Foundations

• Law, Regulation & Agency Policy

• Systems Expertise

• Direct Service Skills

• Working with Others

• Communicating

• Thinking

• Reflection

GET STARTED

Review the Competency Guidelines section of your category. Competency Guidelines This page in EASy will tell you about all the competencies aligned with your category and the category requirements.