WAIMH World Association for Infant Mental Health

Bridget A. Walsh (United States), with Child and Family Research Center Home Visitors Avis Moore, Chantell Whaley, and Milagro Guardado, presents "Promoting Reflective Coaching for Home Visitors’ Regulation and Practice: an Autoethnographic Account." This paper provides a personal examination of the role of early childhood home visiting coaches in the US. Walsh shares and analyzes her journal entries from an infant-parent mental health fellowship, along with stories of her own experiences receiving support as a coach and interviews with home visitors to promote reflexivity. The paper explores how reflective coaching contributes to adult regulation, as well as educational and therapeutic transformation. #PerspectivesIMH #WAIMH #IMH https://lnkd.in/dpP4NxJY

On this #WorldChildrensDay, the WAIMH Position Paper: Infants’ Rights in Wartime draws our attention to the urgent need to protect infants in conflict zones. Despite numerous violent conflicts globally,?little attention is paid to the enormous price that infants and young children pay. Children’s basic needs and rights —outlined by the Children’s Rights Convention (1989) and the WAIMH Infants’ Rights Declaration (2016)— are disregarded in wartime, disrupting the support systems needed for infants’ physical and emotional survival and growth, especially when caregivers are themselves affected by trauma. We, as #IMH professionals, need to advocate for the infants’ rights, while also emphasizing the crucial need to provide emotional support to the infants’ caregivers. Read the #WAIMH Position Paper: Infants’ Rights in Wartime: https://lnkd.in/eK4HKGD

The #WAIMH2024 Interim Congress in Tampere, Finland, saw over 200 poster submissions, with 150 presented. Congratulations to all the nominees and winners of the Scientific and Clinical Poster Awards! The Scientific Poster Award was presented to Yael Enav and Yael Mayer from University of Haifa, Israel, for the poster titled “A Home Within the Heart – A Family Play-Based Intervention to Enhance Familial Resilience and Belonging for Displaced Families”. The Clinical Poster Award was presented to Tabassum Amina from BRAC Institute of Educational Development, Bangladesh, for the poster titled: “Para-counsellors in Community-Based Play Labs: Reducing Mental Health Stigma and Promoting Socio-Emotional Development of Children”. Perspectives in Infant Mental Health is looking forward to receiving manuscripts of nominees and winners for consideration for publication. #PerspectivesIMH #WAIMH #IMH https://lnkd.in/eyE9fmNE

Opinion piece by Prof Kai von Klitzing (Germany): “There are many roads leading to Rome”. Growing up in a diverse world; does everything work in child development?". This paper provides a thought-provoking and challenging examination of the tension between a culturally sensitive approach to infant mental health based on the many diverse pathways to mental health that are now recognized, and the danger that this poses in terms of us moving toward what he refers to as ‘cultural arbitrariness’, in which all cultural practices are felt to be equal in terms of child development. #PerspectivesIMH #IMH https://lnkd.in/e3rrSERf

Perspectives in Infant Mental Health Supplement 2024 has been published! This sequel to the #WAIMH 2022 eBook addresses clinical concerns in infant and early childhood mental health, focusing on issues such as adoption, depression, family violence, prematurity, and feeding challenges. The WAIMH eBook in conjunction with this Supplement, invites readers to consider the open-source WAIMH publications as a readily available resource to support each of us as we work together to progress the social, emotional, and relational health of all infants in their families within their culture and communities. We thank all authors for their interesting contributions since 1993 and invite new submissions that challenge our understanding of infants, families, culture, and community. #PerspectivesIMH #IMH https://lnkd.in/eY33h5ZC

ED Kaija Puura reflects on a busy yet rewarding season at the WAIMH Central Office, highlighted by the #WAIMH2024 Interim Congress in Tampere in June. The theme, “Looking for the best care for babies, young children, and their families”, was thoroughly explored through presentations addressing the diverse needs of children and families. Tampere, with its Moomin Museum, was the perfect host city. The Moomin stories, with their themes of acceptance, resilience, and growth, remind us of the importance of mutual support. These tales show how the Moomin family navigates significant changes, such as moving from Moomin Valley to a small island with a lighthouse, and even surviving natural disasters like floods and comets. Their commitment to caring for one another, despite their differences, makes them incredibly resilient. The Moomin books, while initially written for children, contain deeper layers that resonate with adults and offer profound insights for us as #IMH specialists. #PerspectivesIMH #WAIMH https://lnkd.in/e6F55C6A

WAIMH Perspectives in Infant Mental Health welcomes paper submissions year-round. To be included in specific issues, please submit by January 1st for the April issue, May 1st for the August issue, and September 1st for the December issue. Examples of content areas for papers include #IMH focused: clinical practice conversations, research – especially pilot programs, reflective practice and supervision, training experiences, theory to practice, and organizational matters. #PerspectivesIMH #WAIMH For detailed submission guidelines, please visit: https://lnkd.in/e5p5EGHD

"The World in Crisis – what would infants say to us? Development and Context" is a paper based on Prof Astrid Berg's keynote address at the #WAIMH2024 Congress as the new WAIMH President. It is an erudite and emotional call to action to ensure that we hear the voice of the infant whose early experiences are very often the trauma of wars, displacements, hunger, earthquakes and floods. She examines the work of number of scientists whose work during the prebirth period has enabled us to understand the meaning of fetal behaviours and ‘the infant in the world’ in terms of their early abilities, as well as the importance of their primary caregivers in enabling babies to come into being. #PerspectivesIMH #WAIMH #IMH https://lnkd.in/e33eQjUn

Introducing our new #WAIMH President, Prof Astrid Berg from South Africa! At the Tampere #WAIMH2024 Interim Congress in June, Campbell Paul completed his term and handed over the presidency to Astrid. Astrid brings extensive experience in psychiatry and infant mental health, having significantly contributed to the field in South Africa and internationally. We look forward to her leadership and vision for WAIMH. Welcome, Astrid! https://lnkd.in/e3HtuJwQ

Perspectives in Infant Mental Health 2/2024 has been published! Welcome to the Summer 2024 edition of WAIMH #PerspectivesIMH. This issue marks a busy period with the WAIMH 2024 Interim Congress that took place in Tampere, Finland in June and Prof Astrid Berg now formally invested as #WAIMH President. This edition includes four insightful infant mental health clinical papers and a report on the nominees and winners of the #WAIMH2024 Poster Awards. Additionally, in honour of our late friend and colleague Prof Colwyn Trevarthen, the Perspectives team has compiled a selection of #IMH and early childhood development resources where Colwyn is the author or co-author. You can access all past issues dating back to 1993 on the Perspectives webpage. https://lnkd.in/e4rzKzfs