Healthy Child Care Colorado Receives Funding to Act as Colorado’s Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation Network Hub!

Jun 1, 2021 | What's New?

We are delighted to share the news that Healthy Child Care Colorado has been awarded a grant to serve as Colorado’s Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation (IECMHC) Network Hub! Thanks to support from the Buell Foundation and the Caring for Colorado Foundation, we will be expanding our current efforts centered on early childhood social and emotional well-being and mental health.

Healthy Child Care Colorado’s mission is to build safe, supportive, and healthy early childhood settings and systems where children and professionals learn and grow.

We currently serve as the statewide network hubs for the Child Care Health Consultants of Colorado and Pyramid Colorado. In 2020 we began supporting Early Childhood Mental Health Consultants, in partnership with the Office of Early Childhood, through funding from the federal CARES Act. 

Our new role as the IECMHC Network Hub allows us to build upon twenty years of experience and expertise in supporting and building infrastructure for consultative roles and high quality early childhood settings. The IECMHC Network Hub is also highly aligned with the mission strategies, outcomes, and 14’ers identified in our current strategic roadmap

Our core organizational values and principles serve as “compass points” that guide our organization’s development, culture, strategy, and sustainability. These values and principles will serve as the foundation for our approach to co-creating Colorado’s Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation Network Hub. We will strive to ensure that there is equitable access to consultation services throughout the state, with a particular focus on those who have historically been underserved.

IECMH Consultants are experts in early childhood development and mental health and well-being. They work with parents, caregivers, and professionals in various settings such as: child care, home visitation, early intervention, or health care. Read More

We are incredibly excited to establish a public-private partnership with the Office of Early Childhood to effectively support consultants, early childhood programs, families, and children. We will begin to co-create the IECMHC Network Hub by collecting input from the field and by bringing together an Advisory Team, made up of key stakeholders. The Advisory Team will bring diverse perspectives to guide the creation of the Network Hub’s leadership structure, guiding principles, core functions, intended outcomes, action plan, and more. 

There is also tremendous opportunity to leverage and align with existing efforts in our organization and our state such as: the Child Care Health Consultants of Colorado Network Hub, the Pyramid Colorado Network Hub, professional development and endorsement offered by the Colorado Association for Infant Mental Health (CoAIMH) and the deep expertise of their members, strategies within the Office of Early Childhood that contribute to strengthening social and emotional well-being in early childhood, and many other efforts being led by engaged organizations across the state.

The co-creation and implementation of this network hub will provide essential support to professionals that have historically straddled the early childhood and mental health fields, without a strong infrastructure to support their unique and critical role. We are incredibly grateful for this opportunity to strengthen the early childhood system and services to ensure that all children are valued, healthy, and thriving.

We will be communicating about opportunities to engage in the process to co-create the IECMHC Network Hub. You can stay connected by signing up for our newsletter and following us on Facebook and Instagram. If you have any questions, please reach out to us at info@healthychildcareco.org 

Additional Information

  • In 2019, the Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation Hub Feasibility Study was released and it detailed a roadmap, implementation plan, and recommendations.
  • The Colorado Department of Human Services funds ECMH Consultants across the state. Learn more 
  • Early Milestones Brief on Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation.
  • Learn more about Healthy Child Care Colorado on our website

Thank you to our funders: