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KAIMH Connections
Resources for Early Childhood Mental Health Advocates
Updates | May 2025
Highlights in this newsletter include information on The Growing Brain professional development offerings, a booklist for teaching social/emotional skills, KAIMH's expansion to Early Childhood Endorsement (3-5), upcoming classes and more!
2025 AEW Award Recipient Jessica Mostaffa
The Alice Eberhart-Wright Visionary Award recognizes outstanding achievements and significant contributions in the field of infant and early childhood mental health. The award is given to those who represent the mission of KAIMH and illustrate passion, creativity and best practices in their work supporting infant and early childhood mental health in Kansas. This award is given each year at the annual KAIMH Conference and this year's recipient is Jessica Mostaffa. She said, "This work is very special, and you all are very special for being here. Thank you for giving me the opportunity – I don’t take that lightly. I am honored to be doing this work alongside you!"
The Growing Brain Professional Development Events
KAIMH is offering two professional developments on the Zero to Three course, The Growing Brain: Understanding Behavior
Content covers:
Brain anatomy and connection to behavior
Root causes of challenging behavior
Effective strategies for responding to challenging behavior
Locations are in Lawrence on Wednesday, June 11th and Manhattan on Saturday, July 19th.
Spaces are limited. Click on an image below to register!
Just Ten Minutes
Just Ten Minutes is an online Activity Bank created by Parents as Teachers, Kansas Head Start, AdventHealth Foundation, and sing.play.love. The mission of Just Ten Minutes is to inspire and empower families, children, and communities to nurture meaningful connections by dedicating Just 10 Minutes each day to distraction-free, simple activities that strengthen bonds, boost brain development, and foster social-emotional growth in children. Research shows that consistent, quality interactions improve emotional well-being, communication skills, and resilience in children. Even a short amount of dedicated time can have a lasting impact! Check out the website for more information, free resources and research on screen time and the impacts on early childhood development.
Co-regulation/Self-regulation Development
A report from the Administration for Children and Families highlights key concepts about self-regulation development and intervention for infants and toddlers. It is based on a series of four reports on Self-Regulation and Toxic Stress. Those key considerations are:
1. Train teachers and child care staff in co-regulation skills, particularly warm interaction, responsivity to child cues, and environmental structure.
2. Identify ways to support school and child care staff’s own self-regulation capacity.
3. Share self-regulation information, ideas, and classroom approaches with parents/caregivers to support their co-regulation and promote consistency across environments.
KAIMH Endorsement is Expanding to Early Childhood (3-5)!
We are excited to announce that KAIMH is expanding the current options for endorsement. Currently, the available endorsement options are related to the Infant Mental Health (IMH) Endorsement (categories for professionals working with children 0-3). We are now expanding to include endorsement options for professionals working with children 3-5. This expansion to the endorsement options is called Early Childhood Mental Health Endorsement! This exciting opportunity will be available this May! We are launching this endorsement by offering an informational webinar that provides more details. Whether you are already endorsed in IMH(birth to three) and seek to add to or have found that the IMH endorsement was not a good fit and want to become Early Childhood Mental Health Endorsed, we are ready for you to take advantage of this opportunity! Please join us for our launch!
Join us on May 21st, 2025, from 11:00 am - 12:00 pm as KAIMH hosts a Q&A presentation with Kelly Sipotz, MS, LMSW, IMH-E® Program Manager & Workforce Development with the Alliance for Infant Mental Health. To register for this exciting event, click here!
Integrating mental health care into primary care, and providing mental health programs in schools, workplaces, and communities can improve the well-being of everyone. “Advocacy” doesn’t always mean talking to a government official or local leader. There are things everyone can do to improve the way mental health conditions are perceived and treated. Mental Health America has these resource below for you to use and share. • Learn how modern life affects mental health with new tools to navigate our changing world. • Act by building your coping toolbox so you can manage stress, difficult emotions, and challenging situations. • Advocate to improve mental health for yourself, your friends and family, and your community.
Toddler/Preschool Booklist for Social Emotional Development
Reading and learning about mental health reduces the stigma of mental health concerns through early exposure. Providing age-appropriate mental health books can make a difference in a child’s academic, behavioral, and emotional success. Below is a list from Children's Mental Health Matters of suggested books you can read with your child or classroom that can help them name and understand feelings, deal with painful experiences, cope with strong emotions, and more.
Check out these upcoming professional development opportunities that support your Infant Mental Health Endorsement® from the Early Childhood Investigations Webinars, Kansas Child Care Training Opportunities, Kansas LEND, Kansas Children's Service League, and Child Care Aware network.
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