Community of Practice – Right Start for Colorado

Community of Practice

Right Start for Colorado

About Right Start's Community of Practice

We offer a year-long infant and early childhood mental health (IECMH) community of practice for Colorado mental health therapists who serve children ages birth to 5.

Applications Closed

The Community of Practice is designed to impart knowledge across four main areas of IECMH clinical practice:

    1. relationship-based assessment
    2. developmentally sensitive diagnosis
    3. evidence-based treatment of very young children
    4. reflective practice

Over the course of 12 months (October 1, 2022 through September 30, 2023), clinicians in the community of practice will receive monthly trainings as well as ongoing reflective supervision/consultation (both group and individual) with a seasoned infant mental health mentor. Clinicians are also provided financial support to attain the infant or early childhood mental health endorsement through our state association of infant mental health.

Upon completing the community of practice, clinicians will be equipped with practical skills to implement best practice assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of young children and their families. All training components and reflective supervision/consultation are aligned with the Endorsement for Culturally Sensitive, Relationship-Focused Practice Promoting Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health (IMH-E® or ECMH-E®). 

Application Process and Timeline

  • Applications Due: May 31, 2022
  • Brief interviews with Project Directors: June 2022
  • Selections Announced: June/August 2022
  • Letter of Commitment Due: August 2022

Application Requirements

Requirements for the community of practice include being a mental health practitioner who is licensed or license-eligible. Clinicians must provide ongoing mental health therapy or parenting groups to families with children birth to five or the perinatal population.

Applicants must be able to commit to the time for training and supervision described above, and be able to provide a letter of support from their supervisor acknowledging approval for participation given the described time commitments. Priority will be given to candidates who provide services outside of metro-Denver, who come from diverse backgrounds and who are bilingual.

A complete application includes the following three items. Partial applications will not be considered. All applications materials are required to be submitted here

  1. Application form. A copy of the application questions/information is available here for your reference, but applications MUST be submitted here to be considered.
  2. A current CV/resume uploaded in the designated space in the application.
  3. A brief letter/email of support from your direct supervisor indicating you have the ability within your role to attend the activities as described above, uploaded into the designated space in the application. This can be an email sent to you that you save and upload. Please see example here.
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Opportunities Throughout the Year

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Relationship-Based Assessment & Clinical Diagnosis
Best practice in IECMH includes conducting a thorough relationship assessment and developmentally sensitive clinical diagnosis to inform treatment. These trainings will include:

  • Diagnosis: Official DC:0-5™ Clinical Training Institute
  • Overview of Relationship-Based Assessment
  • Crowell Parent Child Interaction Procedure Relationship Assessment
  • Working Model of the Child Interview
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Applied Training in Evidence-Based/Evidence-Informed Interventions
A primary aim of the community of practice is to equip clinicians with the training to be able to provide evidence-based, relationship focused services to the children and families they serve. Participants will be guaranteed a seat to attend Right Start for Colorado trainings provided on evidence-based practices and other IECMH skill areas, as offered throughout the training year. These trainings include:

 

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Diversity-Informed Practice
To support clinicians in self-reflection of their own implicit bias, systems of oppression, and dynamics of privilege and power that may be enacted in the therapeutic process, clinicians in the community of practice will attend:

 

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Reflective Supervision/Consultation
As reflective supervision/consultation is a hallmark of infant and early childhood work, all participants in the community of practice will participate in twice monthly group reflective supervision with the cohort, as well as monthly individual reflective supervision. This will be provided by an IMH® (IV) endorsed provider, so supervision hours will count towards RS/C requirements of the IMH® or ECMH® endorsement.

Additional Funding & Supports

In addition to the above training and reflective supervision/consultation, all clinicians in the communities of practice will receive, at no cost to them:

  • Funding to obtain an IMH® or ECMH® endorsement
  • Funding for all travel related to the community of practice including mileage and hotel for in-person training events (Note: We will continue to follow guidelines related to the COVID-19 pandemic to determine if events are held virtually or in person). In order to ensure feasibility of participation for rural and frontier residing clinicians, all RS/C meetings will occur over Zoom
  • Training materials including but not limited to the following books: Handbook of Infant Mental Health, Psychotherapy with Infants and Young Children, Don't Hit My Mommy, DC:0-5 Diagnostic Classification of Mental Health and Developmental Disorders of Infancy and Early Childhood and Circle of Security Intervention
  • Therapy supplies: developmentally appropriate toys and children's books for 0-5 clinical practice
  • Organizational Implementation: Consultation around subjects such as organizational billing practices or dyadic treatment (if needed)

 

Estimated Value:

$10,420

Example Training Calendar

Projected only - training dates will be provided/confirmed when finalized. 

October 2022: Community of Practice Kickoff
November 2022: Circle of Security - Parenting
December 2022: Diversity- Informed Tenets
January 2023: DC:0-5 Clinical Training Institute
February 2023: Relationship Assessment Overview
March 2023: Working Model of the Child Interview
April 2023: Crowell Parent Child Interaction Procedure
May 2023: Follow up on Crowell/WMCI Implementation
June 2023: COS-P Core Sensitivities
August 2023: Postpartum Support International Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders training

Thank You to Our Funders

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Contact

Right Start for Colorado
Phone: (303) 300-6263
Email: RightStartforColorado@wellpower.org
Dahlia Campus for Health & Well-Being

Right Start for Infant Mental Health
Right Start for Infant Mental Health is a mental health program for pregnant women and families with children ages birth to 5 years. We provide help when there are concerns about a child's emotions, behavior or development, or when parenting becomes difficult.
Phone: (303) 300-6194
Email: michelle.roy@wellpower.org
Dahlia Campus for Health & Well-Being