About the Session: Every provider who interacts with young children and families plays an important role in promoting healthy social-emotional development, supporting family well-being, identifying concerns early, and connecting families to effective services. In this workshop, participants will learn practical strategies for providers to promote healthy development from birth through age 5.

Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health (IECMH) is the foundation for lifelong health, learning, and relationships. This webinar will help participants understand how they contribute to the promotion, prevention, and treatment continuum of care that supports infants, young children, and their caregivers.

Participants will learn practical strategies for strengthening caregiver-child relationships, supporting positive development, recognizing early signs of developmental or behavioral concerns, and connecting families to resources that foster resilience, safety, and stability.

By the end of this webinar, participants will be able to:

• Define Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health and explain why the first five years are critical for lifelong well-being.
• Define infant and early childhood mental health continuum of care.
• Illustrate the role that Early Periodic Screening Diagnosis and Treatment have in supporting young children and parents’ mental health during infancy and toddlerhood.
• Describe steps you can take to address developmental, mental health and family needs to effectively connect young children and parents to needed services.
• Identify solutions and practical strategies to support families in fostering resilience, secure attachment, and healthy development to strengthen IECMH cross sector collaboration in Maryland.

About the Speaker: Kay Connors, LCSW-C, IMH-E ® is a Senior Clinical Social Worker and Instructor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Her work focuses on expanding access to evidence-based supports for young children and families facing adversity, across early childhood education, primary care, and mental health systems. She is a trainer in ACEs Interface, Core Components of Childhood Trauma and a trainer for the evidence-based treatment, Child Parent Psychotherapy. She leads federally funded initiatives focused on early childhood trauma prevention and treatment, including SAMHSA Project LAUNCH and previous National Child Traumatic Stress Network grants. She is the project director of the state-funded Center of Excellence for Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health. She collaborates closely with community partners, including child serving agency officials, parent peer support specialists, family advocates, and community providers: to improve workforce training and reduce barriers to accessing mental health services