Mission & History

Mission

The Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health promotes relationship-focused, culturally responsive, and racially equitable workforce development initiatives, policies, practices and resources. We will strengthen partnerships and equip professionals who work on behalf of those prenatal to six-years old and families to support social, emotional and relational health in Michigan

MI-AIMH is pleased to announce the completion of a strategic planning process that took place over the last several months. The result – a 2021-2024 strategic plan and mission statement built upon agreed upon values that reflect our current and future priorities. Facilitation by the Alliance for Better Nonprofits allowed us to do extensive outreach to our organization’s leaders and membership, as well as to stakeholders and partners to gain important input.

The critical themes identified have informed the goals, objectives and activities within the plan.

First – infant mental health work is social justice work and all that we do to support, equip and diversify the workforce will be done with conscious, critical attention to racial equity, diversity and belonging, enabling us to support relationships with cultural humility.

Second – our future depends upon strong organizational leadership at the staff, board, chapter and committee levels; focus on developing and diversifying MI-AIMH leaders is planned.

Third – enhancing awareness of MI-AIMH and the relevance of infant and early childhood mental health to all professionals who work on behalf of families who are pregnant or parenting birth to 6 year olds must always be on our minds; building new partnerships and expanding our outreach will be ongoing work.

Fourth – attention to our financial health and sustainability will allow us to keep providing excellent programing and resources to the field; we will nurture the contractual relationships we have and seek new ways to partner with organizations seeking to build capacity in the workforce.

We have already begun work on our 2021 priorities!

Please see our Executive Summary below:

Our History

Founded in 1977, MI-AIMH was born from Selma Fraiberg’s pioneering infant mental health work recognizing the critical importance of the infant-parent relationship to all learning and development. Fraiberg coined the term “infant mental health” to reflect the social, emotional, and cognitive well-being of children from birth-to-three in the context of secure and nurturing relationships with their parents. Over time, MI-AIMH has translated her model of “therapy around the kitchen table” into a comprehensive, practical framework for infant and family professionals.

MI-AIMH’s is focused on preparing professionals in the infant and early childhood field to nurture protective, secure relationships between infants, young children, and their parents. We equip birth-to-six professionals to help parents and very young children navigate their new and sometimes challenging relationships, nurturing the secure attachments and social emotional development that are the foundation for a lifetime of optimal mental and behavioral health. We do this by providing specialized training, relevant materials, user-friendly tools, and specialized consultation leading to the IMH-E^® credential.

MI-AIMH is the professional home for over 1,500 members across multiple infant, child, and family disciplines (including health, mental health, early education and child welfare). We serve the infant, young child and family community from our main office just outside Detroit.