Endorsement® Exam

Infant Mental Health Specialist and Infant Mental Health Mentor applicants must pass an exam prior to earning Endorsement^®. 

The exam is generally offered twice annually, in March and September.  Please see the Events Calendar for dates.  If you have questions about policies related to the Endorsement^® exam, please visit our Endorsement® Policies. 

The exam has two parts, both are based on the Competency Guidelines^®. 

Part One: Multiple Choice

• A majority of the multiple-choice questions will be focused on the competency areas found under the Theoretical Foundations and Direct Service Skills domains found within the Competency Guidelines^®
• The Theoretical Foundations and Direct Service Skill domains address an exam respondent’s IMH knowledge specific to work with infants (0-36 months) and their families
• Within Theoretical Foundations, there will be more questions from the areas of infant/ young child development & behavior; attachment, separation, trauma grief, & loss; and disorders of infancy/early childhood
• Within Direct Service Skills, there may be more from screening & assessment and parent-infant/very young child relationship-based therapies & practices.
• Most questions will be related to direct service, but there will be some questions related to reflective supervision/consultation, policy, and research
• The multiple-choice section is the same for all exam respondents: Infant Mental Health Specialist (IMHS), Infant Mental Health Mentor-Clinical (IMHM-C), Infant Mental Health Mentor-Policy (IMHM-P), Infant Mental Health Mentor-Research/Faculty (IMHM-R/F)
• Knowledge gained through course work, specialized in-service training, and self-study will be most useful in this section of the exam

Part Two: Vignettes/Scenarios

• This section is intended to measure the applicant’s capacity to apply his/her knowledge of IMH principles and concepts into practice and to demonstrate a reflective, relationship-based approach
• While all of the competency areas are important, the ones under the Reflection, Thinking, and Working with Others domains are important to the qualitative section for IMHS and IMHM-C exam respondents
• Knowledge/skills gained through receiving reflective supervision/consultation (RSC) about direct service experiences (for IMHS and IMHM-C exam respondents) and about the RSC provided to others (for IMHM-C exam respondents) will be most useful in this section of the exam
• The competencies found under Administration will be the primary focus of the IMHM-P exam
• The competencies found under Research & Evaluation will be the primary focus of the IMHM-R/F exam