How will you be raising awareness about Early Childhood Social and Emotional Health?

May 9, 2013 is National Children’s Mental Health Awareness Day, and this edition of The Baby Monitor is dedicated to marking this event and the importance of early childhood social and emotional health. We’ve got a new resource for states and links to national and community events you can participate in.

    Wisconsin, California, Michigan, Florida, Ohio, and Louisiana – What do these states have in common?

These six states are profiled in the ZERO TO THREE Policy Center’s latest resource on infant and early childhood mental health (I-ECMH) for offering compelling and varied examples of successful I-ECMH work. Now available for download, Nurturing Change: State Strategies for Improving Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health is a follow-up to our 2012 paper, Making It Happen: Overcoming Barriers to Providing Infant-Early Childhood Mental Health.

In this new paper, you will find an in-depth look at some of the promising strategies states have employed to address I-ECMH access, delivery, financing, evidence base, and systems-level issues across the promotion, prevention, and treatment continuum.  State policymakers will find actionable models and policy strategies, as well as strategic questions to consider in planning for I-ECMH. See how your state can build on opportunities to advance I-ECMH by sharing this new publication with key policymakers on Children’s Mental Health Awareness Day.