ACT Program Curriculum

ACT Program Curriculum Description

Over the course of the 15-month program, each cohort of participants will engage in over 270 hours of facilitated learning including the 2 supporting activities – Infant Observation and Reflective Practice Consultation Groups (RPCGs).

Foundations of Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health

The first six months are dedicated to foundational knowledge in infant and early childhood mental health. These are the perspectives, knowledge, and skills essential for all professionals who touches the lives of young children (prenatal to age 5 years) and their families.

Advanced Clinical Training

The subsequent nine months during the Advanced Clinical Training Phase, the program is dedicated to developing interpersonal engagement and critical self-reflective and -reflexive skills utilizing a community psychoanalytic/psychodynamic framework and relational perspectives important for supporting and facilitating intergeneration engagement, i.e. working with children and caregivers together as dyads, triads, or families. Through case studies, observational activities, and reflection, participants will apply foundational knowledge in early childhood development and relational health to their work with families and other professionals caring for young children. Participants will further develop and deepen their assessment and engagement processes and approaches with parents and caregivers who themselves are often struggling with the impacts of trauma, loss, and related biopsychosocial challenges, all in the service of facilitating and supporting healing relationships and recovery processes necessary for relational health and wellbeing. In addition to the traditional focus on relational processes and perspectives and the reflective stance, ACT integrates diversity-informed practice principles based on the Diversity-Informed Tenets for Work with Infants, Children and Families (Tenets) — introduced early during the Foundations Phase and embedded throughout the 15 months — to prepare participants to address the influences of systemic and structural inequities on the lives of young children (prenatal to age 5 years), families, ourselves, and our practice. This includes the understanding of deeply rooted social, cultural, economic, and political influences of narrowly defined standards and norms derived from our nation’s history of colonization, enslavement, and genocide.

Infant Observation (IO) Description

Infant Observation is a supporting activity that spans 12 months of the ACT Program beginning in Month 3. ACT Program participants are responsible for recruiting a family who is expecting in their late third trimester or has recently given birth. Consent forms will be provided. Participants will be oriented to the observation model and objectives of Infant Observation during Months 1 & 2 of the program. Participants are encouraged to complete at least nine 1-hour long observations during the 12-month period (9-12 hours total). Observations can be via in-person visits or video conferencing. Each month, participants will gather virtually in designated facilitated reflection groups. Each monthly Infant Observation Reflection Group is 90 minutes long (18 hours total). Infant Observation offers a special window into the early relational developmental processes during the earliest days, weeks, and months after birth and insights into each participants’ observational process and strategy.

Facilitated Reflective Practice Consultation Group (RPCG) Description

ACT Program participants assign themselves into facilitated Reflective Practice Consultation Groups (RPCGs). RPCGs offer opportunities for participants to reflect on and integrate program content learning with their current practice experiences. Participants are encouraged to consult on the application of new knowledge and skills. RPCGs are 90 minutes long and occur twice monthly usually following weekend content learning sessions across the 14 months of the ACT Program (42 hours total). RPCGs provide further opportunities to build relationships and engage in collaborative and mutual learning for the learning community.

With the Tenets as the guiding framework, the program curriculum scaffolds perspectives, knowledge, and skills to transform “how we are” — relationship-centered, empirically informed, culturally-responsive, anti-racist, anti-oppressive, healing-forward, and developmentally focused — supporting the health and wellbeing with young children (prenatal to age 5 years) and theirs families through healing relationships.