Champion Children’s Rights Globally

Infants and children are citizens of the world. The global community is responsible for supporting parents/caregivers, families, and local communities in welcoming, protecting, and nurturing them.

Diversity-Informed Tenets for Work with Infants, Children and Families

Work to Acknowledge Privilege and Combat Discrimination

Discriminatory policies and practices that harm adults harm the infants and children in their care. Privilege constitutes injustice. Diversity-informed practitioners acknowledge privilege where we hold it, and use it strategically and responsibly. We combat racism, classism, sexism, able-ism, homophobia, xenophobia, and other systems of oppression within ourselves, our practices, and our fields.

Diversity-Informed Tenets for Work with Infants, Children and Families

Recognize and Respect Non-Dominant Bodies of Knowledge

Diversity-informed practice recognizes nondominant ways of knowing, bodies of knowledge, sources of strength, and routes to healing within all families and communities.

Diversity-Informed Tenets for Work with Infants, Children and Families

Honor Diverse Family Structures

Families decide who is included and how they are structured; no particular family constellation or organization is inherently optimal compared to any other. Diversity-informed practice recognizes and strives to counter the historical bias toward idealizing (and conversely blaming) biological mothers while overlooking the critical child-rearing contributions of other parents and caregivers including second mothers, fathers, kin and felt family, adoptive parents, foster parents, and early care and educational providers.

Diversity-Informed Tenets for Work with Infants, Children and Families

Understand That Language Can Hurt or Heal

Diversity-informed practice recognizes the power of language to divide or connect, denigrate or celebrate, hurt or heal. We strive to use language (including body language, imagery, and other modes of nonverbal communication) in ways that most inclusively support all children and their families, caregivers, and communities.

Diversity-Informed Tenets for Work with Infants, Children and Families

Support Families in Their Preferred Language

Families are best supported in facilitating infants’ and children’s development and mental health when services are available in their native languages.

Diversity-Informed Tenets for Work with Infants, Children and Families

Allocate Resources to Systems Change

Diversity and inclusion must be proactively considered when doing any work with or on behalf of infants, children, and families. Resource allocation includes time, money, additional/alternative practices, and other supports and accommodations, otherwise systems of oppression may be inadvertently reproduced. Individuals, organizations, and systems of care need ongoing opportunities for reflection in order to identify implicit bias, remove barriers, and work to dismantle the root causes of disparity and inequity.

Diversity-Informed Tenets for Work with Infants, Children and Families

Make Space and Open Pathways

Infant, child, and family-serving workforces are most dynamic and effective when historically and currently marginalized individuals and groups have equitable access to a wide range of roles, disciplines, and modes of practice and influence.

Diversity-Informed Tenets for Work with Infants, Children and Families

Advance Policy That Supports All Families

Diversity-informed practitioners consider the impact of policy and legislation on all people and advance a just and equitable policy agenda for and with families.

Diversity-Informed Tenets for Work with Infants, Children and Families

Marian Birch, DMH

Marian Birch is a retired clinical psychologist and infant mental health specialist who lives in Port Angeles, WA. She received a Doctorate in Mental Health from the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California San Francisco in 1983. Her teachers included Erik Erikson and Mary Main. Dr. Birch spent several years as a post-graduate trainee at the Infant-Parent Program  founded by Selma Fraiberg at UCSF. Her supervisors there included Jeree Pawl and Alicia Lieberman. Dr. Birch practiced for 12 years in San Francisco, where she taught and supervised in numerous clinical training schemes. Dr. Birch also served as the Clinical Director of the IMH Certificate Program at the UW School of nursing from 2001-2004. From there she has engaged in a variety of projects to support families with young children including developing a dyadic intervention called BabyLink and intensive home-visiting program called the CARE Project. Since her retirement, she has learned to play the harp, studied Chinese, and done lots of kayaking, snowshoeing, gardening, yoga and cooking in the home she and her husband built in the foothills of the Olympic Mountains.

Abigail Bocanegra, MA, LMFT, Mental Health Consultant

Bio to come.

Gloria Castro, PsyD 

Gloria Castro is a clinical psychologist and Certified Sexual Assault Counselor. Dr. Castro was granted the Fraiberg-Harris Fellowship to complete her postdoctoral training at the Infant-Parent Program, UCSF. Dr. Castro's clinical work has focused on infant mental health and mental health daycare consultation. She has experience conducting comprehensive psychological assessments and developmental neuropsychological assessments for children ranging in age from infancy to adolescence. Dr. Castro is currently working at Child Trauma Research Program on the implementation of Child-parent Psychotherapy during pregnancy and the perinatal period. Dr. Castro provides psychotherapy to pregnant women with history of traumatic experiences throughout pregnancy, labor, delivery and post-partum at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital (ZSFGH), UCSF. She provides infant mental health services to families and newborns at the NICU and has provided mental health services at the High Risk Pediatric Kempe clinic at ZSFGH. She has worked with children, adolescents, and families in various clinical venues including Rape Trauma Services and North Peninsula Family Alternatives (YMCA), in San Mateo County where she developed and implemented a mental health program for immigrant families. She consults, supervises, and trains mental health providers who work with immigrant families and their children who have experienced significant trauma. Dr. Castro has a strong interest on the impact of immigration on family systems, the intergenerational transmission of trauma, and the impact of trauma on children?s development. Prior to the Infant-Parent Program and Child Trauma Research Program, she worked at the Children's Hospital, National Medical Center in Mexico City and at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). She has presented on national and international conferences, and forums on the topics of parenting in a different culture and on the impact of immigration on the sense of self and motherhood identity. In addition to her work at UCSF, Dr. Castro has taught at Argosy University, American School of Professional Psychology. She also served on the Advisory Board.

Helen Egger, PhD

Bio to come.

Lauren Hipp, MPA

Lauren brings nearly a decade of experience in the field of early childhood, where she has worked to advance racial equity through large-scale grassroots organizing and mobilization campaigns, policy development, advocacy, and implementation. Working both across Washington State and at the national level, Lauren has aimed to ensure that policy and programmatic solutions are driven by those communities who are furthest from justice -- by using collaborative leadership strategies, capacity-building training, transparent and accessible communication approaches, and inclusive strategic planning methodologies. Lauren directed a cross-issue policy and advocacy portfolio to advance early childhood mental health and perinatal mental health at the state and national level, led state and national early learning campaigns for MomsRising and led the Policy and Community Partnership efforts for a state-wide public-private partnership focused on early childhood. She holds a Masters of Public Administration from the Evans School of Public Affairs at the University of Washington. Lauren also serves on the the Board of Directors for the Washington State Budget and Policy Center, and is a founding member of the Womxn of Color in Education Committee.

Lee Johnson III, PhD

Lee Johnson III, Ph.D., CHES®, IMH-E® is Senior Policy Analyst for Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health at ZERO TO THREE (ZTT). Before joining ZTT, Dr. Johnson served as a director at the Alabama Department of Early Childhood Education, extending leadership to early childhood mental health and federal and state-funded home visiting efforts. Dr. Johnson is a former early childhood educator, health educator by training, and a newly minted public health Ph.D. His dissertation focused on the impact of early adverse experiences on the mental & physical health outcomes of Black boys & men and the power of relationships, solidified his selection for the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) Doctoral Scholars Dissertation Fellowship (2019-2020). In the same year, he became a National Black Child Development Institute (NBCDI) Policy Fellow (2019-2020). Dr. Johnson's NBCDI Policy Fellowship project, Supporting Resilience in Black Families: Advancing Racial Equity in Early Childhood Mental Health Policy (2021), acknowledges the developmental threat our society poses to the health and mental health of Black children and recognizes the need for racially equitable policies and approaches that empower Black families. Lee holds his B.S. in early childhood education, M.A., and Ph.D. degrees in public health from The University of Alabama.

Keoki Kauanoe 

Keoki Kauanoe is a native Hawaiian single-father of 4, the Director of Father Engagement at Family Education and Support Services, where he is a Master Trainer for the nationally recognized Nurturing Fathers Program, holds certifications in multiple parenting curricula and is a certified trainer for the QPR Gatekeeper Program. He also sits on the Washington State Interagency Fatherhood Council, The Board of the Equity in Education Coalition and The Thurston Asset Building Coalition.

When not at work or volunteering in his community, Keoki enjoys volunteering at his youngest son's elementary school, light saber duels and Minecraft and Lego builds with his youngest.

Connie Lilas, RN, MFT, PhD

Connie Lillas is the Director of the NeuroRelational Framework (NRF) Research To Resilience Institute (www.nrfr2r.com) with a background in high-risk maternal-child nursing, family systems, developmental psychoanalysis, early intervention, infant mental health, and is a National Graduate ZERO TO THREE Leadership Fellow. Connie has a private practice, specializing in dual diagnosis across both developmental delays and mental health concerns for infants, children, teens, and their families. In addition, she trains locally, nationally, and internationally on the NeuroRelational Framework (NRF, 2009) based upon her co-authored book —Infant/Child Mental Health, Early Intervention, and Relationship-Based Therapies: A NeuroRelational Framework (NRF) for Interdisciplinary Practice, which is a part of W. W. Norton’s Interpersonal Neurobiology Series (www.the-nrf.com). While there are currently four active NRF communities in the US and one in Canada, her work in Los Angeles County focus’ on the largest child welfare system in the US wherein the NRF’s curriculum on toxic stress is being used to train Dept of Child and Family Social Workers. She currently specializes in training cross-disciplinary teams in national and international communities, wherein a common language and shared approach using the NRF can be used for holistic health care outcomes.

Lisa Mennet, PhD, LMHC, IMH-E® (IV)

Lisa Mennet is the Cooper House owner and clinical director emeritus. She began her clinical career at Ryther Child Center, then studied at the Center on Infant Mental Health at the UW, and was later a clinical instructor there. She’s taught infant mental health principles at the UW schools of Social Work and Nursing, and for the Washington DSHS. Lisa earned a certificate in child psychoanalytic psychotherapy from SPSI, and a doctorate in Infant Mental Health from UW. Her particular area of interest is the impact of trauma on early relationships. Lisa provides reflective consultation and supervision to professionals and is trainer for the FAN model.

Ayannakai Nalo, LCSW

Ayannakai Nalo is a CPP rostered licensed clinical social worker and has been working with children and families for 30 years. Ms Nalo is an early childhood mental health consultant and provides training, technical assistance, and consultation to public health systems, hospitals, and community, state, and national organizations in the areas of infant mental health, early intervention, mental health consultation, reflective supervision and issues of diversity and inclusion. 

Additionally, The California Center for Infant-Family and Early Childhood Mental Health has endorsed Ms. Nalo as an Infant-Family and Early Childhood Mental Health Reflective Practice Facilitator Mentor. As a member of the Harris Foundation TENETS Work Group, Ms. Nalo also trains organizations and mentors individuals in the implementation of the TENETS across infant and early-childhood mental health providers and public health fields. She integrates diversity-informed principles from TENETS and other sources into reflective supervision and infant mental health services.

Carmen Rosa Noroña, LICSW, MSW, MS.Ed., IECMH-E®

Carmen Rosa is the Child Trauma Clinical Services and Training Lead at Child Witness to Violence Project at Boston Medical Center. She is a Child-Parent Psychotherapy National Trainer, an expert faculty of the Diagnostic Classification of Mental Health and Developmental Disorders of Infancy and Early Childhood Training (DC: 0-5) and one of the developers of the Harris Professional Development Network Diversity Informed Tenets for Work with Infants Children and Families Initiative (https://diversityinformedtenets.org) and of the Boston Medical Center Family Preparedness Plan for Immigrant Families. Her practice and research interests are on the impact of trauma on attachment; the intersection of culture, immigration and trauma; diversity-informed reflective supervision and consultation; and on the implementation and sustainability of evidence-based practice in real-world settings. She is a Co-Leader of the Department of Pediatrics Council of Social Justice, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at Boston Medical Center. In addition, she serves as core faculty of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network’s (NCTSN) Being Anti-Racist is Central to Trauma-Informed Care Initiative, as a member of the NCTSN Steering Committee, and as a co-chair of the NCTSN Latin American Families Collaborative group. Ms. Noroña has adapted and translated materials for Spanish-speaking families affected by trauma and has also contributed to the literature in infant and early childhood mental health, diversity and immigration

Anne Stone, MA

Anne Stone is the Early Childhood Innovation Director at the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services, Economic Services Administration.  A central part of that role is as the director of the Washington Interagency Fatherhood Council which launched in 2018.

Anne has 30 plus years of experience in the child and family services field as an innovator and change agent in youth and family crisis, child healthcare transformation, early childhood systems, poverty reduction, and fatherhood inclusion, as a funder, non-profit executive director, community consultant, crisis counselor, and state agency innovator.

She has a strong value around affecting root causes of family struggle such as racism, poverty and bias, using human centered design grounded in early brain science to inform system and policy change. She works to reduce burdens of families needing to be “empowered” to survive toward fixing broken systems so that families can access what they need to flourish.

As the Washington State First 1,000 Days Initiative founder she works with a variety of broad based community coalitions to walk with them as they seek ways to find families experiencing high levels of stress as early as possible after the birth of a child, triage their need and resiliency, and seek to create a coordinated community response that reduces that stress we know is so detrimental to developing young brains.

When not working her focus is on her family with a new grandbaby on the way, gardening during COVID 19 to grow food and sooth the soul, paddling and hiking with her partner of 35 years.

Arietta Slade, PhD

Arietta Slade is Professor of Clinical Child Psychology at the Yale Child Study Center.  An internationally recognized theoretician, clinician, researcher, and teacher, she has written widely on the development of parental reflective functioning, as well as the implications of attachment and mentalization theory for child and adult psychotherapy, and for relationship-based infant mental health practice. She is a Co-Founder and Director of Training of Minding the Baby®, an evidence-based interdisciplinary reflective home visiting program for high-risk mothers, infants, and their families, at the Yale Child Study Center and School of Nursing.  Dr. Slade is a winner of the Bowlby-Ainsworth Award from the New York Attachment Consortium, and author, with Jeremy Holmes, of Attachment in Therapeutic Practice (Holmes & Slade, SAGE Publications, 2018), and editor of the six volume set, Major Work on Attachment (Slade & Holmes, SAGE Publications, 2014), of Mind to Mind: Infant Research, Neuroscience, and Psychoanalysis (Jurist, Slade, & Bergner, Other Press, 2008), and Children at Play (Slade & Wolf, Oxford University Press, 1994).  Currently, she and her Minding the Baby® colleagues are writing a book on reflective parenting (Forthcoming, Guilford, 2021). She has also been in private practice for nearly 40 years, working with individuals of all ages.

Kandace Thomas, MPP, PhD

Kandace Thomas, MPP, PhD, works to help individuals, programs and systems of care experience transformation by learning, doing and being. Currently, Kandace is the Executive Director of First 8 Memphis, an organization working to build Memphis and Shelby County Tennessee’s early care and education system. As the inaugural Executive Director, Kandace is building a start-up organization partnering with the community to implement its early childhood plan. Prior to joining First 8 Memphis, Kandace was a senior program officer at the Irving Harris Foundation where she worked with organizations integrating early childhood development and child trauma-informed best practices for children from birth to age eight. Kandace led the creation of the Diversity-Informed Tenets for Work With Infants, Children and Families, a framework and approach to help organizations and systems integrate a diversity, equity and inclusion principles into their work. Kandace has research, policy and practice interests in contemplative self-care, intergenerational trauma, building power to influence public policy and diversity-informed practice.

Gil Tippy, PsyD

Gil Tippy, author of Respecting Autism with Stanley Greenspan, MD, offers Evaluations, Direct Services, and Consulting to private individuals and organizations. He is the Clinical Director Emeritus of  Shrub Oak International School, in Westchester County, NY. He is a Clinical Psychologist, licensed in the State of New York, with his Psychology license in California in process. He is the Chief Clinical Advisor of the Envision Center in Verona, NJ and is an Expert DIR/Floortime Provider and Teacher. He lives and has a private practice, Respectrum Developmental Services, as well as a not-for-profit, Dirty Hands Developmental Alliance, in Sonoma County, California.

Lindsay Usry, MPH

Lindsay Usry is the Director of Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health (IECMH) at ZERO TO THREE. She guides ZERO TO THREE’s policy agenda on infant and early childhood mental health (IECMH) and leads related technical assistance projects and collaborations, working at the state and federal levels to increase access to and utilization of high-quality mental health services for young children and their caregivers. She formerly served as Director of Special Projects for the Institute of IECMH at Tulane University School of Medicine, where she is on faculty. She also served as the Louisiana Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems Coordinator for the LA Department of Health and Hospitals, Office of Public Health. Her work has focused primarily on the translation and dissemination of research on IECMH and development to inform policy and programming decisions.

Ms. Usry received her BS in Neuroscience from the College of William and Mary and her Master of Public Health from Tulane University. She is a member of the board of the Maryland-DC Association of Infant Mental Health, and formerly sat on the Louisiana Governor’s Children’s Cabinet Advisory Board. She has previously worked with the U.S. Government Secretariat for Children in Adversity at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) as well as The World Bank. She has worked on international and domestic public health initiatives and also taught elementary special education.

Martina Whelshula, PhD

Martina Whelshula is a member of the Arrow Lakes Nation of the Colville Indian Reservation. Her educational and experiential background is diverse and focuses primarily in the fields of education and behavioral health. She possesses a doctoral degree in Traditional Knowledge, a Master of Arts degree in Counseling Psychology, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication Studies, with an additional certification for Chemical Dependency Professional. Dr. Whelshula has worked extensively with Native American communities nation-wide in the areas of local and national policy development, education, and behavioral health. Dr. Whelshula’s professional experience has ranged from Research Director for national Indian health policy development for Congressional review, P-12 tribal language instructor in the public-school system, Head Start Director for the Colville Tribe to Tribal College President. She is an educator, trainer, and consultant specializing in education and intergenerational trauma impacting indigenous communities. Dr. Whelshula’s most recent work is the development of integrative cultural therapeutic model addressing trauma, mental health and substance use disorders for tribes. Dr. Whelshula served for nearly seven years as the Executive Director of a Native American inpatient treatment program for drug and alcohol addicted youth. Her successes during her tenure include: National iAward for revolutionary behavioral health care (honorable mention), Washington State Co-Occurring Disorders and Treatment Conference’s Innovative Program of the Year, Potlatch Foundation’s Educational Leadership Award, Washington State Public Health’s 2013 Health Champion for Empowering Healthy Communities, Harvard University Medical School’s online BASIS Editorial Board, and the Spokane Regional 2014 AGORA Business Award for the Large Nonprofit Category. In addition to her work experience, Dr. Whelshula served on Gonzaga University’s Indian Education Advisory Board, as Chair of Spokane’s NAACP Education Committee, the Chair pro-tem for the Washington State Native American Education Advisory Committee with the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, a member of the Washington State Native American Think Tank, member of the Washington State Multi-Ethnic Think Tank, and formerly with the Washington State Board of Education’s Equity Committee.

Kristin Wiggins

Kristin has more than 20 years experience in government affairs, strategic advising, and policy analysis. Her lobbying work focuses predominantly on early learning, children’s behavioral health, and issues that impact children, youth, and families. Due to her multi-dimensional experience as legislative staff, non-profit leadership, a teacher (including working with special needs populations) and education advisor, and a mental health peer support worker she has a strong comprehension of the levers of change at the community, budget, and policy levels. Kristin is a volunteer in her children’s public schools and enjoys outdoor adventures with her family, fitness, and gardening.

Need-Based Fee Waiver  

The Barnard Center for Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health has a limited number of partial fee waivers for support up to $7,000 for professionals:  

* from diverse social and experiential backgrounds

* who have experience with overcoming adversity, experience with diversity, and/or a demonstrated commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion

* who are among the first generation in their family to attend college, experienced socio-economic or educational disadvantage

* are affiliated with one of the national minority organizations linked on the US Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health website (https://minorityhealth.hhs.gov/omh/content.aspx?ID=147&lvl=1&lvlID=3)

* have a demonstrated interest and/or active role in advancing access to (health, mental health, and human services) resources for under-served populations

Eligibility Requirements

* You must first apply for admission and be accepted into the Advanced Clinical Training Program

* Complete the ACT Program Need-Based Fee Waiver Application and Statement of Financial Need

* This support is only available to Washington State residents

*This form of support has not been confirmed for the next cohort

Washington State Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) is providing for a limited number of full program fee waivers that are available to professionals working as an Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultant in early care and education settings in Washington State.  Waivers are available for professionals:  

* from diverse social and experiential backgrounds

* who have experience with overcoming adversity, experience with diversity, and/or a demonstrated commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion

* who are among the first generation in their family to attend college, experienced socio-economic or educational disadvantage 

* are affiliated with of one of the national minority organizations linked on the US Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health website (https://minorityhealth.hhs.gov/omh/content.aspx?ID=147&lvl=1&lvlID=3)

* have a demonstrated interest and/or active role in advancing access to (health, mental health, and human services) resources for under-served populations

Eligibility Requirements  

* You must first apply for admission and be accepted into the Advanced Clinical Training Program

* Complete the ACT Program IECMH-C Fee Waiver Application and Statement of Financial Need

* This support is only available to current IECMH Consultants for early care and education providers in Washington State 

* This support is only available to Washington State residents