The IECMHC consultation process
The Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation Project begins with the Illinois Consultation Assessment Readiness Evaluation (I-CARE) process, which determines the consultation goals and activities. This assessment gives programs the opportunity to step back, assess their strengths and identify their needs, build on their existing capacities, and enhance the good work in which they are already engaged.

The I-Care process begins with a phase referred to as “mindful hanging out.” The consultant spends time with staff, administrators, children, and parents at the project site. This stage goes beyond observation as the consultant experiences the program’s daily activity, temporarily becoming part of its ongoing function.

On I-CARE assessment forms, individuals share their views and experiences on a variety of factors that influence their work with children and families. These forms, combined with the early experiences of mindfully hanging out, provide the material for developing consultation goals.

Consultation takes an ecological approach. While there are opportunities to discuss a specific child’s behavior, these conversations are illustrative, not diagnostic. Rather than advising on cases, the consultant guides the staff to see the child, the family, and their response to both, all in the context of the program. Through self-reflection, staff members come to see how their own views and responses are shaping their work with the child and the child’s response.

The consultation process is grounded in these core values:
• community and educational programs must be supported in order to support families nurturing young children.
• Strengths exist in all families and the systems that support them.
• Relationship-based collaborations promote social and emotional development and infant and early childhood mental health.
• Reflective practice is a key component of effective infant and early childhood mental health consultation.
• Infant and early childhood programs have the capacity to develop greater social and emotional intelligence.
• Families are able and willing to be full participants’ in their children’s lives.
• The process of consultation is embedded in an ecological theoretical framework which includes culture, family values, community beliefs, institutional practices and governmental policies.