By Alice Englin, Guest Column

What is Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health?

It is synonymous with health social and emotional development and it is the capacity of the child from birth to age 5 to experience, regulate and express emotions; to form close and secure interpersonal relationships; and to explore the environment and learn. Infant mental health refers to how these issues affect development in the first three years of life. Really, it&8217;s all about early relationships within the context of the family and other primary caregivers:

Promoting and supporting nurturing relationships.

Building the first relationship as a solid base for future relationships.

Helping babies learn to trust that physical and emotional needs will be met.

Enabling young children to use those trusting relationships to become healthy, productive adults.

Why is this so important?

New research on the developing brain points to the importance of early experience, not just for cognitive development, but for emotional development as well. Brain development is shaped by an infant&8217;s experiences and early relationships.

&8220;Emotional growth, patterns of attachment and increasing competency in the ability to form relationships, and the emergence of self-confidence are as crucial to overall development as are physical growth, cognitive or motor skills&8221; said Jane Knitzer, National Center for Children in Poverty, Columbia School of Public Health.

Healthy social-emotional development is strongly linked to success in elementary school. It is just as important as literacy, language and number skills in helping young children be ready for school. A child who cannot &8220;regulate and express emotions, form close secure relationships and explore the environment and learn&8221; is not likely to tune into teaching and will not fully benefit from early educational experiences. What happens in the early years affects the course of development across a person&8217;s life span.

To help promote the healthy social and emotional development of Freeborn County&8217;s youngest children, in January of 2007 the Freeborn County Family Services Collaborative was selected as the host organization for Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation&8217;s Minnesota THRIVE Initiative.

The six Minnesota Initiative Foundations, with funding from the Bush Foundation and others, are helping our Freeborn County THRIVE Action Team gather information, map available services and hold community forums for learning and discussion.

Our action team will then use what we have discovered to devise unique networks of services appropriate for our community.

Local people are the leaders in this process and the results will be tailored to local needs. The continuum of care developed in our community will address the resources and services needed for each level (promotion/prevention, early intervention, intervention, or intense intervention), whether it is training, outreach, new programs or funding.

For more information on what you can do promote healthy social and emotional development and mental health in your children go to www.zerotothree.org. Or for all types of information on parenting all ages, go to

www.MNParentsKnow.info.

If you would like to become a part of our local THRIVE Action Team or would like more information, please contact Alice Englin at 377-5504 or alice.englin@co.freeborn.mn.us.

Alice Englin is a facilitator at the Freeborn County Family Services Collaborative.