Rhode Island Association for Infant Mental Health

In 2022, RIAIMH focused on our mission to educate, elevate and engage a diverse IECMH workforce in RI. RIAIMH has taken intentional steps to integrate diversity, equity, belonging and anti-racism into our governance and program operations structures. In addition to increasing diverse representation on the Board, we integrated DEIB principles within all learning collaboratives. For example, we offered: a) CARE (Community Advocates for Racial Equity) Learning Collaborative (8 monthly 2- hr sessions) offered to date to 5 provider cohorts (80 participants total), and plan to extend this work into the community; b) annual conference (September 2022), "Racial Equity and IECMH: The Power of Cultural Routines" engaged participants in critical thinking about reflective practice (120 participants); and c) Community Conversation Series (6 sessions in 2022) focused on deepening understanding of the Harris Institute's Diversity Informed Mental Health Tenets through community-based story-telling (average 80 participants/session). We maintained active membership RIAIMH (325 members) and supported members to earn IECMH Endorsement (25 providers to date). We advocated for state-based IMH Wellness Legislation to provide recommendations for developmentally appropriate, family-centered, and culturally relevant IECMH resources. Finally, we initiated a 3-year project with funding from the van Beuren Charitable Foundation in partnership with RI EOHHS and Sherlock Center to develop an IECMH community of practice in Early Intervention. Taken together, RIAIMH continues to play a central role in the community to ensure that infants, young children, families, and IECMH providers thrive.