aditi subramaniam lmhc, m.ed, cosp aditi.subramaniam@gmail
TRANSCRIPT
Aditi Subramaniam LMHC, M.Ed, COSP [email protected] Bio: Ms. Aditi is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor & Registered Movement Psychotherapist with more than fifteen years of experience working with children and families, in India and Boston. She graduated from the UMass IPMH Fellowship in 2013. Her areas of interest include: infant and early childhood mental health, perinatal mental health, community and family focused initiatives that are integrated with social justice principles; workforce education/community building; trauma-informed care; and the integration of the expressive arts in psychotherapy in working with families and systems. Special Project: Title: 3B’s (Bath, Book, Bedtime): Nurturing Naturally Empowering Skills and Relationships within daily routines Our special project focuses on creating an early intervention model that empowers families to integrate developmentally informed strategies for their child. All the while, highlighting relationship building for the parent and child, within daily routines, so that children have the best chance to learn and retain new skills. Our model emphasizes family systems-centered rather than child-centered interventions by highlighting micro-moments in caregiver-child interactions. The Early Intervention specialist is modeling and supporting the importance of “playfulness” for the dyad, by using reflective practice with the parent. Our model draws from luminaries in the field of Infant Parent Mental Health and Child Development. It offers a more grounded support system to help the EI community roll towards shared process created by and with the family, leading to parent and clinician efficacy. In summary, this model is meant to support early intervention clinicians move from a coaching model to a more reflective holding model, that allows the parent to take ownership over their child’s development. We are moving from a ‘doing’ to a ‘being’ model.
Jennifer Brown Bernhardt, CEIM [email protected] Bio: Jennifer Brown Bernhardt, CEIM has been a teacher, consultant, and writer for child and family development issues for more than 20 years. She specializes in families with infants, and has worked in settings ranging from hospitals and child care centers to private homes. Jennifer is a Certified Educator of Infant Massa- ge and a parent educator for the Secure Beginnings home-visiting program. She is the founder and director of The Center for Infant and Family Resources, LLC, serving infants and their families in Northern Virginia. Special Project: Title: Developing Baby Board Books as a Medium for Parent Education Research tells us that healthy communication between parent and infant, and a parent’s attentive, appro-priate response to his or her baby, have long-term effects on the healthy social, emotional, and cognitive development of the child. However, many parents do not have access to basic information about how babies communicate, such as the states of consciousness or cues. To help fill this information gap, “Read to Me and I’ll Teach You About...My Baby States” is a board book that gives parents easy access to information that will improve their understanding and facilitate more positive communication between parent and infant. Board books are written in basic language that can be understood by a large portion of the literate population, and are readily accessible to many parents, making them an ideal medium for parent education. “Read to Me...” is the first in a series of board books that will provide basic parent education in regard to Infant-Parent Mental Health principles.
Eileen Cahill Terlaga BSN. MS [email protected] Bio: is a perinatal nurse care manager at Net- work Health Insurance. She has worked as a nurse in labor and delivery, special care nursery and postpartum. She does also have experience in psy- chiatric nursing and home visiting pregnant women through the Early Inter- vention Partnership Program in Lynn Massachusetts. Eileen was appointed by Governor Deval Patrick to be on the Special Commission Relative to Postpartum Depression. She was nominated for the 2013 Schwartz Center Compassionate Caregiver Award and received Honorable Mention. Eileen received her BSN degree from Saint Joseph’s College in Maine, and her M.S from Wheelock College. She is a post graduate fellow in the Infant Parent Mental Health Program at the University of Massachusetts, Bos- ton. Eileen is married to her wonderful husband Kel, and being a mother to three incredible young adults, Matthew, Sarah and Jonathan. Special Project: Title: Integrating Infant Mental Health Concepts in Nurse Case Management of High Risk
This project will look at telephonic nurse case management of pregnant women that have abused substances during their pregnancy. Babies born to women abusing drugs are at high risk of being born prematurely, having low birth weight and having developmental and behavioral problems. I will focus on the importance of engagement, coordination of comprehensive care and early referrals for pregnant women that have a current or past history of substance abuse. Nurse case management will include working in collaboration with other team members, as well as community services that are available. Education will include the importance of early relationships with the mother and baby starting in pregnancy. Helping women recognize and see their baby’s uniqueness, the important role they have in their baby’s development while they are pregnant and once their babies are born. The need of coordination of care in pregnancy, delivery and postpartum will be discussed. Involving mother’s in the care of their babies once they are born and the importance of continued support for the family will be included.
Andrew Clark [email protected] Bio: Andrew Clark is a child, adolescent and adult psychiatrist, currently working as the Chief of Outpatient Psychiatry and the Director of Medical Student Education in Psychiatry at Boston Medical Center. He was for many years the Medical Director of the Children and the Law Program at Massachusetts General Hospital, and the Director of Psychiatry at the Suffolk County House of Correction. He graduated from the University of Michigan Medical School and completed a residency in Pediatrics at Boston City Hospital before training in Adult and in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital. Special Project: Title: The Developmental Consequences of Early Childhood Neglect: Sounding the Cry for a Non- Professional Audience
The often devastating impact of childhood sexual and physical abuse has, over the last 30 years, come to be widely recognized by both mental health professionals and by our society at large. More recently, the long-term effects of children’s exposure to domestic and community violence have received substantial attention as well. The problem of emotional neglect of children, however, has remained largely unstudied and often overlooked, in spite of its prevalence, and increasing evidence for its toxic effects. This presentation will summarize recent research on the specific developmental consequences of early child- hood neglect, in the hopes of providing a template for educating a non-professional audience. In doing so, it will draw on models and research presented during the IPMH fellowship by Tronick, Zeanah, Murray and Cooper, and Osofsky
Lindsay DiBona LICSW [email protected] Bio: Lindsay DiBona, LICSW, currently serves as the Clinical Care Manager Supervisor for the a federally funded research grant, "Enhancing Systems of Care," at the Cambridge Health Alliance. She supervises social workers conducting frontline evaluations for children and families in active partnership with primary care providers, child psychiatrists, and peer-to-peer parent specialists. She recently completed a child fellowship in psychodynamic psychotherapy. Her professional interests include clinical work with young children and families, the intergenerational transmission of trauma, and systems collaboration in children's mental health services in Massachusetts. Special Project: Title: Supporting Collaborative Relationships Between The Department of Children and Families and The Guidance Center’s Preschool Team: A Clinical Pilot A Massachusetts initiative for trauma informed care creates a timely port of entry for improving ineffec- tive relationships between The Department of Children and Families and The Guidance Center’s Pre- school Clinicians. This project supports a small pilot of clinical work (1-3 families) with the aim of em- bedding infant mental health assessments and interventions with interdisciplinary teaming for cases of young children in foster care system. A major goal of the pilot is to employ knowledge about parent- child dyads to inform ways to influence provide relationships through meaningful case collaborations.
Simona DiStasio PH.D [email protected] Bio: Simona is a researcher of Developmental Psy- chology and Education at University of Rome "Foro Italico". She collaborates with the Department of Educational Services of the City of Rome as trainer and supervisor of child care educators. She is a psychotherapist and from the beginning of her career she has been involved in the clinical aspects of developmental age. From 1996 to 2003 she was clinical counselor and clinical re- searcher at the Unit of Child Psychiatry, Bambin Gesù Hospital of Rome. She is a member of the Doctorate in Dynamic and Clini- cal Psychology at the Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, Sapi- enza University . She is co-founder of the National Observatory for health and well-being at school. Special Project: Title: A parent-child interactive and regulational perspective to children's bedtime routines: An exploratory study in two cultural contexts The current study explored children's sleeping bedtime routines based on a parent-child interactional and regulational model (Tronick 1988). For this purpose, participants were 4 middle class first time mothers (between 25 and 44 years old ) with children between 12 and 24 months. Two dyads came from Rome (Italy) and two from Lima (Peru). Mothers completed a questionnaire ad hoc about their children with items such as sleep patterns and environment, sleep related parental interventions, sleep positions and demographic information. Mothers were interviewed with regard to their subjective experience about getting their children to sleep and their own bed- time childhood memories The study included videotaped mother-child bedtime routine observational data filmed by the mothers.
Amie Ashley Hane [email protected] Bio: Amie Ashley Hane, Ph.D is a Professor of Psychology, Chair of the Public Health Program and a faculty member of the Neuroscience Program at Williams College. Dr. Hane is also Affiliated Faculty and the Director of Behavioral Coding for the Nurture Science Program in the Depart of Pediatrics, Columbia University Irving Medical Center (https://nurturescienceprogram.org/). Her research is focused on parent-child emotional connection and infant physiological and behavioral responding to stress. (For more information and links to published work, go to: https://psychology.williams.edu/profile/ahane/). Special Project: Title: Parenting In and Out of the NICU Bridging the Gap between Hospital and Home Environments Infants born prematurely who survive the NICU are at considerable risk for a host of poor outcomes, including social, cognitive, and behavioral difficulties. Parents are also at increased risk, as the birth of a premature infant is a potent stressor and is associated with feelings of guilt; depression; grief; and parent-infant relationship difficulties. Premature birth marks a traumatic transition for the infant and her family, and the ecology of the NICU bears little resemblance to home-based familial care. The purpose of this project is to characterize the differences be- tween the ecologies of caregiving within and outside of the NICU environment and develop an intervention pro- gram that provides carry-over support for parents post-NICU discharge. Several bodies of literature form the basis for this project, including epigenetic; dyadic systems; attachment and trauma models. The use of: the Neonatal Behavioral Observation Scales, video informed therapy, and a ‘mobius care’ scheduling model are proposed as the key components of this intervention. The goals of this intervention are to empower parents as they assume the role of primary caregivers post-discharge from the NICU; enhance the quality of parental caregiving behavior; and support parents to structure an enriched, mutually-rewarding, organized environment for the infant and family. It is proposed that this integrative approach will support healthy infant neurological development and promote healing from the effects of the trauma of premature birth and the NICU for parents and infants.
Richard Honigman MD [email protected] Bio: Since graduating in the 2012-2013 IPMH cohort, Richard Honigman has integrated concepts of infant parent mental health into his private general pediatric practice. He has continued to have a co-located behavioral mental health therapist in his office and has formed an alliance with Adelphi University's Institute for Parenting. He has also completed Bessel Van Der Kolk's online course in Traumatic Stress Studies and Bruce Perry's Child Trauma Academy Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics Level 1 training and is presently enrolled in the Level 2 online training. He has been a speaker on Adverse Childhood Experiences for New York State American Academy of Pediatrics (NYS AAP) District 2 Chapter 2, and presented on this topic for the IPMH program. He serves as a pediatric advisor for the monthly Adelphi University Developmental Psychology Infant Mental Health Program interdisciplinary conferences. His office is participating in a pilot project to screen children for Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) in the primary care office in conjunction with the Center for Youth Wellness and Docs for Tots. He has recently been appointed as Chairman of NYS AAP Chapter 2 Committee on Developmental Behavioral Pediatrics/Children with Disabilities. In his capacity as Scientific Chair of Reach Within (www.reachwithin.org), a NYC-Grenada based NGO whose goal is to improve childhood outcomes in Grenada and the Caribbean, he has conceived of and held international conferences in Grenada for childhood caregivers on early childhood development (2014,2015) (with the kind assistance of Ed. Tronick), assisted UNICEF in the Eastern Caribbean Region in developing and hosting an Activate talk conference entitled "Early Moments Matter" (2016), collaborated with and brought Dr. Alexandra Harrison's Supporting Childhood Caregivers "Protect, Nurture and Enjoy" training program to Grenada (2017), spoke on Adverse Childhood Experiences at a UNICEF Early Childhood Development Conference (Antigua 2018), had a poster presentation and was a part of a panel presentation at the recent 16th World Association for Infant Mental Health, Rome Italy (2018), and gave a presentation on Trauma Informed Care at the Adverse Childhood Experiences -- A Call to Action October 2018 conference (Bermuda). Additionally in collaboration with St. George's University (Grenada) and UMass Boston (Drs. Ed Tronick and RichardHunter) he has completed a pilot study on adverse childhood experiences amongst a cohort of Grenadian nutmeg processing plant workers which has been submitted for publication. He has also been invited to attend the recent Clinton Global Initiative/Clinton Action Network meetings to further the interests of childhood mental health/resiliency. Special Project: Title: Dynamic Dyadic Developmental Disruptor Disorders Early childhood sensory interactions and experiences especially those with primary caregiver(s) are important factors in shaping the path of a child's development both in the moment of the dyadic reciprocal bi-directional exchanges and in helping to set the framework/direction for future development. These ongoing dynamic dyadic interactions become the foundation and filter through which all other forms of bio-psycho-social experiences, interactions, capacities and/or capabilities are piggy backed onto, incorporated into and then interpreted thru to form the child's view of themselves, others, and their surroundings, which they later express back to
the world as part of bi-directional communication meaning- making and meaning-comprehending exchanges. Another function for these iterative dynamic dyadic interactions is to help to organize the structure, function of and the integration of the child's bio-psycho- social subsystems into the greater multi-faceted inter-related, inter-dependent system that becomes the child's being, which then forms the foundation for future meaning-making/meaning-comprehending. Tronick in his Dyadic Expansion of Consciousness Model incorporating his Mutual Regulation Model (MRM) and iterative Match-Mismatch-Repair (MMR) cycling explains adaptive dyadic development with dynamic systems terminology. Yet there does not appear to be a corresponding dynamic systems model to explain maladaptive biopsychosocial development. In this presentation utilizing the MRM and MMR the concepts of Dynamic Dyadic Developmental Disruptor Disorders which derail expected culturally sensitive adaptive development to yield long term maladaptive dynamic development along with a unifying construct termed the Dyadic Containment of Consciousness Model are introduced. Addition- ally developmental promoters, disruptors and modifiers/modulators/attenuators are listed and characterized as part of the same ongoing dynamic developmental process despite different outcomes.
Carol A. Hughes M.A. [email protected] Bio: Carol is a licensed psychologist in private practice in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. Ms. Hughes has 28 years of experience conducting treatment and mental health evaluations, custody evalua- tions and forensic evaluations for child protective services, the juvenile court and the adult criminal court. Ms. Hughes has experience as an ex- pert witness on cases referred by child protective service personnel, ju- venile probation, adult probation and parole, the family and criminal court, and private/attorney referral. Ms. Hughes is an expert examiner for the Commonwealth of PA Sexual Offenders Assessment Board. Special Project: Title: Adjudicated Attachments: Trauma and Attachment Informed Forensic Evaluation Develop and offer training to county child protective service agencies, CASA, attorneys and judges, and other agencies that serve children, on the topic of trauma and attachment informed forensic evaluation with emphasis on court ordered bonding assessment that incorporates information related to inter- personal neurobiology, adverse childhood experiences and developmental trauma, and assessment procedures. Utilizing case examples, the training will outline data that needs to be collected, assessment procedures (i.e.: structured dyadic observation-teaching activity, competitive activity, fun activity, nurturing activity, and Charles Zeanah’s Child Interview) and interpretation of the data.
Vivian Jacoby Licensed Clinical Psychologist [email protected] Bio: Vivian is a clinical psychologist who is passionate in her work with young children, their teachers and parents. She works as a sleep consultant and also directs a parent-child group in a Reggio Emilia inspired preschool in Costa Rica. Special Project: Title: Promoting development and healthy relationships in early education centers. A toolkit to support parents, children and teachers in Latin America. This work is my attempt to bring an infant-parent mental health informed practice into the world of early childhood education. The goal of this toolkit is to create resources that will sup- port teachers, children and parents, allowing them to connect and co-construct meaning about the child’s experiences in the context of their community. Crucial issues like cultural sensitivity, parental history of previous relationships and teachers’ mental health are addressed.
Teresa Lear Ph.D, IBCLC, CEIM [email protected] Bio: Terri Lear, PhD, LMFT is the Executive Director of the Center for Attachment & Trauma Services, Inc. with offices located in Northern Virginia. Her outpatient mental health practice specializes in working with infants, children, and adults suffering from the effects of unresolved trauma and the resulting attachment disorders. She conducts attachment and parental capacity evaluations and frequently testifies in court as an expert witness in the field of attachment, trauma, child development, infant mental health, and human lactation. Special Project: Title: The Establishment of the Clinic for Understanding Baby Behaviors (“CUBB”) The Clinic for Understanding Baby Behaviors (“CUBB”) will be established as a program of the Ameri- can Foundation for Family Attachment, Inc., a non-profit family therapy center in Springfield, VA. CUBB will provide emotional and relational support services for families with infants (aged 0-3) who are experiencing problems with self-regulation, including excessive crying (colic), sleeping and feeding issues. With an early attachment focus (i.e., the caretaker as modulator of infant affect), CUBB will pro- vide parents of fussy infants with tools and support for managing their babies’ dysregulation at home and when out and about. The CUBB model will closely follow that of The Cry, Colic and Sleep Clinic at the Brown Center for the Study of Children at Risk. The CUBB model will also include the Newborn Behavioral Observations Systems, infant massage instruction, and clinical lactation services when deemed appropriate.
Alicia Lim OT [email protected] Bio: Dip in Occ. Therapy, Bach. App. Sci (Occ. Therapy), Master of Science. Alicia Lim is a senior occupational thera- pist practicing in the National University Hospital of Singapore. She works extensively with children with medical conditions, developmen- tal, an1d1 1b1e1h1a1v1i1o1u1r1a1l1 1c1h1a1l1l1e1n1g1e1s1 1i1n1 1t1h1e1 1C1h1i1l1d1 1D1e1v1e1l1o1p1m1e1n1t1 1U1n1i1t1.1 1A1l1i1c1i1a1 1i1s1 1c1u1r1r1e1n1t1l1y1 1i1n1v1o1l1v1e1d1 1i1n1 1t1h1e1 1W1o1m1e1n1s1 1E1m1o1t1i1o1n1a1l1 1H1e1a1l1t1h1 1S1e1r1v1i1c1e1 1t1o1 1s1u1p1p1o1r1t1 1m1o1t1h1e1r1s1 1a1n1d1 1m1o1t1h1e1r1s1-1t1o1-1b1e1 1i1n1 1t1h1e1i1r1 1p1a1r1e1n1t1i1n1g1 1r1o1l1e1.1 1A1l1i1c1i1a1 1i1s1 1t1r1a1i1n1e1d1 1i1n1 1T1o1u1c1h1p1o1i1n1t1s1T1M1 1a1p1p1r1o1a1c1h1 1t1o1 1o1p1t1i1m1i1s1e1 1t1h1e1 1y1o1u1n1g1 1c1h1i1l1d1s1 1d1e1v1e1l1o1p1m1e1n1t1 1b1y1 1f1o1c1u1s1i1n1g1 1o1n1 1t1h1e1 1f1a1m1i1l Special Project: Title: Building bridges: Helping clinicians connect with parents In the acute hospital setting in Singapore, most services provided for at risk families* tend to be disci- pline specific and generally have little time and resources for assessing and/or intervening with the men- tal health of the family. However, it is crucial for service providers to acknowledge and address the im- portance of mental wellness of every involved member when working with these families. Hence this project attempts to describe a clinical guide designed for allied health professionals to in- crease their confidence and competence in assessing mental health and intervening with at risk families. This guide is influenced by several relational and developmental models and includes suggestions for infant and parent mental health assessment and intervention for the family. * Includes children with special needs and their parents with/without mental health conditions
Rocio Patricia Luna De Las Casas, Licensed Clinical Psychologist Bio: She obtained her License at the “Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú”. She has worked as a children’s psy- chotherapist at “Centro Vinculare” which is a private center for treat- ing and supporting children and their families in Lima. She currently resides in Boston and is enrolled in the Infant-Parent Mental Health Program at UMass Boston. Additionally, she works as a teacher at the Cambridge-Ellis School and is involved in the therapeutic pro- gram implemented for children for special needs, in the same school, supervised by Alexandra Harrison, M.D. Special Project: Title: The importance of the dyadic therapy with young children as part of a multidisciplinary treatment This project has the goal to present how can dyadic therapy, based in Dr. Tronick’s “Mutual Regulation Model”, Dr. Fonagy’s theory about Mentalization, and Dr. Harrison’s therapeutic techniques, help the parents and their children to find better ways of relating to each other, to their own inner world and the outside world.
Kathy Luneau-Simons M.S Bio: Kathy co-founded and directs the Work-Life Center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technol- ogy, a nationally recognized resource program offering con- sultations, referrals, seminars, publications, research reports, and policy development to support the work-life needs of the MIT community. As MIT’s specialist in early childhood and parenting, Kathy led efforts to expand campus child care and guided the design of three new child care centers; she offers seminars and consultations to expectant and new parents; and she created a network of lactation rooms and policies to support breastfeeding students and employees. Kathy has assumed a variety of teaching, leadership, research, and consulting roles aimed at better understanding and addressing the needs of young children and working families, includ- ing as co-founder and first President of the College and University Work/Family Association (CUWFA). She is an experienced preschool teacher, director, instructor, and consultant. Kathy received her B.A. from Bryn Mawr College and M.S. from Wheelock College, and is currently a Fellow at the Infant-Parent Mental Health Program at the University of Massachu- setts in Boston. She serves on the Educational Policy Committee of the Wheelock College Board of Trustees. Kathy is the mother of two grown sons, and lives with her husband in Dan- vers, MA. Special Project: Title: An examination from an infant mental health perspective of the scope and adequacy of new standards for teacher-child interactions in child care settings that are aimed at improving long-term developmental outcomes for children. Roughly 24% of U.S. children under the age of five years who have employed mothers spend the largest portion of their daytime hours in child-care centers, yet we have no federal standards and program quality is a serious concern. A national effort is underway to improve child-care quality in order to support early development and enhance long-term educational and develop- mental outcomes for children. The Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS), developed by a coalition of U.S. states and organizations and adopted by the Office of Early Education and Care for all licensed centers in Massachusetts, offers two rating tools, the Arnett and the CLASS, to assess the quality of classroom interactions. I propose to examine these measures to understand their usefulness in making classrooms more supportive for children, using an infant mental health perspective. My project will include a review of the available literature and interviews with some of the stakeholders here in Massachusetts, and will, at a lat- er date, explore the use of videotape, Internal Working Model of the Child Interview, and other tools from the infant mental health field with staff in child-care centers to enhance reflective practice and strengthen teacher-child interactions.
Andree-Anne Marcoux M.D. [email protected] Bio: Child psychiatry - After an undergraduate degree in nursing at Université de Montréal, Andrée-Anne took on medical school at Université Laval in Quebec city, graduating in 2008. She is cur- rently a fourth year resident in psychiatry at Université de Montréal. She also recently earned a Master's degree in Biomedical Sciences from the same university. As part of this program, she conducted her research project under the supervision of Dr Karlen Lyons-Ruth at Harvard Medical School (Cambridge hospital). She studied mentalization ability of mothers with borderline personality disorder in interaction with their 12 months old in- fant. Her plan is to practice child psychiatry in a specialized 0-5 academic clinic in Montréal, Canada. Special Project: Title: Launching a career in infant-parent psychiatry My special project is an exploration of how my experience in the Infant-parent mental health program is shaping my future practice as a child psychiatrist. My perspective on the parent-child relationship was strongly influenced by Ed Tronick’s Dyadic Expansion of State of Consciousness Model. Also, inspired by Fonagy’s theory of mentalization development, I see as essential to bridge the gap between child psychiatry and adult personality disorder programs to provide parent-child therapy to this vulnerable population. Finally, I continue to be inspired by Dr Brazelton’s Touchpoints as a theory of the forces for change that drive the child’s and the caregiver’s development.
Veronica Mingo M.D. [email protected] Bio: Mother of five children, Verónica has worked in parenting for the last 20 years. She is a medical doctor from Universidad Católica de Chile and candidate to Doctor in Child Study and Human Development from Tufts University. Verónica is currently working on her doctoral dissertation, an ethnographic work about childrearing in Chile, and also works for the Chilean foundation Infancia Primero. Special Project: Title: “Desencuentros y Encuentros*,” an everyday parent-child interactions video for the work with parenting groups. • Disencounters and Meetings Bringing knowledge to parents and caregivers about child’s development and human healthy interactions necessarily contributes to children’s healthy development, learning and growth. “Desencuentros y Encuentros” is a 20 minutes video of everyday Chilean parent-child interactions scenes in their home or community environment. The video’s objective is to offer a tool for working fundamental aspects of parent-child relationship in a parenting group setting. The video’s structure is based on the “stages of adaptive tasks between mother and child” (Sander, 1964) and the “functional emotional stages of development” (Greenspan, 2006). Its main common thread, highlighted in the inter- action scenes and video script, is the concept of “mismatch and repair” (Tronick, 1986). It also addresses the following concepts: “rhythm and turn taking” (Beebe, 2000), “reflective function” (Fonagy, 1989) and “maternal sensitivity” (Ainsworth, 1978).
Rebecca Morgan CH, LCCE, MA [email protected] Bio: Rebecca Morgan, is a doctoral candidate in Depth Psychology with an emphasis in Somatic Studies. She is an educator and writer with nearly 20 years of experience working with preconception and expectant women and their families as an instructor, curriculum developer, public speaker, hypnotherapist, massage therapist, and birth doula. Her academic and personal interest in the complexity of the mother-child dyad led her to study as a Fellow in the UMass Boston Infant-Parent Mental Health Post-Graduate Certificate Program as well as study such fields as pre and perinatal psychology, attachment, and trauma. Rebecca’s diverse professional and educational background informs her current doctoral research which explores the phenomenological experience for mothers of loss as an aspect of the Mother Archetype and within the mother image. Most recently, her work as a research assistant on a study of the embodied experience of oppression enriched her understanding of interdisciplinary qualitative research as well as unconscious somatic expression. Rebecca is the proud mother of three amazing sons. Special Project: Title: Honoring the Relationship: A Holistic Approach to Supporting the Mother-Baby Dyad from Pregnancy through Infancy and Beyond Through the infant-parent mental health lens, the dyad is seen as the foundation of not only our emotional but also our biological and neurological development and that through this relationship we can continue a cycle of wellness or dysfunction. I contend that in modern American culture, little attention is placed on the mother-baby relationship as it evolves throughout pregnancy, nor are women encouraged to spend any significant amount of time considering their transition to motherhood. Their choices and actions are often fear-based and out of integrity with reflective practices. During this two-part experiential workshop series, during early pregnancy and again in the months following birth, women will meet in a facilitated group to discuss prenatal influences on development, consider how they were parented and their own narrative, learn about such concepts as mentalization, meaning-making, and mutual regulation, and use mindfulness, journaling, and somatic practices to support the relationship with baby and honor an embodied experience of pregnancy and parenting.
Kaitlin Mulcahy M.A., M.A., LPC, IMH-E IV-C Bio: Kaitlin works as the Associate Director of the Center for Autism and Early Childhood Mental Health within the College of Education and Human Services at Montclair State University. Before joining MSU, she worked as an early intervention specialist and supervisor at Children’s Community Early Intervention program within Children’s Hospital Boston, and as a fa- mily play therapist within the child welfare system, primarily doing family- centered, developmentally-informed, play-based therapy. Kaitlin is a licen- sed clinician in New Jersey, Massachusetts and New York, and is a Certified Counselor with the National Board of Certified Counselors. Kaitlin has also earned endorsement as an Infant Mental Health Specialist at a Clinical Men- tor level from the New Jersey Association for Infant Mental Health. Kaitlin received a M.A. in Counseling Psychology and a M.A. in Pastoral Counse- ling from Boston College in 2002, as well as a B.A. in Psychology from Boston College in 1999. She has also completed Advanced Graduate Certi- ficates in Family Therapy from the Family Institute of Cambridge and in Ex- pressive Therapies from Lesley University. She is currently pursuing regis- tration as a Registered Play Therapist (RPT) and is a Fellow with the Infant-Parent Mental Health Post-Graduate Certificate Program at UMass Boston. Special Project: Title: InterActivities: A Collection of Playful Activities to Promote Interactive Regulation -- in Child Caregiver Dyads This proposed special project, InterActivities: A Collection of Playful Activities to Promote Interactive Regulation in Child-Caregiver Dyads, incorporates the foundational influences of dynamic systems the- ory, mutual regulation theory, and the neurorelational framework, the clinical perspectives of relation- ship-based and family-centered interventions, and the therapeutic modality of play, to create a collection of activities that can be ‘played’ during the typical daily routines of a family to enhance interactive regulation. This project is embedded in three core beliefs: that a state of regulation is necessary for both learning and connecting; that regulation is co-constructed between and within the caregiver - child dyad (i.e. interactive or mutual regulation); and that a state of dynamic play brings about and can reinforce regulatory capacities in both children and adults. Each playful activity in the collection is informed by four principles of regulation: repetition, rhythm, range (both affect and arousal), and relationship. While created as a clinical intervention, InterActivites can be used in the home to reinforce the lessons learned in dyadic treatment. InterActivities are organized within a typical daily routine schedule, and they are appropriate for each developmental stage from the first moments of life through age 5 years. Engaging in InterActivities assists the dyad in gaining and increasing self and interactive regulatory capacities, heals current relationship disruptions through play, and encourages the dyad to return to the interactive activities to regain a mutual state of regulation when faced with future challenges.
Neophytos Papaneophytou PH.D , LMHC, LPC, NCC, DCC [email protected] Bio: Neo earned a doctorate degree in clinical psychology and holds multiple licenses in the field of counseling and mental health (AK, CT, DC, GA, MA, NY, PA). Neo is a practicing psychotherapist in New York City, and an adjunct lecturer with the City University of New York. His clinical focus includes young children and his re- search interests pertain to acculturation and immigration as process- es impacting children and their families. Neo aims to establish an international center for autism treatment and research, hosting a yearly international conference in Cyprus. Special Project: Title: Cyprus International Center for Autism (Spectrum disorders), Treatment and Research (CICATRE). CICATRE: This Visionary Center of dual nature encompasses the establishment of a yearly international conference and an international diagnostic, treatment, educational, and research facility. This international center aims to offer treatment, education, and care, based on best practices. Luminary researchers, clinicians, geneticists, and practitioners will convene yearly in Cyprus and share their latest research, thus enhancing international collaboration. We welcome partnerships with scientific associates, re- searchers, and institutions. For all electronic communications please contact us at: [email protected]
Gaylen Plant CEIS [email protected] Bio: Gaylen is a developmental specialist and clinical supervisor at Children's Hospital Boston’s Early Intervention Program. Gaylen received her ele- mentary and early childhood teaching degree from the University of South Dakota and received her Master’s in Child Development/Special Education with a focus on Public Policy and Advocacy for Young Chil- dren from the University of New Hampshire. Her career, supporting children and families, has spanned over 20 years and numerous states. The last ten years, she has dedicated her work to the field of early inter- vention at Children's Hospital Boston. Here, Gaylen has had the oppor- tunity to expanded her work, in an urban setting, with children ages 0 to 3 years, by receiving her certifications in The New Born Behavioral As- sessment Tool (NBO); Circle of Security Parent -Trainer and The Touch Points Model. Gaylen will complete her Infant Parent Mental Health Certification at the University of Massachusetts Boston in 2013, as well as, developing CHB’s first dog therapy play group, supporting young children with developmental delays and parent-child relationships, at the Martha Elliot Health Cen- ter in Jamaica Plain. Special Project: Title: 3B’s (Bath, Book, Bedtime): Nurturing Naturally Empowering Skills and Relationships within daily routines Our special project focuses on creating an early intervention model that empowers families to integrate developmentally informed strategies for their child. All the while, highlighting relationship building for the parent and child, within daily routines, so that children have the best chance to learn and retain new skills. Our model emphasizes family systems-centered rather than child-centered interventions by highlighting micro-moments in caregiver-child interactions. The Early Intervention specialist is modeling and supporting the importance of “playfulness” for the dyad, by using reflective practice with the parent. Our model draws from luminaries in the field of Infant Parent Mental Health and Child Development. It offers a more grounded support system to help the EI community roll towards shared process created by and with the family, leading to parent and clinician efficacy. In summary, this model is meant to support early intervention clinicians move from a coaching model to a more reflective holding model, that allows the parent to take ownership over their child’s development. We are moving from a ‘doing’ to a ‘being’ model.
Marilyn R. Sanders MD [email protected] Bio: I am a neonatologist at Connecticut Children's Medical Center and a Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine. I lecture widely on topics related to perinatal mental health, maternal and infant stress, and the Polyvagal Theory. I am currently under contract with WW. Norton, writing a book on applications of the Polyvagal Theory to pediatrics. Special Project: Title: Rori Untethered: A Family's Journey from Womb to One Year This project describes Aurora’s and her mothers’ journey through a prolonged neonatal inten- sive care unit stay. The project uses multimedia visuals/narrative/home-based observations to understand: • Meaning making of their pregnancy, hospitalization, and recovery • The impact of prolonged separation on attachment/disruption/repair • Aurora's improving tolerance of environmental stress
Tamara Sepe M.S./CCC-SLP [email protected] Bio: I have been a speech pathologist for over 10 years providing services to young children in settings including home based early intervention, preschools, a NICU, a hospital clinic and most recently private practice. Professional in- terests include learning how to help parents support early commu- nication and feeding skill development and how disability impacts caregiver/child interaction patterns. Special Project: Title: Supporting caregiver experiences of competence during interactions with language delayed children Discovery of language delay in a young child provokes anxiety in most caregivers. Many parents will also report feelings of incompetence and helplessness. Actual caregiver/child interactions can appear rigid and/or non-contingent, as the caregiver begins to focus more on missing language milestones and less on mutual engagement, thus reinforcing feelings of failure and frustration. My project follows a single case as I find ways to employ strategies and principles taught in this course to support a parent in feeling confident about using play and a responsive interaction style to support language development.
Pierina Traverso PH.D [email protected] Bio: Clinical Psychologist and Psychoanalyst from Lima Peru. She teaches in the Department of Psychology at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. She is part of Advisory Board of the Master in Psychoanalytic Intervention at the same university. She gives seminars on Infant Observation at the Peruvian Institute of Psychoanalysis. Her area of interest are parent-infant mental health, attachment, and research on process and outcomes in psychoanalytic psychotherapy. Special Project: Title: A parent-child interactive and regulational perspective to children's bedtime routines: An exploratory study in two cultural contexts The current study explored children's sleeping bedtime routines based on a parent-child interactional and regulational model (Tronick 1988). For this purpose, participants were 4 middle class first-time mothers (between 25 and 44 years old) with children between 12 and 24 months. Two dyads came from Rome (Italy) and two from Lima (Peru). Mothers completed a questionnaire ad hoc about their children with items such as sleep patterns and environment, sleep related parental interventions, sleep positions and demographic information. Mothers were interviewed with regard to their subjective experience about getting their children to sleep and their own bedtime childhood memories The study included videotaped mother-child bed- time routine observational data filmed by the mothers.