Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation and Treatment

Consultation

Ohio implemented the Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation (ECMHC) Program in 2000. The primary goal of ECMHC is to increase knowledge, awareness, resources and skills necessary for communities to meet the behavioral health needs of young children and their families. The program’s objectives are to build protective factors in young children, increase skills of parents and promote the competencies of early childhood providers, especially for children ages birth to six years who are at risk for abuse, neglect and poor social and emotional health. ECMHC targets the healthy social and emotional development of all young children in Ohio to ensure they thrive and are ready for school.

Qualitative and quantitative findings from a wide array of evaluative measures demonstrate the following strengths in the Early Childhood Mental Health Program:

  • Consultation services and training are flexible to meet the needs of parents, early childhood centers, community organizations and schools.
  • Specialists are a knowledgeable, skilled and stable manpower resource.
  • Resources employ strength-based beliefs and practices.
  • Programs are predominantly evidence-based.
  • Ohio’s early childhood mental health is rooted in long-standing and valued relationships with early childhood communities.

In 2007, ECMH providers reported that child-specific consultations were provided for 1,163 children at risk of being removed from an early childhood setting. Of these, 1,044 children received consultation services, and approximately 90% remained in their settings.

Back to top

Consultant Roles, Responsibilities and Goals
ECMH consultants collaborate with early childhood providers to help them understand and problem-solve challenging child behaviors, both in and out of the classroom. Consultants provide a receptive atmosphere to explore cultural differences and workplace conflicts and help others. They also provide staff with specialized workshops, training, support groups and team-building exercises. In addition, consultants assist early childhood providers in understanding and incorporating mental health perspectives in their work and to use their own roles, skills and experience to:

  • Foster positive learning and the development of each child through careful observation
  • Implement strategies that enhance development of each child
  • Build relationships and communicate with parents
  • Seek further consultation when necessary

Services
Services include on-site child/family focused technical assistance to parents, teachers and staff; resources for parents, including art therapy, play therapy or physical health referrals and training and professional development. Consultants offer interventions for children and respond to the centers’ programming needs, which include providing family enrichment activities and modeling helpful interactions with children.

Logic Model Development
In 2007, a series of five regional interactive trainings entitled “Building the Framework: Using Logic Models for Comprehensive Evaluation of Early Childhood Mental Health Programs" introduced the use of logic models to link Early Childhood Mental Health program activities with client and program outcome data. The logic models lay the foundation for future state funding and required reporting, and participants were encouraged to examine how their programs produce outcomes required by the Ohio Department of Mental Health Early Childhood Mental Health Initiatives. An additional two Logic Model follow-up sessions were held to share the results of the regional forums and to gather additional comments. The report has been finalized and has been used to assist in providing evidence of ECMH effectiveness.

State Logic Model Overview 
State Plan for ECMH Consultation Services Logic Model

Treatment

Funds were earmarked in the FY 08-09 state budget for ECMH Treatment. An request-for-referral process resulted in 11 boards being recommended to receive funds for an 18-month project. Additional funds were located and two additional boards will also be funded for FY 09. The grant’s purpose is the implementation of evidence-based practice in Ohio through increasing availability and penetration of early childhood mental health treatment. This grant seeks to support and enhance a significant public investment in the health and education of Ohio’s youngest children and their families. Early childhood initiatives are a top priority in Ohio.

Goals:

  • To meet the treatment needs of young children and their parents identified through the early childhood mental health consultation process
  • To further develop the local system of care for young children
  • To acquire data on treatment access and outcomes for this target population

Objectives:

  • To employ effective and promising practice models of ECMHT
  • To share results and encourage replication of successful ECMHT approaches

Expected Outcomes:

  • Demonstrate effective treatment and support interventions for the target populations (birth to age 7)
  • Enhance local systems of care for young children and their families
  • Implement best practices and evidence-based treatment approaches that offer a model for other providers of ECMHT services; that reduce the number of children removed from early care and educational settings due to behavioral health concerns and that increase access to ECMHT. For those young children served, increases in protective factors and decreases in behavioral concerns are anticipated. Parent satisfaction with services is also expected.

Back to top

Resources and Forms

Reporting and evaluation forms:

Previous Early Childhood Mental Health reports:

Back to top