Early Childhood Mental Health Testimonial Videos

The Colorado Lab provided guidance and support to the Colorado Department of Early Childhood (CDEC) in creating two new videos about Early Childhood Mental Health (ECMH) Consultation. The videos aim to grow understanding about how ECMH Consultation helps early childhood professionals and families across the state promote the mental health and healthy social-emotional development of young children.
These brief videos feature the voices of families as well as early childhood directors, teachers, and ECMH consultants sharing their personal and professional experiences with consultation, including the insights they have gained and their recommendation for this no-cost service.

• Director- and teacher-focused video (English; Español; Arabic) – In their own words, early childhood professionals share about the benefits of ECMH Consultation, how they make time for these services, and how consultation services increase their team’s capacity to care for their own well-being and promote the healthy social-emotional development of all the infants and young children in their care.
• Family-focused video (English; Español; Arabic) – Families hear from consultants and other parents about ECMH Consultation services, what to expect when working with a consultant, and how consultation services have helped many families just like theirs to build important early childhood skills such as managing big emotions, resolving conflict, making friends and more.

“Hearing directly from those who have received ECMH Consultation helps to paint a clear picture about the services, eases potential concerns, and helps other families and early childhood professionals to better understand that everyone has mental health, even babies,” said Dr. Lisa Schlueter, Early Childhood Mental Health Unit Manager. “In the same way that we nurture children’s physical health—with healthy food, plenty of rest, and exercise—it is also important to take care of their mental health. These services strengthen the ability of caregivers of young children (birth to six) to support their healthy social-emotional development, identify and address mental health and developmental issues early, and decrease child behaviors they find challenging.”

For more information, visit MentalHealthStartsEarly.com or contact the Early Childhood Mental Health Support Line at (833)-ECMH411, or reach out to Dr. Kristin Klopfenstein to learn more about Colorado Lab supports for CDEC and the Early Childhood Mental Health unit.