Infant Mental Health Treatment Strategies and Parent-Infant Attachment: Evidence for the Effectiveness of Services

This Conference is Sponsored by:
Wayne State University's Merrill-Palmer Skillman Institute
Michigan Department of Community Health

Recently, research has suggested that parents may benefit more from shorter services and that attachment, particularly disorganized attachment is resistant to change and may not be changed by infant mental health services. At the same time, however clinicians feel strongly that they can and do improve parent-child relationships and infant emotional development. The relationships that parents form with their infants are critical to healthy infant development in all domains, particularly infant emotional development. The development of a secure attachment is an important emotional milestone and one that Infant Mental Health specialists work closely with parents to foster in infants. This presentation will briefly review attachment theory and discuss new findings from research related to the following: parent sensitivity and a secure attachment; the relationship between attachment and neurobiology; treatment strategies designed to enhance parent-child attachment relationships. Research supporting infant mental health services and challenging the effectiveness of these services will be reviewed.

To register and see session costs and conference information please download the Brochure A Training Series for Professionals who Work with Infants and Toddlers PDF (858k)

Questions? Contact Reta Collins at 313-872-1790 or
Reta Collins Email: reta.collins@wayne.edu

Trainers:

Presenter: Ann M. Stacks, Ph.D.