The Early Childhood Consultation Partnership’s (ECCP®) Consultation services are available on a continuum of care to include, center-wide services, classroom services, or individual child services. The consultations which are provided by Master’s-level mental health professionals are provided following a request for services. Families, providers, educators, or directors may request a service. The service level provided by ECCP® is based on the needs of the individual or program seeking services.
Services may last anywhere from 6 weeks (Child) to 14 weeks (Classroom) to 9 months (Center). For each service, ECCP® seeks to build capacity through partnerships in order to meet the social emotional and/or behavioral needs of young children. Specific consultation topics may range anywhere from aggressive behavior in children, to the tone of a classroom and responsiveness of teaching staff, or to the supports a center director would like to provide their staff.
About Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation
Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation covers a spectrum of service types along the mental health service continuum. These include Early Childhood Mental Health promotion, prevention, and early intervention.
Defining Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation: A problem-solving and capacity-building intervention implemented within a collaborative relationship between a professional consultant with early childhood mental health expertise and one or more caregivers, typically an early care and education provider and/or family member. Early childhood mental health consultation aims to build the capacity (improve the ability) of staff, families, programs, and systems to prevent, identify, treat and reduce the impact of mental health problems among children from birth to age 6 and their families. (Adapted from Cohen & Kaufmann, 2000)
1. Adapted from Parlakian, P. and Seibel, N.L. (2002). Building Strong Foundations, Practical Guidance for Promoting the Social-Emotional Development of Infants and Toddlers.