PITTSBURGH — According to organizations like Zero to Three: The National Center for Infants, Toddlers and Families, scientists and researchers have found that the first three years of life are critical to human development. Literally trillions of neural connections are made, and the foundations of personality and behavior are born. The development of the future individual — even at infancy — is directly impacted by the care and interaction a child receives from parents and adults.

Both President Obama and Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell have emphasized their support for early childhood care and education, especially within the critical years from birth to three. To bring greater attention to the need for intervention during these formative years, Chatham University's College for Continuing & Professional Studies will host its First Annual Infant Mental Health (IMH) Conference. The conference is a product of Chatham's distinctive Infant Mental Health Certificate Program, which focuses on relationship-based training in order to promote optimal development of infants and families and will gather together IMH specialists from across Pennsylvania.

Chatham's IMH conference will be Saturday, July 25 & Sunday, July 26, 2009 at its Shadyside Campus and is open to medical and psychological practitioners of all disciplines. For more information visit www.chatham.edu/imh or call 412-365-1147.

Infant Mental Health (IMH) is an interdisciplinary field dedicated to promoting the social and emotional well-being of infants and families within the context of secure and nurturing relationships. IMH services support the growth of healthy attachment relationships in early infancy, reducing the risk of developmental psychopathology and enhancing enduring strengths. In addition, IMH services identify and provide services to high-risk infants and their caregivers.

"Every day we are learning how our social and emotional development as adults is directly impacted by those who cared and nurtured us as infants," explains Robert Gallen, Ph.D., Director of Chatham's IMH program and associate professor of psychology. "Infant mental health is an interdisciplinary approach to addressing the support, caring and intervention needed for the most fragile among us — our infant children."

The IMH conference will be feature experts in the field, including:

• Keynote: Michael Trout, Director of the Infant-Parent Institute Inc.
• Gerard Costa, Ph.D., The YCS Institute for Infant and Preschool Mental Health
• Gilbert M. Foley, Ed.D., Associate Professor of School-Clinical Child Psychology at The Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology of Yeshiva University/Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Consulting Clinical Director for the Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation and Treatment Program of The New York Center for Child Development
• Katherine L. Wisner, M.D., M.S., University of Pittsburgh, Director, Women's Behavioral HealthCARE; Professor of Psychiatry, Obstetrics and Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, Epidemiology and Women's Studies; Investigator, Magee Women's Research Institute; Adjunct Faculty, RAND Corporation Pittsburgh; President, Marce International Society

The Conference schedule includes the following topics:

Saturday, July 25, 2009

• What Every New Mother Wishes Her Pediatrician or OB Would Ask Her About Her Baby
• The Effects of Poverty on Parent-Child Attachment and Child Development
• The NICU Experience: What it Means for Infants and Families
• Strategies to Promote Reflective Practices
• Routine Based Care — Developing a Home Program Within the Family Routine

Sunday, July 26, 2009

• Helping the Foster Child through Relationship-Based Activities
• Exceptional Parents for Exceptional Children — Changing the Picture of the "Perfect" Child
• Dialectical Behavior Therapy with Depressed Mothers
• The Visual & Behavioral Characteristics of Children with Cortical Visual Impairment
• Heart Transplantation Affects the Child and Family: Schools Can Help
• Sensory Integration on a Shoestring Budget
• Infant Mental Health Concerns in Adoption and Foster Care
• Infants and Toddlers in Early Care and Education Programs: Helping them Through Experiences of Loss
• A Multi-Method Treatment Approach for Early Childhood Mental Health
• The Continuum of Prenatal to Early Childhood Substance Exposure
• Early Relational Trauma in Children's Artwork and Play
• Family Focused Grief Counseling
• Identifying Autism Spectrum Disorders in Infancy
• From Sports Fans to Nurturers: An Early Head Start Program's Evolution Toward Father Involvement
• Less than Zero: The Role of Prenatal Development in Infant Mental Health

Chatham's First Annual IMH Conference is presented in collaboration with:

• PA Department of Public Welfare Offices of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL) and Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (OMHSAS)
• Pittsburgh Association for the Education of Young Children
• University of Pittsburgh Early Head Start
• The Matilda Theiss Child Development Center of Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic of UPMC
• Allegheny County Department of Human Services-Starting Early Together Program
• The Alliance for Infants and Toddlers
• Greater Pittsburgh Psychological Association
• Magee-Women's Hospital of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
• University of Pittsburgh Office of Child Development
• Council of Three Rivers American Indian Centers, Early Head Start