On Wednesday 1 May 2019, at the Houses of Parliament, the Association for Infant Mental Health UK (AIMH) launched the UK Infant Mental Health Competencies Framework (IMHCF): Pregnancy to 2 years.
The competencies framework has been created by the Association for Infant Mental Health, AIMH (UK) and the International Training School for Infancy and the Early Years (ITSIEY).
The framework has been developed so all staff working with infants and their parent/s/caregivers can support them to promote healthy infant development. The aim is to enable staff to hold ‘an infant mental health frame of mind’; this means being able to maintain the perspective not only of the parent but also that of the baby. Practitioners need the capacity to maintain a focus on the parent-infant relationship as a dynamic system, and to be able to apply interventions flexibly in line with the strengths, vulnerabilities and wider social context of each infant, parent and family.
The IMHCF features 63 competencies which are divided into seven areas:
- relationship-based practice
- normal and atypical development
- factors that influence caregiving
- assessment of caregiving
- supporting caregiving
- reflective practice and supervision
- working within relevant legal and professional framework
Three graded levels to each competency allow the framework to cater for staff working in a variety of roles to support the socio-emotional development of infants:
- Level 1: general knowledge and skills (for early years practitioners)
- Level 2: advanced knowledge and skills (for nursery managers, health visitors, midwives etc)
- Level 3: the knowledge and skills required to supervise and manage (for parent-infant psychotherapists and specialist health visitors)
Self-assessment grids are provided for each level to record whether practitioners have ‘achieved’ a competency or are ‘working towards’ it.
The IMHCF will be piloted by a selection of infant mental healthcare practitioners before being offered more widely. For more information on the pilot, contact info@aimh.org.uk