• Mon, 23 March 2026

Early Childhood Mental Health Resources

Texas Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation

Infant and early childhood mental health consultation (IECMHC) is a prevention-based approach that pairs a licensed mental health consultant with adults who work with infants and young children, in the different settings where they learn and grow, such as child care, preschool, home visiting, early intervention and their home. 

The Texas IECMHC Program equips professionals and caregivers with the skills and knowledge to facilitate children’s healthy social and emotional development. IECMH consultants develop relationships with the providers and caregivers in young children’s lives to build their capacity and skills to strengthen and support the healthy social and emotional development of children―early and before formalized intervention is needed. 

IECMHC has been shown to improve children’s social and emotional skills and functioning, promote healthy relationships between adults and children, reduce challenging behaviors, reduce the number of suspensions and expulsions from early education settings, improve classroom quality, and reduce provider stress, burnout, and turnover. 

IECMHC Program Implementation 

  • Texas IECMHC Program Manual
    This Program Manual was developed to support the creation, sustainability, and statewide alignment of an Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation (IECMHC) system in Texas. The manual establishes standards for IECMHC services across early childhood care and education (ECCE), home visiting (HV), early childhood intervention (ECI), and pediatric settings, and builds upon existing IECMHC programs throughout the state.
    • IECMHC Program Manual Map Series
      This brief video series was created for consultants, organizations, and other interested parties, to get a snapshot of the 4 sections of the Texas IECMHC Program Manual. This video series will walk viewers through each section of the manual helping to identify where to find certain material, define the various sections, and support learning. The manual is meant to set standards for IECMHC services in early childhood serving settings (ECCE, ECI, HV and Pediatric).
  • Readiness Assessment for Organizations Interested in Providing IECMHC Services 
    The purpose of this tool is to help organizations assess their readiness to provide infant and early childhood mental health consultation services. 
  • IECMHC Needs Assessment Tool for Early Childhood Programs 
    This tool aims to help an early childhood program identify strengths, areas for growth, and learning that could be supported through IECMHC.
  • IECMHC Consultant Self-Assessment Tool  
    This tool helps an early childhood mental health (IECMH) consultant and their program leadership better understand the skills, knowledge, and experience of the consultant and how these align with the expectations and standards outlined in the Texas IECMHC Program Manual (2025).
  • Texas IECMHC New Client Engagement Checklist 
    This checklist will support IECMHC consultants as they begin their work in a new setting (for classroom/group and child/family-focused cases only). An additional Companion Guide provides definitions, additional explanations, and suggestions for consultants to consider for each checklist element.

IECMHC Outreach and Engagement

IECMHC Reports 

Reflective Supervision and Practice

Reflective supervision supports high-quality early childhood program implementation by helping providers develop critical competencies and strengthen relationship-based practice. It differs from administrative supervision and is not therapy. Instead, it creates space for mental health consultants to safely reflect on experiences from the field in a supportive environment. Through these reflective partnerships, programs can improve IECMHC quality and retention while reducing the risk of secondary trauma. 

Reflective practice is a process that leads to greater self-awareness and a deeper understanding of the impact of one’s actions and interactions with others, often leading to personal and professional development and growth. This includes engaging in self-exploration to understand how one’s background and experiences impact the way one sees oneself and others. Reflective practices also include reflection on the interactions that the consultant has with children, early childhood providers, and parents/caregivers. The consultant fosters a partnership in reflection, encouraging the early childhood providers and parents/caregivers to also engage in reflection so that they, too, will better understand their own reactions to other adults and the children in their care, and they can use this self-understanding to help guide problem-solving approaches and relationship building. 

Early Childhood Systems Building

These tools and resources are intended for state agencies, community-based programs, and community coalitions to provide guidance regarding the landscape of early childhood programs in Texas and best practices for program implementation.