Child & Infant Mental Health & Development

“A person's a person no matter how small” - Dr Seuss.

In New Zealand early childhood centres are moving more and more to a primary carer model and incorporating responsive caregiving as part of this model of care. Now more than ever caregivers and early childhood educators are seeking to learn more about child and infant mental health and its impact on the development of children over their lifetime.

In this course, you will learn about what infant mental health is and why it is important. You will explore the risk and protective factors for children's mental health increasing your ability to identify factors that might impact the children in your care. We talk about how caregiving styles and your way of relating might impact how you respond to what children need. We will explore a well known map to caregiving that gives you a simple way to reflect on what the child in your care needs in a particular moment.