In an effort to create opportunities to support our community providers to develop a better understanding of how to support infants, toddlers, and their families, Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services has developed a series of foundational trainings. These trainings are intended to introduce to providers to topics important for infant mental health, but do not represent all the training that may be appropriate for providers to develop an expertise for this population.
The trainings are meant for staff interacting with pregnant & parenting women and their infants. These are introductory trainings that help provide a lens for understanding this work and how to hold the infant’s perspective as part of this work. These trainings would benefit those working in Child Welfare; Juvenile Court Systems; Substance Use Services; Medical Providers including doctors, nurses, or other allied health professionals; Social Workers; Early Interventionists; and anyone else supporting families of infants/toddlers who may be at risk for entering the Child Welfare system.
Both of these trainings will be led by Dr. Tessa Chesher D.O., IMH-E. Dr. Chesher is an associate clinical professor at Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. She is dually board-certified in general psychiatry as well as child and adolescent psychiatry. She received her general psychiatry training at the University of Oklahoma School of Community Medicine and her child and adolescent psychiatry training at Tulane University School of Medicine where she also completed a Harris Fellowship in Infant and Early Childhood Psychiatry.
| September Trainings | ||||
| Day | Date | Time | Training | Registration Link |
| Wednesday | September 1st | 8:30-12:30 | Keeping Babies in Mind While Working with Parents | http://registration.xenegrade.com/odmhsastraininginstitute/coursedisplay.cfm?schID=3821 |
| Keeping Babies in Mind Training Description: The goal of this training is to build a foundation of knowledge in parent-child relationships to create holistic plans of safe care for families. Participants will learn the unique mental health needs of infants and young children, which are directly related to the needs of parents. Participants will also identify key basics of development and attachment and will explore how early experiences are related to later health and well-being through lecture, discussion and activities. One of the primary goals of the training will be putting these pieces together so that treatment planning can be strengthened to improve outcomes for families. The target audience is service providers or individuals who are working with parents who are also receiving substance abuse services.
Objectives: |
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| Day | Date | Time | Training | Registration Link |
| Wednesday | September 8th | 8:30-12:30 | Looking at Diversity through the Lens of Trauma and Resilience while Supporting Parents and Babies | http://registration.xenegrade.com/odmhsastraininginstitute/coursedisplay.cfm?schID=3823 |
| Looking at Diversity Training Description: To fully support infants, children, and families it is necessary to intentionally address diversity, trauma, and resilience. Participants of this training will begin by viewing the documentary, Resilience, which will set the stage to discuss the multiple effects of trauma and how trauma is passed down inter-generationally. Through this trauma informed lens, the Diversity-Informed Infant Mental Health Tenets will be discussed. Participants will be encouraged to participate in activities and discussion in small groups as they examine how their lens affects their work of supporting pregnant and parenting women, their families, and their infants. | ||||
NOTE Effective September 1st, 2017:
- To have the $25 fee removed everyone must enter the Promo Code TICOMP25
- Once you enter the promo code make sure you hit recalculate and it should remove the $25 fee and be at no cost
- If someone No Shows or doesn’t cancel their attendance with less than a 48 hour notice, then the Training Institute will put the $25 fee back on their account and send an invoice