Linking Infant/Family Mental Health Services: Revisiting Ohioʼs Experience

This article traces Ohio's progress since 1994 toward integrating an Infant Mental Health (IMH) perspective into its early intervention and mental health service programs for families with very young children. An Infant/Family Mental Health Subcommittee was formed to accomplish this mission and to promote collaborative relationship-based services, teaching, and research across disciplines serving families with young children. This article traces the path our subcommittee has taken across these 8 years; discusses the means by which we have continued to foster advocacy, research, service, and training in IMH; and describes our ultimate transformation into an independent not-for-profit organization, the Ohio Association for Infant Mental Health (OAIMH). The advantages and disadvantages of working with those in state and local government, whose policies and programs directly impact families with young children, are considered. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT] Key words: advocacy, child psychiatry, early intervention (education), infant mental health