IFECMH Core Providers include professionals who have a Bachelor’s degree or higher, or extensive training and 8 to 10 years of experience in reflective facilitation in a related field. IFECMH Core Providers practice in multiple human development and education disciplines including early intervention, nursing, occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech and language pathology, special education, human development, audiology, social work, and pediatrics. They work with pregnant women, infants, toddlers, and preschoolers and their families and they have achieved the Core Provider mental health competencies described in the Guidelines.

Core Providers are the professionals with the most frequent contact with infants and very young children and their families. They are the most likely individuals to provide promotion and preventive mental health interventions and to partner with and make referrals to IFECMH specialists. IFECMH Core Provider guidelines are also appropriate for infant and early childhood researchers, policy analysts, and advocates.

IFECMH Specialists include individuals from relevant professional practice disciplines who have a Master’s degree or higher and/or a license/credential, and who have achieved the mental health specialist competencies recommended in the Guidelines.

IFECMH Specialists include, but are not limited to, professionals in the mental health fields. They provide prenatal, infant-family, and early childhood mental health services within their scope of practice in the areas of promotion, preventive intervention, and treatment.

Reflective Practice Facilitation is an individual or small group integrative experience that supports the practitioner to explore ways to apply relevant theories and knowledge bases to clinical situations; to model an appreciation of the importance of relationships that are at the core of infant-family and early childhood mental health; to reflect the experiences, thoughts, and feelings involved in doing this work; to understand the family’s culture and the parent’s and infant’s interpersonal perspective; and to explore possible approaches to working effectively with infants and families. It is acknowledged that the dynamics of the reflective practice facilitation relationship will in turn influence practitioner/family relationships and thus, the IFECMH Reflective Practice Facilitator must embody ways of being that are considered best practice for infant-family and early childhood mental health practitioners.

IFECMH Reflective Practice Facilitators are those who support the reflective practice of individuals working with infants, toddlers, and young children and their families, and who themselves have training and experience as infant mental health specialists or core providers, as well as an additional set of trainings and competencies focusing on the reflective practice facilitation process. This role is similar to that of a clinical supervisor, but does not necessarily involve the same set of responsibilities.