The Guidelines outline a framework for building a coherent foundation of the knowledge and training necessary to work with very young children and their families with a focus on early relationships and early mental health.

The knowledge domains contain examples of content within each area, along with minimum numbers of training hours required in each area. The knowledge matrices were designed to guide the development of both university-based academic coursework and free standing infant-family and early childhood mental health training programs and applied workshops through continuing education, in-service training, and clinical practice settings. Individual practitioners may document their training using any combination of academic coursework at the graduate level, workshops and continuing education courses, supervised clinical practice, internships, and post-doctorate work.