We Listened to Your Comments: Changing the Name of Mental Health Core Providers to Transdisciplinary Mental Health Practitioners
After careful review of the Mental Health Core Provider endorsement category and consideration and discussion of feedback from the field, the Leadership Team of the California Center determined that the name of the category should be changed to more accurately capture the training, experience and type of work of these transdisciplinary practitioners with infant-family and early childhood mental health training and experience.
This highly skilled group of practitioners includes professionals from multiple health and human service, developmental and education disciplines who provide direct services to pregnant women, infants, toddlers and preschoolers and their families. These practitioners have the most frequent contact with infants and very young children and their families and are the most likely individuals to provide promotion and preventive mental health interventions. These transdisciplinary practitioners infuse infant-family and early childhood mental health principles into their disciplinary practice and also are likely to partner with and make referrals to Infant-Family and Early Childhood Mental Health Specialists.
Therefore, to better reflect the skills and training of professionals working in multiple systems, we have changed the name of the Mental Health Core Provider category to Transdisciplinary Mental Health Practitioner.
Some Transdisciplinary Mental Health Practitioners will be endorsed as advanced based on their experience, training, knowledge and other related degrees or certifications. Those candidates previously endorsed as Mental Health Core Providers will be reviewed and receive a new endorsement either as a Transdisciplinary Infant-Family or Early Childhood Mental Health Practitioner or an Advanced Transdisciplinary Infant-Family or Early Childhood Mental Health Practitioner.
Posted by Leadership Team members:
Karen Moran Finello, PhD and Patsy Hampton, MRA
Please contact the Center if you have any questions, cacenter-ecmh@wested.org.