FILE - Students walk on the South Park Blocks at Portland State University on November 4, 2025.
Tiffany Camhi / OPB
Conversations about mental health may include adolescents or children, but they rarely focus on babies or toddlers. A graduate program at Portland State University is teaching child care professionals to do just that.
The Infant/Toddler Mental Health graduate certificate is designed to help educators, social workers, counselors and other early childhood specialists foster strong connections between caregivers and their children during the earliest stages of life. Research shows that consistent, loving feedback from caregivers helps build neural connections that support communication and emotional resilience as a child grows up.
We talk with Melissa Williams, an early intervention specialist with the Multnomah Early Childhood Program, and Sally Guyon, the co-coordinator of the Early Childhood: Inclusive Education master’s program and an assistant professor of early childhood care and education at PSU.
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