Stein Tikun Olam Infant-Family Mental Health Initiative
Project Description
The mission of the Stein Tikun Olam Infant-Family Mental Health Initiative is to create and implement a model for infusing infant-family mental health throughout a children’s hospital setting and disseminate the model through training and workforce development. Established by a gift made to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles by philanthropists Gene P. and Mindy Stein through the Tikun Olam Foundation, the Initiative includes a Training Core and a Services Core.
Training Core: The Training Core teaches best infant-family and early childhood practices to health care, behavioral health care, and allied health professionals at CHLA and beyond. Components include:
- Establishment of a new two-year psychology postdoctoral fellowship placement focused on integrating Infant Mental Health and Pediatric Psychology, within the existing American Psychological Association -accredited psychology postdoctoral fellowship at CHLA.
- Delivery of curricula in infant mental health principles and practices for fellows in developmental-behavioral pediatrics and child psychiatry at CHLA.
- Consultation and training to pediatricians in the CHLA community primary care network.
Services Core: The Initiative focuses on evidence-based and promising innovative approaches to enhance infant development and relationships within the family, as well as between medical and behavioral health providers and the families they serve. Funding from the Stein Tikun Olam Infant-Family Mental Health Initiative, together with The Atlas Family Foundation and the UniHealth Foundation, have enabled us to develop a full continuum of mental health care from prenatal to hospital to home for infants with special healthcare needs and their families in the following settings.
Prenatal:
- Fetal Maternal Center
- Fetal Cardiology
Inpatient:
- Newborn and Infant Critical Care Unit (NICCU) at CHLA
- Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center
- Cardiothoracic Intensive Care Unit (CTICU) and CV Acute unit
- Consultation-Liaison Service
Outpatient:
- Newborn Follow-up Program
- Community Mental Health program
- Developmental and Behavioral Health Clinic
- Jackie and Gene Autry Orthopedic Center
Additional Information
Funding: Foundation
Project Duration: 2015 -2025
Collaborators:
Tikun Olam Foundation
The Atlas Family Foundation
UniHealth Foundation https://unihealthfoundation.org/
Fetal-Maternal Center https://www.chla.org/fetal-maternal-center
CHLA Newborn and Infant Critical Care Unit
CHLA Newborn Follow-up Program
CHLA Orthopedic Center https://www.chla.org/orthopedic-center
CHLA Psychology Postdoctoral Fellowship Training https://www.chla.org/fellowship/clinical-child-psychology-postdoctoral-fellowship
Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center https://www.hollywoodpresbyterian.com/our-services/maternity-services-at-cha-hollywood-presbyterian-medical-center/nicu-and-high-risk-pregnancy/
Publications:
Ash J & Williams ME. Policies and systems support for infant mental health in the care of fragile infants and their families. Newborn and Infant Nursing Reviews, 16(4), 316-321, 2016.
Ashby, B., Scott, S., & Lakatos, P. P. (2016). Infant mental health in prenatal care. Newborn & Infant Nursing Reviews, 16, 264-268.
Lakatos PP, Matic T, Carson MC, Williams ME. Building relationships: Integrating infant mental health services in a newborn and infant critical care unit. ZERO TO THREE Journal, 38(1), 19-25, 2017.
Lakatos P, Matic T, Carson MC, Williams ME. Child-Parent Psychotherapy with infants hospitalized in the neonatal care unit. Journal of Clinical Psychology in Medical Settings, 26(4), 584-96, 2019. PMID: 30941622.
Driver M, Mikhail S, Carson MC, Lakatos PP, Matic TM, Chin S, Williams ME. Infant-family mental health in the NICU: A mixed methods study exploring referral pathways and family engagement. Journal of Neonatal and Perinatal Nursing, 35(1), 68-78, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1097/JPN.0000000000000545