About Denver Health’s Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation (ECMHC) Program
An ECMH consultant is a licensed mental health professional with expertise in early childhood mental health and social-emotional development. Consultation is a support for children, families, and school staff of Denver Great Kids Head Start programs. Denver Health’s Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation team has been supporting Denver Great Kids Head Start sites since July 2008.
ZERO to THREE defines infant and early childhood mental health (also known as social emotional health) as the developing capacity of the child from birth to five years of age to form close relationships, manage and express emotions, explore their environment, and learn. Parents and caregivers play a critical role in building children’s social emotional skills. When children and caregivers build these skills together early on, children are set up for success as they continue to grow and develop.
Children begin to develop social and emotional competencies early in life, and that development varies greatly. During this stage, children may begin to show bigger emotions, have more intense behaviors, and may struggle forming and navigating peer relationships – which in turn can overwhelm caregivers. Early childhood mental health consultation provides a number of benefits to young children and their caregivers during this time, including but not limited to: promoting healthy social-emotional development through learning critical skills that build self-regulation, empathy, and positive peer relationships; supporting caregivers with strategies to effectively address behavioral and emotional challenges in children, thereby reducing caregiver stress; supporting teachers with psychoeducation and tools to enhance positive learning environments, thereby reducing challenging behaviors in the classroom and teacher burnout; connecting families to additional community resources to enhance the support networks around them; and, most importantly, enhancing the long-term mental health and well-being of a child through this early intervention. Because of these known benefits, it is a federal regulation of Head Start to provide access to Early Childhood Mental Consultants. As a Denver Great Kids Head Start family and center, you have access to a Denver Health Early Childhood Mental Health Consultant.
If you have questions or concerns about your child's development, behaviors, or emotions and would like to receive additional supports for this, please contact your child’s school to get connected with a consultant. If you have concerns of your own and would like to connect with someone to discuss anything related to your experience as a caregiver, your current stressors or concerns, or your hopes and goals for your child, please reach out to us. We are a no-cost program that is funded by Denver Great Kids Head Start Colorado, Colorado Department of Early Childhood (CDEC), and the Buell Foundation.
Meet the ECMHC Team
Learn more about our team here.
Sites We Serve
- Catholic Charities Early Learning
- Volunteers of America Early Learning
- Family Star Montessori Early Learning
- Clayton Early Learning
- The Z Place – Sewall Early Learning
- Denver Public Schools – Early Education
- McGlone
- Pascual LeDoux Academy
- Whittier
- Smith
- Samuels
- Montclair
- Escalante-Biggs
- Ellis
- College View
- Beach Court