When a colleague approached then Wayne State undergrad China Cargile, B.S.W. '14, M.S.W. '15, with a campus brochure about the university's dual-title degree in infant mental health (IMH), she had no idea what infant mental health was. All she knew was that she wanted a master's degree in social work and to work with children—a desire sparked by working in the foster care system for her bachelor's.

"There was a mom there who was jumping through so many hoops to see her baby," Cargile says. "She'd be there about four times a week. She only got two hours and was traveling more than she got actual visit time. I really wanted to be a voice for that mom. Before I knew about infant mental health, I didn't know how I would become this voice."

Intrigued to learn more about IMH, Cargile met with a clinical coordinator who told her all about the program.

"Infant mental health refers to the ways in which young children, from birth to around 5 years of age, develop socially and eotionally within the context of the central relationships in their lives," says Carolyn Dayton, associate director of the Infant Mental Health Program and associate professor in the School of Social Work. How caregivers interact with infants impacts language and cognitive development, self-regulation capacities and motor development, she says.

Wayne State's dual-title in IMH is the only one of its kind in the U.S., says Ann Stacks, director for the IMH program at the Merrill Palmer Skillman Institute.

"It allows students to augment their learning in their primary discipline-social work, psychology or nursing-with a focused course of study about how infants, toddlers and young children develop in the context of relationships, assessment of infants and relationships, and interventions that support caregiving and development," Stacks says. At the master's level, students work with families and specialize in clinical training that prepares them to become endorsed infant mental health practitioners via the Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health. Doctoral students focus on research and policy. Specialized courses inform them of the complexities that influence the formative years of children and how to best frame their research to better inform families, communities and agencies, Stacks says.

Cargile had found a way to be that voice. "I thought, 'Oh, this is perfect, bringing moms and babies together!'"

She signed up.

For field placements, students are paired with IMH programs at community agencies that then pair them with families exposed to risk factors, Dayton says, whether parental such as postpartum depression, infant such as developmental delays or extreme fussiness, or contextual such as living in poverty or among family violence.

Cargile was paired with a mother struggling to communicate with her child.

"He was three years old and his expressive language was that of a one year old. I helped [the mom] understand that he hears you OK, he understands when you say, 'Go pick up your toys,' but he can't express to you he's hungry, so he cries."

Learning a child has a developmental delay serves as a blow to parents, Cargile says, but IMH clinicians can help them through it by providing literature, reminding them to praise the small victories and helping them discover those ah-ha moments.

"'Hey, maybe he's not going to sleep at night because you're leaving the TV on.' They do a week without the TV and say, 'Oh, he slept through the night!'"

Building relationships with the families was Cargile's favorite part.

She recalls her pairing with a young pregnant woman who had experienced abuse at the hands of her baby's father.

"During her pregnancy, she would say negative things about, 'Oh I hope this baby doesn't look like his daddy, I'm not going to love him.'"

Cargile helped the woman process her trauma and work past projecting these negative feelings onto the baby.

"When she had this little person, I saw her whole world melt. She became this protective person over this little person. She'd say things like 'I didn't know I could love anybody this strong.'"

Now, Cargile is working at Starfish Family Services as a home-based IMH clinician who sees about ten families a week.

"I do infant parent psychotherapy, trauma therapy-everything I did in my program at Wayne State, I do now. I'm a little more seasoned now, though," she laughs.

She explains why IMH was such an important building block for her education in social work and why she recommends it for all pursuing healthcare professions.

"It helps you understand the behaviors of the family dynamic. You're in their world from the outset."

The formative years of a child begin at home and will largely dictate the relationships they will make later in life as well as the adults they will become. Getting a jumpstart on human development by assessing, intervening and supporting infant development can make all the difference.