PROVIDENCE – Recognizing a growing body of evidence of the value of healthy family relationships and preventive intervention to support children’s social and emotional development, Brown University has launched a new training program for clinicians working with infants.

The new infant and child mental health post-baccalaureate certificate program, created by the Brown Center for the Study of Children at Risk, at Women & Infants Hospital, offers two years of classroom and clinical experience in the field, with an optional research track.

It is geared to licensed master’s and doctoral-level professionals and those training for licensure in psychology, psychiatry, pediatrics, nursing, social work, occupational therapy, physical therapy, early intervention and speech pathology.

“Infant mental health encompasses an increasing arena of practice, including the promotion of healthy relationships, preventive-intervention with families who are at increased risk for social-emotional delays, and treatment that employs a range of parent-infant therapy, said Dr. Barry M. Lester, director of the center and a Brown professor of psychiatry and pediatrics.

“This relatively new field is growing rapidly,” he added, “and we developed this … program … to serve the educational needs of a broad range of clinicians and researchers.”

The program includes a two-year seminar and a two-year practicum, plus a research track if desired, and two summer workshops. It focuses on the science of infant mental health, including history, theory, research and evolving practice in the field.

The practicum will allow participants to work with the center and other services at Women & Infants and other hospitals that address the complex situations that contribute to an infant being considered “at-risk” for mental health disorders.

For example, participants might work with the cry and sleep (colic) clinic, the autism spectrum disorders clinic, or the vulnerable infants program, as well as the Women & Infants NICU developmental therapy clinic and the neonatal follow-up program.

In addition, Bradley Hospital’s early childhood clinical research center and pediatric partial hospital and Hasbro Children’s Hospital’s primary care program will be involved.

More information about the program is available on Brown’s Web site.