Supporting Families from the Start

Integrating Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health into the Department of Health Home Visiting Program

Early support for families with infants and young children is a cornerstone of healthy childhood development, fostering resilience and well-being that can last a lifetime. Recognizing this, the Hawaiʻi State Department of Health (DOH) has long provided a home visiting program for underserved families with newborns. These services empower parents with guidance and resources to navigate early challenges, helping them build a strong foundation for their children’s physical and emotional health.

This year, the DOH, through its Family Health Services Division, is advancing its mission by integrating Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation (IECMHC) into its Your ‘Ohana home visiting program. This initiative addresses a critical need for mental health support, especially for families facing challenges including behavioral health issues, substance use disorder, or mental illness. The integration of IECMHC will provide home visitors with the tools and training needed to better identify and support the mental health needs of Hawai‘i’s youngest keiki and their families. By focusing on prevention, early detection, and intervention, this program ensures families receive timely access to resources. Strengthening the support network will help home visitors make appropriate referrals, connect families to services, and improve care coordination, ultimately benefiting a child’s outcomes through early, targeted support.

The Your ‘Ohana home visiting program has been an early adopter of infant and early childhood mental health principles, and regularly makes trauma-informed professional development available to home visitors. This commitment is reflected in the DOH’s collaboration with the Hawai‘i Community Foundation (HCF) to co-fund the Kahewai Summit, covering registration costs year after year to ensure home visitors can benefit from this enriching professional development opportunity.

This integration of IECMHC into DOH’s home visiting program stems from a collaborative effort guided by Hawai‘i’s Integrated Infant and Early Childhood Behavioral Health Plan. Since the plan’s release in 2021, partners have worked together to design a system that best serves Hawai‘i families. This process involved an intensive work group process exploring potential models, analyzing their benefits and challenges, and creating a roadmap tailored to the unique cultural and systemic needs in Hawai‘i. The Promising Minds Initiative has been instrumental in supporting this collaboration, connecting state agencies and community organizations to advance a shared vision for integrating infant mental health into early childhood systems.

Recently, DOH announced that the Association for Infant Mental Health in Hawai‘i (AIMH HI) has been awarded the contract to provide this specialized mental health training and technical assistance to home visitors. A long-time partner of HCF’s Promising Minds, AIMH HI has successfully implemented the Promising Minds Fellows Program since 2020, significantly strengthening the state’s capacity in early childhood mental health by enhancing professionals’ skills in IECMH through best-practices training and peer support. AIMH HI’s expertise will be critical in building the knowledge and skills of home visitors working with families across Hawai‘i, enabling them to better support both children and parents. This partnership will not only strengthen the state’s home visiting program, but also reinforce the commitment of DOH to continue to prioritize the mental health of Hawai‘i’s youngest residents.

“At AIMH HI, we believe that supporting the adults who care for our youngest keiki is the key to fostering healthy, resilient communities. By integrating Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health training and consultation into Hawai‘i’s home visiting program, we’re not just enhancing the skills of providers, but also strengthening the foundational relationships that are critical in a child’s earliest years,” says Erin Henderson Lacerdo, executive director of AIMH HI. “This effort empowers home visitors to address mental health needs from the very beginning, ensuring that families receive the support they need to thrive. When we equip those who hold the hands of our babies with the right tools and knowledge, we create a ripple effect of positive outcomes that can last a lifetime.”

Set to launch in July 2025, this initiative marks a new chapter in Hawai‘i’s commitment to holistic, preventative health. It not only underscores the state’s dedication to prioritizing both physical and emotional well-being for young children, but also aligns with HCF’s broader efforts to integrate trauma-informed, resilient practices into community services. Public health is the priority for the DOH, and mental health is an essential component of that. By integrating IECMH consultation into the home visiting program, DOH is not only supporting the mental health of Hawai‘i’s youngest keiki, they are also providing vital support for the whole family.

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