117 Evaluating Implementation of a Statewide Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Training and Teleconsultation Program

Faculty Mentor: Alysse Loomis (Social Work, University of Utah)

This summer, I collaborated with Dr. Alysse Loomis, an associate professor and researcher at the University of Utah’s College of Social Work, Evaluating Implementation of a Statewide Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Training and Teleconsultation Program. In partnership with The Children’s Center Utah (TCCU), we evaluated the effectiveness of their Tele webinars and Teleconsultation services provided to IECMH providers across both rural and urban counties in Utah. A series of focus groups were conducted; participants were carefully selected based on their engagement with either service. Participants were divided into two groups: High Tele webinar users and High Teleconsultation users. While both services were evaluated, our primary focus was to understand the engagement with teleconsultation services and the impact it has on IECMH providers.

The Children’s Center Utah (TCCU) is the sole provider that offers free trauma-informed, evidence-based mental health treatment specifically tailored to infants, toddlers, preschoolers, and their families and caregivers (The Children’s Center Utah – Children’s Mental Health Care Treatment, 2023) . As part of this work, TCCU offers free teleservices – including teleconsultations and tele webinars – to IECMH providers . These services, delivered via Zoom, are conducted by licensed clinicians to ensure professional guidance and meaningful takeaways.

Although these services are beneficial to all providers, as one top 10% user of teleconsultation services noted:

“I think teleconsultations would be actually really beneficial for anybody and everybody to do it. I don’t know that there’s any person that would not benefit from it, because, like I said, everybody’s dealing with something regularly. And if you’re having challenging families that you’re working with all the time, it’s so nice to have an outlet, to be able to learn more information and or just express the challenges that you’re feeling and be heard.” – 776; Early Intervention

Despite the service’s value, a clear pattern has been discovered: many IECMH providers engage minimally in not at all with teleconsultation services compared to tele webinars. This observation raises an important question about what truly drives provider engagement, content vs. process. To be more specific, does the information offered in webinar training eliminate the need to further understand how to apply these topics or process these topics in teleconsultations? Does the interactive nature of teleconsultation services contribute to the underutilization, despite the personal and professional benefits they offer?

My participation in this program evaluation has been both insightful and deeply meaningful to my career development. Throughout this experience, I gained valuable skills both in quantitative and qualitative data analysis, facilitated focus groups, and coded interview transcripts. The interviews I conducted were especially impactful; they exposed me to the behind-the-scenes understanding of the realities IECMH providers face. Personally, participants’ responses prompted me to think critically about organizational support and how they address the needs of their providers. I was able to witness the full impact and purpose of teleconsultation services – fostering emotional maturity, self-awareness, and compassion.

“Wouldn’t be able to do it nor would I be willing to do it. It’s I mean. if I have to have therapy for a job. The job should pay for it in my mind, or some I don’t know who should pay for it, but I’m not paying for it. I’ll find a different job in which I don’t need it. That’s that was a big thing to me, something I’ve advocated for a long time at map. Our office is mental health days, and the answer is, you have sick leave. No, this is an on the job. Mental health, injury, and I should have mental health days not to be used just frivolously, because I don’t feel like coming to work. But if a crisis were to occur in which I was somehow personally involved in. I really feel like I need this. I need the reflective consultations. I need the time to mentally recoup, because there is nothing worse than going to it from a very critical visit that has a lot of stress.” -3249; home visiting

After this experience, I’m exploring a new professional avenue that was not previously considered. This collaboration has deeply sparked my interest in the field of Social Work and the vital role across various sectors of our society.

Bibliography

The Children’s Center Utah – Children’s mental health care treatment. (2023). Tccslc.org. https://tccslc.org/