Endorsement
Learn More About Endorsement
Endorsement® gives you a credential you can take with you throughout your career to demonstrate your proficiency in the field of Infant & Early Childhood Mental Health.
It’s built on the idea of ensuring all professionals who work with infants, young children and their families — regardless of their training discipline — share a core set of competencies.* These core competencies include theoretical foundations; law, regulation & agency policy; systems expertise; direct service skills; working with others; communicating; thinking; and reflection.
*The materials supporting the Competency Guidelines® are copyrighted by the Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health (MI-AIMH). MACMH-IEC is able to make these materials available to our membership and collaborators through a licensing agreement with the MI-AIMH. Copyright law does allow individuals to print out or make ONE copy of copyrighted material for personal, non-commercial purposes only. None of the copyrighted Endorsement® documents included here may be reproduced, displayed, distributed or otherwise used in any format, including electronically, without the express written consent of MI-AIMH. Legal action will be taken against those who violate the copyright.
What does the Endorsement® process look like?
The Endorsement process includes preparing a professional portfolio of materials — degrees, coursework, training, in-services, work experience, reflective supervision and professional references — that is then reviewed by professional reviewers.
Those pursuing the Infant & Early Childhood Mental Health Mentor pathways must also complete a three-hour written exam that includes multiple choice questions, and clinical, policy or faculty/research vignettes to assess your knowledge, skills and competencies.
To learn more about what the Endorsement process could look like for you, explore our Endorsement pathway options in the next tab, submit your information into this form, or join a meeting during our Endorsement office hours.
Want to learn more about Endorsement® or have a question on your current application?
Please send us an email at endorsement@macmh.org.
Choose an Endorsement Pathway
No matter what your job title, there’s an Endorsement pathway for you. Deciding on the best endorsement path depends on your professional experience as well as your scope of work and your professional goals. Deciding which pathway is best for you can be done in collaboration with our endorsement coordinator. Reach out to endorsement@macmh.org to get started!
In the meantime, you can review this chart to get a sense of the Endorsement categories and their corresponding requirements.
Endorsement Categories & Requirements
The mentor categories require an exam. Applicants have 12 months to take the exam once their exam package is purchased. Exam packages are purchased after your application has been reviewed. If you have any questions about this process, please email endorsement@macmh.org
Endorsement Application & Fees
Everyone who pursues Endorsement will complete an application which highlights the ways that they meet the competency requirements. Once complete, the application is reviewed by professional reviewers. Those pursuing the Infant/Early Childhood Mental Health Mentor pathways must also complete a written exam.
Application Fees
Complete you application by any of the following dates to have your application reviewed the following month: January 31, April 30, July 31, September 30.
Scholarship Opportunities
As a nonprofit organization that supports a wide variety of communities across the state of Minnesota & beyond, we understand that cost can be a barrier when seeking Infant/Early Childhood Mental Health Endorsement that can prevent early childhood professionals from reaching their full potential.
Occasionally MACMH receives funding to support those who are interested in pursuing endorsement. When those opportunities are available they will be published on this website.
Start the Endorsement Process
Registry of Endorsed Professionals
MACMH-IEC proudly recognizes the following professionals who have earned I/ECMH Endorsement ® and proven their competency in the infant/early childhood-family field. The MACMH-IEC Endorsement for Culturally Sensitive, Relationship-focused Practice Promoting Infant/Early Childhood Mental Health (I/ECMH-E®) is intended to recognize experiences that lead to competency in the infant/early childhood-family field. It does not replace licensure or certification, but instead is meant as evidence of a specialization in this field. The MACMH-IEC Endorsement® is cross-sector and multidisciplinary including professionals from child and/or human development, education, nursing, pediatrics, psychiatry, psychology, social work, and others. Endorsement® indicates an individual’s efforts to specialize in the promotion/practice of infant/early childhood mental health within his/her own chosen discipline.
Endorsement involves a standardized process to determine that a professional has accumulated specialized experiences in the infant and early childhood field and has signed a Code of Ethics. All applicants receive a copy of the Code of Ethics. An applicant’s experiences are documented by the submission of an application that details competency-based training, specialized work experiences, and for most, reflective supervision/consultation (RSC) experiences. The application also includes official transcripts and three reference ratings. Endorsees as Infant Mental Health Specialist and Infant Mental Health Mentor have passed an exam that includes measures of theoretical knowledge, direct service skills, and their capacity to apply these principles into practice. This exam is scored by a team of two reviewers who are blind to the identity of the examinee. To maintain Endorsement also requires ongoing training and, in the cases of Infant/Early Childhood Family Specialist, Infant/Early Childhood Mental Health Specialist and Infant/Early Childhood Health Mentor-Clinical, ongoing RSC. Endorsees are also required to re-commit to upholding the Code of Ethics annually. Beginning in January of 2022, this commitment includes signing an attestation that the endorsee has not been sanctioned by a licensing board.
Endorsement is not a professional license or a certificate. Endorsement cannot guarantee the quality of service of any endorsed professional. Endorsement does not include a process by which complaints or concerns regarding ethics can be filed. If MACMH-IEC becomes aware of possible ethics violations by an endorsed professional, complainants are encouraged to, when applicable, contact the individual’s professional licensing board. Endorsement does not offer monitoring for ethics violations, however if MACMH-IEC learns that an endorsed professional has been sanctioned by a licensing board, the individual’s name is moved to the Inactive Endorsement Registry.