News

The Infant Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation (IECMH) has released resources and information in observance of April’s National Child Abuse Prevention Month.

Learn More

To honor the month – which raises awareness about child abuse and to promote prevention – IECMH’s latest newsletter explores what can be done to support families and children, from sharing resources on the importance of relationships and resilience to protect children from harm to supporting children who have experienced abuse or trauma.

One resource is a chart that focuses on ACEs – which stands for adverse childhood experiences, such as abuse, neglect, or household dysfunction. It is coupled with a description by the Ohio Center of Excellence for Behavioral Health Prevention & Promotion of the differences between ACEs, PCEs (positive childhood experiences), and PACEs (protective and compensatory experiences). There is also further reading on PCEs by the American Psychiatric Association Foundation.

The IECMH also provides a section on resilience-building strategies by age groups. Promoting resilience, the IECMH writes, involves reducing risk factors and strengthening protective factors. It lists resilience-building strategies for the following age groups:

• Infants
• Toddlers
• Preschoolers
• Adults

Other topics of interest include protective factors for families by Pennsylvania Strengthening Families, a Sesame Street guide on working through difficult life challenges, a list of strategies on how to reduce the effects of ACEs and toxic stress, a description of what it means to be a mandated reporter in Pennsylvania, and information on how to report abuse or neglect.