CIMHD Leadership

In the six years since its founding, the Center on Infant Mental Health & Development at the University of Washington (CIMHD) has become a national leader in increasing awareness about the importance of social and emotional health during infancy. Research from its team of award-winning scientists is beginning to shape public policy initiatives in ways that could improve the lives of hundreds of infants and families in Washington State . The multi-disciplinary graduates of its 5-year graduate certificate program in infant mental health are engaged in a variety of activities on behalf of very young children and their families.

Early in 2007, School of Nursing Dean Nancy Woods, Ph.D., and Director of the Center on Human Development and Disability Michael Guralnick, Ph.D., appointed Professor Susan Spieker and Professor Jean Kelly, both from Family and Child Nursing, to be director and co-director of the Center on Infant Mental Health and Development. Their appointment follows the retirement of CIMHD founder Professor Emerita Kathryn Barnard.

Dr. Spieker currently directs the Center’s Birth to Three Research Lab and leads a $2.3 million National Institutes of Mental Health (NIMH) project, Promoting Infant Mental Health in Foster Care and a $600,000 Administration on Children and Families project , Incorporating an Attachment Q-Set into Parent-Child Relationship Assessment and Support in Early Head Start. Both of these projects are community-based, applied research studies that enhance community capacity to provide infant mental health informed services to very young children and their caregivers.

Dr. Kelly has also focused her entire career on young children’s social and emotional health, directing her energies to both research and the creation of research-based training materials. With funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, she and colleagues at the CIMHD recently found very positive results in their study evaluating the effectiveness of Promoting First Relationships(PFR), an attachment-based curriculum, with homeless families in Washington . PFR is also currently being evaluated in the NIMH-funded project, Promoting Infant Mental Health in Foster Care. In the past, PFR has been used successfully to encourage more secure parent-child relationships with young children in child care, young children involved in Early Head Start, and young children with special needs.

Kelly also directs NCAST-AVENUW, a self-sustaining program at the University of Washington that develops and disseminates research-based products and training programs relating to nurturing environments for young children.

Spieker and Kelly bring a long history of collaboration to their co-directorship, having been friends and colleagues since 1988. They recently collaborated on the Gates Foundation grant and currently work together on Promoting Infant Mental Health in Foster Care.

Retiring Director Barnard, Professor Emerita, will continue to be involved with organizations serving young children and families, including work with the Washington State First Steps program serving high risk pregnant and parenting women. She is also serving on the CIMHD Community Advisory Board.