Why An Alliance?

What was once a small, grass roots effort had grown to be a sizable national and international movement.

By the year of 2013, 13 associations for infant mental health (AIMHs) had licensed the Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health (MI-AIMH) Competency Guidelines for Culturally Sensitive, Relationship-Focused Practice Promoting Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health and Endorsement credential.  The oversight and quality assurance demands for a small MI-AIMH were considerable.  MI-AIMH leadership and leaders in other member states recognized that future strength and growth would require organizational change.  The MI-AIMH Board of Directors subsequently engaged in a strategic planning process with knowledge and support from non-MI-AIMH leaders and proposed the creation of a separate organization, the Alliance for the Advancement of Infant Mental Health.  In 2014, in order to establish the Alliance as an independent organization, the MI-AIMH Executive Committee approved the selection of a planning board.  The Alliance Planning Board consisted of 6 members from MI-AIMH and 5 representatives Founding Partner AIMHs, including AIMHs from Arizona, Connecticut, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Texas.  In 2015, the organization was incorporated as the Alliance for the Advancement of Infant Mental Health. 

By June 2016, the Alliance shareholders approved an 11-member Board of Directors, officers, member qualifications and a set of by-laws to govern the organizations.  What was once a small, grass roots effort had grown to be a sizable national and international movement, a new leadership structure, with multiple AIMHs across the globe.