At this Community of Practice, we will have the opportunity to dig deeper into Module 1: Care; and Module 2: Attachment from the video series Big Ideas for the Care of Tiny Humans: A Resource for Early Childhood Educators on Infant Mental Health. Participants will engage in reflection and dialogue using the Reflection Guides and current early learning resources to connect the ideas to their own practice and deepen their understanding of how quality care fosters infant mental health and wellbeing and caregiving approaches and discuss how to foster emotionally responsive relationships with young children and families.

At this Community of Practice, we will have the opportunity to explore Module 3: Emotions; and Module 4: Self from the video series Big Ideas for the Care of Tiny Humans: A Resource for Early Childhood Educators on Infant Mental Health. Participants will reflect on real-world examples and engage in dialogue around how to create emotionally supportive environments that honour children’s feelings and promote mental wellness and how to nurture each child’s sense of self and belonging within early learning settings.

At this Community of Practice, we will have the opportunity to review Module 5: Self-Regulation; and Module 6: Engaging Families from the video series Big Ideas for the Care of Tiny Humans: A Resource for Early Childhood Educators on Infant Mental Health. Participants will reflect and engage in discussion on strategies to foster self-regulation through considerations of the environment and of educators as responsive caregivers who co-regulate with children and effective ways to build meaningful, culturally responsive relationships with families that strengthen children’s sense of belonging and wellbeing.