Inside the World of Early Infant and Childhood Mental Health

The infant and early childhood mental health (IECMH) field emerged in the 1970s to emphasize early relationships’ role in social and emotional development. Growing awareness of the developing brain’s vulnerability to trauma and stress has since expanded interest in this field and its potential to enhance early detection and reduce the long-term impact of childhood mental health disorders. Psychiatric-mental health nurses specializing in IECMH support children from birth to age 5 across various settings, including psychiatric, obstetrics, pediatrics, and public health.

Associate Chair of the APNA Child & Adolescent Council Jessica Gordon, PhD, APRN, CPNP-PC, PMHNP-BC sat down with APNA to talk about her work in infant and early childhood mental health:

APNA: What is your current role?

Gordon: I practice as an APRN dual certified in Pediatric Primary Care and Psychiatric-Mental Health. My research interests include attachment and bio-behavioral mechanisms of parent-child interactions with families who have children aged 0-5. After graduating from Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, I completed the Zero to Three Fellowship as an endorsed Infant Mental Health (IMH) professional. I have been thankful to serve as a community resource, providing seminars for child care providers, teachers, and families within community programs about utilizing primary and secondary prevention interventions for early childhood social and emotional problems.

I also currently participate in leadership roles within relevant professional organizations where I influence policy change. Outcomes of my leadership among these professional organizations include serving as chair of advocacy efforts that advanced the Florida Medicaid policy to cover breast pumps for high risk populations, updating the APNA website to include infant mental health evidence-based practice resources, receiving the APNA Board of Directors Student Scholarship, and presenting at local, international and national conferences to disseminate results of my published research on infant mental health nursing practice models and nurses as part of the infant mental health workforce.

APNA: What brought you to this focus?

Gordon: My focus in infant and early childhood mental health began not as a professional, but rather as a mother attending parent-child interaction therapy to address behavioral concerns with my 2-year-old daughter. What I learned from that experience transformed my perspective on parent-child attachment.

Over the past 20 years, I have been fortunate to study and observe critical time periods of cognitive growth and development from conception to early childhood as a bedside nurse in high-risk obstetrics, pediatric nurse practitioner in primary care settings, and nurse scientist researching the effects of maternal stress and oxytocin on infant-child development. As part of my journey, I completed an infant mental health post-master’s certificate program to increase infant mental health screening proficiency in practice; however, gaps remained in providing early intervention due to nursing licensure limitations. This led to my latest destination across my 8-year span in the field of infant mental health by becoming dual certified in psychiatric-mental health.

APNA: What do you find most exciting about this work?

Gordon: I believe the capacity to build an interdisciplinary workforce to address early childhood adversity has a far reach for improving global mental health outcomes. The field continues to evolve across disciplines, and this excites me because nurses are at the forefront of infant and early childhood mental health. Together we can make an impact.

Stay tuned! The APNA Child & Adolescent Council is conducting a literature review to learn more about what is known about IECMH, what the literature says about psychiatric-mental health nurse roles in this area and current evidence-based policies.

>> Need Trusted Resources? Explore these nurse-vetted recommended resources from the APNA Child & Adolescent Council.

P.S. All APNA members are welcome to join any of APNA’s 10 councils! Discover their focus areas and find your fit.

Published March 2025

Gordon, J. M., Robidoux, H., Gaffney, K., Cirrito, B. L., & Lauerer, J. A. (2021). Conceptualizing the early detection and intervention of infant mental health disorders in neonatal nursing. Journal of Neonatal Nursing, 27(1), 6-13. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1355184120301745