Webinar: Supporting Families Affected by Opioids and Other Substances through Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation

Adults are misusing prescription opioids and heroin at rapidly rising rates. The misuse of opioids and other substances has an especially hard impact on families, from the stress of parenting while struggling with a substance use disorder to the devastation of death from overdose. Because of increasing maternal opioid use, the number of infants experiencing the effects of exposure to opioids before birth has increased five-fold in the past 10 years. Even infants without prenatal exposure to substances face challenges when their parents or other close family members have a substance use disorder. 

In this webinar, experts will share how infant and early childhood mental health consultation (IECMHC) can help home visiting professionals who work with infants and young children support families affected by substance use disorders. Experts Dr. Ira Chasnoff, Linda Delimata, and Lesley Schwartz will address how the misuse of opioids and other substances affects the healthy development of babies, and how IECMHC can reduce this impact. (Register)

After attending this webinar, participants will be able to:

• Understand how substance misuse in families affects the social and emotional development and cognitive skills of babies and young children
• Understand how substance use disorders in families affect the attachment relationship between caregiver and infant 
• Identify strategies consultants can use to support home visitors as they work directly with pregnant and parenting families affected by substance use

Who Should Attend? This webinar is for professionals who work in IECMHC, home visiting, and federal, state, tribal, and community maternal and child health agencies. 

Presenters:  

• Ira J. Chasnoff, MD; President, NTI Upstream; Professor of Clinical Pediatrics, University of Illinois College of Medicine
• Linda Delimata, Expert Mentor, Center of Excellence for Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation
• Lesley Schwartz, Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Acting Director, Illinois Governor’s Office of Early Childhood Development