IECMHC in Practice: It’s Not What You Say — It’s How You Show Up

By Asaiah Beaman Fisher, Home Visiting Training and Support Coordinator, PCAD

At the core of Delaware’s Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation (IECMHC) model is something powerful: the consultative stance. This stance is a way of engaging that values curiosity, connection, and collaboration.

Unlike traditional models of training or therapy, IECMHC isn’t about one person having all the answers. Instead, consultants partner with Family Support Specialists, supervisors, and programs to reflect together, ask meaningful questions, and strengthen each other’s capacity to support young children and families.

According to the Center for Excellence for Infant & Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation, the consultative stance is guided by key principles:

• Mutuality: Consultation is co-created. Not delivered.
• Curiosity: Asking open-ended questions to help support reflection.
• Non-expert posture: Consultants avoid giving directives and instead of help others arrive at their own insights.
• Relationship-first mindset: The strength of the consultant relationship shapes how support is felt by everyone.

It’s a stance that says: We grow through reflection, not correction.

In Delaware, IECMHC consultants are now embedded in MIECHV-funded programs, working alongside Healthy Families Delaware, Nurse-Family Partnership, and Parents as Techers to build trust, co-create strategies, and promote wellness from the program all the way down to the families they serve.

Want to learn more? Visit the Home Visiting IECMHC Toolkit or email AsaiahFisher@pcadelaware.org.