The Child Center of NY is pleased to serve as the Queens borough-wide provider in the Perinatal + Early Childhood Mental Health Network, a Mayor’s Office of Community Mental Health initiative designed to provide mental health services and supports for families who have young children, ages 0–5, with mental health needs. Our bilingual and bicultural therapists utilize evidence-based, trauma-focused models of treatment, including play therapy and Child-Parent Psychotherapy (CPP), that have been proven to make a difference for this age group and give them the promising start we want for all our children.

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Just as we need to ensure that children begin school academically ready to learn, we also need to ensure they begin life socially and emotionally ready to thrive. The Child Center can help with that piece of the puzzle. 

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Many people wonder what mental health counseling for such young children entails. It mostly involves strengthening the parent-child bond in ways that make the child feel safe and secure and support their development. We work with pregnant people and children 0-5 years old, including newborns, with their parents or other primary caregivers. The goal is building secure and healthy relationships between parent and baby and preventing insecure attachment relationships that tend to result in mental health issues down the road. We help every family in our care to establish a mentally and emotionally healthy start. 

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Here are some things that we can provide children, parents, caregivers, and families who enter counseling with us:

• Individual and family therapy

• Parent groups

• Individual child screenings

• Caregiver depression, anxiety, and parental stress screenings

• Other assessments and screenings

• Guidance in increasing positive interactions and communication between parent and child

• Assistance in developing social-emotional skills, building resiliency, improving self-esteem, and encouraging self-regulation

• The tools to help families handle the inevitable setbacks and challenges of life in a safe and constructive way, now and in the future

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We also offer perinatal and infant mental health consultation to individuals working in early childhood settings to promote best outcomes. Through this program, we pair mental health professionals with schools, hospitals, or other agencies that serve perinatal to preschool populations. The consultant works with staff to increase their ability to support the social and emotional development of the young children in their care. We also work directly with families to improve relational health.

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We recently launched a new model of consultation in hospitals, where we support staff to build healthy birth outcomes for new parents with trauma or perinatal mental health concerns.