“In every neighborhood, all across our country, there are good people insisting on a good start for the young, and doing something about it.” - Fred Rogers
In the spirit of Fred Rogers, the PA Association for Infant Mental Health proudly co-hosted the 4th Annual Reflective Supervision Symposium with the Alliance for the Advancement of Infant Mental Health. The purpose of the Annual Reflective Supervision Symposium is to deepen the exploration of the practice of reflective supervision/consultation. Una Majmudar, MSW, LCSW, IMH-E®, Clinical Director in the Division of Children, Youth, and Families, is Vice President of the PA-AIMH and was the local chairperson for this annual event.
About 130 Infant Mental Health professionals gathered on the campus of The University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, PA from July 29-31 2019. PA AIMH was excited for this opportunity as we roll out Endorsement for Culturally Sensitive, Relationship-Focused Practice Promoting Infant & Early Childhood Mental Health® and strive to increase capacity for Reflective Supervision in our Commonwealth.
Our goal was to explore the bridges that connect us across disciplines, roles, systems of care and generations. We tapped into Pittsburgh locals and enjoyed diverse large group talks:
- We kicked things off with a participatory music and rhythm experience with music legend Jim Donovan.
- We took a “Journey through Self-Awareness: Race, Diversity, and Intersectionality” with Shannon Wanless from the University of Pittsburgh and Felicia Savage from YogaRoots on Location, LLC. This duo was powerful in their message about our collective responsibility, beginning with our own self-awareness and self-reflection, a corner stone of reflective practice.
- Several of us had the opportunity to wake up on Wednesday morning and enjoyed Yoga with Felicia Savage, another great opportunity to increase self-awareness.
- Zero To Three shared a talk with us about Reflective Organizations and Systems.
The fishbowl reflective supervision experiences provided the group with authentic live supervision in both a dyadic and a group format. The courageous participants highlighted that “keeping the baby in mind” always brings us back to the heart of the field of Infant Mental Health. We were able to observe different styles of Reflective Supervision/Consultation that reminds us how diverse our profession is and just how powerful the skills of “listening” and “holding” are.
Several folks from the HFP Division of Children, Youth, and Families were in attendance including Maria Frontera, Judy Snow, and Tomika Johnson.
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