Bonnie Bellah
Program Coordinator for Infant Mental Health
Oklahoma Association for Infant Mental Health www.okaimh.org
Basically, what do you do, and what does your organization do?
The Oklahoma Association for Infant Mental Health (OK-AIMH) promotes the mental well-being and healthy development of Oklahoma’s infants and young children through multi-disciplinary collaboration, education, workforce development, and advocacy for best practices. We base our work on Nationally Recognized Competencies related to working with infants, very young children and their families.
What personal or professional moment or event in your life inspired you to work on ACEs?
It is through my work with OK-AIMH that it became very clear to me that intervening early in a young child's life can make the difference between positive adult health outcomes and poor adult health outcomes. This belief has been confirmed with research into brain development and the importance of relationships in improving brain functioning. When young children experience a disruption in their primary caregiving relationships, their trajectory into adulthood and experiencing positive outcomes in adulthood is compromised.
We incorporate the research from ACEs into our professional development training, it has changed the way we train professionals in understanding the importance of early childhood and its impact on the entire life span.
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