APA Monitor: BUSSW Professor Paris’ Work is Changing Mental Healthcare for Young Children
A new APA Monitor article highlights how psychologists are reimagining mental health care for very young children by increasingly advancing the notion that mental health starts at birth and requires a relational approach that includes both children and caregivers. Professor Ruth Paris from Boston University School of Social Work (BUSSW) shares how an intervention she and colleagues developed over 12 years addresses that need, and changes how mental health care for young children and mothers is perceived and managed.
Building Resilience Through Intervention: Growing Healthier Together (BRIGHT), a therapeutic intervention, addresses the needs of children and mothers in recovery from substance use disorder (SUD) by focusing on enhancing the mother’s capacity to recognize dysregulation in their children and to respond in healthy ways, while managing their own emotions.
“Now there’s a lot more awareness, both in the U.S. and globally, that what happens in the early years matters for psychological health later in life,” said Professor Paris, PhD, LICSW, a professor of clinical practice at the Boston University School of Social Work who develops interventions to support infant and early childhood mental health.