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Building better beginnings for babies and toddlers: How CCBHCs can transform infant and early childhood mental health
Key Takeaways
- CCBHCs are expanding rapidly and reshaping access to mental health services across the country
- This is an opportunity to build family-centered systems of care with special care around infant and early childhood mental health
- A new toolkit from ZERO TO THREE offers practical guidance to make these changes
Author: Catherine Bodkin, LCSW, MSHA, IMH E®, Senior Technical Assistance Specialist, ZERO TO THREE
Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics (CCBHCs) are expanding rapidly nationwide, reshaping access to mental health and substance use services for people of all ages. Yet too often, the unique needs of infants, toddlers, and their families are not reflected in CCBHC planning and service delivery even though federal certification requires clinics to serve the full lifespan, including infants and toddlers.
ZERO TO THREE Financing Policy Project’s new Integrating Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health into the CCBHC Model: A Toolkit for Action offers practical guidance for state leaders, CCBHC administrators, early childhood professionals, and community partners who want to build family-centered systems of care from the very beginning.
Why this moment matters
The earliest years are a time of rapid brain development and when mental health concerns may first emerge. Families with infants and toddlers often experience challenges such as parental depression, substance use, trauma, or child welfare involvement. CCBHCs, with their required nine core services and modernized payment structure, are uniquely positioned to provide developmentally appropriate care and strengthen prevention, assessment, age-appropriate diagnosis and treatment pathways for infants and toddlers while providing adult services and family-focused case management.
But to do so, IECMH must be intentionally integrated into all elements of the system from staffing and screening tools to crisis response services, and partnerships across early childhood systems.
CCBHCs were built to serve people across the lifespan, but the unique, developmentally-specific needs of infants and toddlers are rarely considered in implementation. When clinics intentionally integrate IECMH, they improve outcomes not only for young children but for whole families and communities.
What’s inside the toolkit
The toolkit includes three resources that help bridge IECMH and CCBHC systems:
Brief: Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics and IECMH
An overview of the CCBHC model and why infant and early childhood partners must be involved from the start.
Guide: Integrating IECMH Concepts into the Nine Core Services
A practical table that clarifies opportunities for embedding IECMH into crisis services, screening/assessment, diagnosis, treatment planning, care coordination, and more.
Companion: Implementing IECMH Services Within CCBHCs
Guidance for state and clinic leaders on policy language, staffing, reimbursement, and certification manuals that reflect the needs of infants and young children.
Together, these tools support stronger cross-system collaboration and help clinics build a more robust continuum of prevention, early identification, and family-focused treatment.
Key actions CCBHCs can take now:
- Incorporate age-appropriate screening tools and use the DC:0–5™ for diagnosis.
- Expand evidence-based dyadic and developmentally appropriate services.
- Build partnerships with pediatrics, home visiting, early intervention, Safe Babies, and other early childhood systems for referrals and consultation.
- Ensure crisis teams are trained in developmentally appropriate approaches for infants and toddlers.
- Use the Prospective Payment System (PPS) to sustainably fund IECMH services, training, and reflective supervision to better equip the workforce.
Key actions CCBHCs can take now:
Access the full toolkit and start integrating IECMH into CCBHC planning, policy, and practice:
This is a pivotal opportunity to ensure the CCBHC model truly serves infants, young children, and families from day one.
