Center of Excellence for Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation Georgetown University Thrive Center

The New Practical Certificate in Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation, 30-Day Status Report.

On June 8th, 261 candidates from across the country joined our community to expand the IECMHC field. Scroll down to learn more about who they are and what they are saying in their own words.

Our goal: x2 consultants by 2030.

In 25 years, the field has built a workforce of roughly 5,000 qualified consultants. Too many programs cannot find the consultants they need to support staff. We are closing that gap, starting with the 261 candidates who enrolled in our founding cohort last month. This is who they are and what they're saying.

Expanding the field nationally

41 states have sent candidates to the June cohort.

Hover a state to see its total.

Top five states

Reasons for joining and what they hope to learn

Categories of responses to the question "What was your primary motivation for enrolling in this certificate course?"

Click a slice to see the reason.

Who the candidates are and where they work

While consultation started in early learning and Head Start, our community has people from many different settings and backgrounds.

In their words

Anonymized reflections from the community space and weekly group supervision, one month in.

Join the October 2026 cohort

Enrollment is now open for our next cohort. 215 spots remain. Enroll yourself and/or enroll your staff to start building consultation capacity in your program.

  • A four-month training phase that includes weekly live classes of 90 minutes. Up to twenty-five students per instructor.
  • Eight-month supervision phase included in the price of the program.
  • Supervision by a licensed consultant, so Head Start programs are compliant with performance standards.
  • Supervision after the eight months is at a cost of $2,000 per year.
  • As long as your candidate receives supervision from us, if they decide to leave your program, we will train their replacement at no additional cost.
  • The program is 100% virtual, about 70% self-paced, with a total time commitment of about 3.5 hours per week.
  • Helps meet requirements for IMH Alliance endorsement.
  • A Georgetown credential, taught by the people who wrote the national competencies.
$3,000
Starts October 13th, 2026
100% virtual
Three and a half hours a week for four months
One hour a month for eight months
215 seats remaining
Enroll for October Learn more