AC21 - C4 - Our Moment Of Reckoning: Advancing Racial Equity In All Levels Of Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation (IECMHC)

Dr. Eva Marie Shivers, J.D., Ph.D. is the founder and executive director of Indigo Cultural Center, a non-profit action research firm located in the stolen lands of Tohono O’odham and Hohokam (AKA: Phoenix, AZ).

She identifies as a bi-racial African American, able-bodied, cis-gendered woman and is the proud Mama of a beautiful African American, 11-year-old boy who is neuro-divergent. She is an action-based researcher and evaluator working at the crossroads of infant and early childhood mental health (IECMH) and early care and education. She is a dancer/yoga practitioner, and practices embodied healing. Dr. Shivers is an equity harmonizer and healer (i.e., equity trainer and facilitator). Her professional work facilitating conversations about racial equity and early childhood is closely aligned with my spiritual life and deeply held convictions about humanity.

For the past 15 years, Dr. Shivers has been providing early childhood racial equity training and consultation to infant and early childhood community agencies and state departments around the country and have been a frequent keynote speaker at infant and early childhood mental health conferences around the country. For the past 22 years, she has provided child care research policy consultation to federal, state and local government agencies and administrators. Dr. Shivers has also provided early childhood racial equity policy consultation to several federal administrations – including the Obama and Biden administrations. She is a proud ZERO TO THREE Fellow (2005-2007) and was on faculty at the Harris Infant Mental Health Training Institute in Phoenix, AZ for seven years. For the past 5 years, she mostly serves the IECMH workforce around the country – including reflective supervisors and leaders, and specifically the IECMH consultation workforce.

Tonia M. Spence, LCSW, MSEd, believes in the power of healthy relationships in shaping young childrens lives. She is a clinician, educator, presenter and advocate who has served children and families for 17+ years. As a new clinician, Tonia's passion to learn led her to a Fellowship program at Yale's Child Development Center Outpatient Clinic in New Haven, where she was able to strengthen her clinical understanding of young children. Being in New Haven, where the dichotomy of wealth and poverty was so evident, Tonia recognized how racial tension and stress added an additional layer to the trauma of the children and families she was serving. She understood that only with the additional lens of race, class and privilege could she truly serve children and families well. Tonia is a leader in the field of zero to three who has worked tirelessly to integrate her knowledge as a social worker and educator into an interdisciplinary approach to teach clinicians, educators and students how to apply a lens of racial stress to assessing, diagnosing, and treating young children who have experienced trauma. She is passionate about supporting families through challenges and firmly believes that engagement is the foundation of social work. Tonia holds a Masters in Special Education from Bank Street College of Education and a Masters in Social Work from Columbia School of Social Work. She is currently the Senior Director of Early Childhood Services at the Jewish Board (JB) and is a co-leader of the Administrators of Color group, where she works along with colleagues to impact all staffs racial literacy.

Meghan Schmelzer is currently a Senior Policy Analyst on the ZERO TO THREE IECMH Policy Team. She provides IECMH-focused technical assistance to states and is involved in various IECMH related projects. Prior to joining ZTT Meghan served as the Early Childhood Mental Health Coordinator for the state of Michigan in the Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Mental Health Services to Children and Families. Here she coordinated Michigan's IECMH Consultation work and worked to promote the mental health of infants, young children and the adults that care for them, across the early childhood system. In addition to her experience in state government, Meghan began her career as an IECMH home based clinician, and a clinical coordinator at a community mental health agency. She also currently holds a seat as a board member for the Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health and she is passionate about IECMH policy, mental health consultation, and reflective supervision. Meghan lives in Fenton, Michigan with her husband Stefan and 3 little ones - Tessa (9), William (6), and Sanna (2). She loves exploring the outdoors with her family, and some of her favorite things are surprise adventure day trips, bon fires any time of year, and Notre Dame football.