Minnesota Thrive Initiative
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Early Childhood Mental Health
Fast Facts:
- Infants can experience real depression as early as four months of age.
- Maternal depression, anxiety disorders and other forms of chronic depression affect approximately 10% of mothers with young children.
- An Illinois survey revealed that 62% of infant and toddler programs lacked adequate mental health services.
- This same study also found that 42% of child care programs asked families to withdraw their infants and toddlers because of social-emotional problems.
- Over 39,000 infants enter foster care each year, nearly 80% are prenatally exposed to substance abuse, 40% are born prematurely and/or with low birth weight.
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Early childhood mental health is key to healthy social and emotional development. It is the capacity of the child from birth to age five to experience, regulate and express emotions; form close and secure interpersonal relationships; and explore the environment and learn.
The Minnesota Thrive Initiative is part of the Minnesota Early Childhood Initiative. It began in 2006 through a partnership between the six Minnesota Initiative Foundations (including the Southwest Initiative Foundation) and the Bush Foundation.
The overarching goal of Thrive is to create seamless systems or networks of local services that support the healthy social and emotional development of Minnesota’s youngest children ages zero to five, with an emphasis on the first three years of life.
Pilot Site Action Team
SWIF has selected McLeod County as the site for the Thrive pilot action team in southwest Minnesota. SWIF is providing leadership and resources for three years to help the action team survey community needs, identify gaps in services, and begin implementing projects to meet the mental health needs of the area’s youngest children.
The Southwest Initiative Foundation gratefully acknowledges the following Minnesota Thrive Initiative funding partners:
Thrive Funders:
Bush Foundation
Jay and Rose Phillips Family Foundation
Mardag Foundation
Medica Foundation
Robins, Kaplan, Miller and Ciresi L.L.P. Foundation for Education, Public Health and Social Justice
McLeod County Resource Directory: A Guide for Families and Professionals
The McLeod County Thrive action team has created a resource directory. This publication is meant to serve as a guide to assist McLeod County professionals and families in accessing services for children. No endorsement of service or quality is being implied or promoted by the sponsors.
Click this link to download "McLeod County Resource Directory: A Guide for Families and Professionals." NOTE: This is a large file that may take a few minutes to download depending upon your internet connection speed.
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