Why An Alliance?
What was once a small, grass roots effort had grown to be a sizable national and international movement.
By the year of 2013, 13 associations had licensed the Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health (MI-AIMH) Competency Guidelines® and Endorsement®. The oversight and quality assurance demands for a small MI-AIMH were considerable. The MI-AIMH leadership and leaders in other member states recognized that future strength and growth would require organizational change. The MI-AIMH Board of Directors subsequently engaged in a strategic planning process with knowledge and support from non-MI-AIMH leaders and proposed the creation of a separate organization, the Alliance. In 2014, in order to establish the Alliance as an independent organization, the MI-AIMH Executive Committee approved the selection of a planning board. The Alliance Planning Board consisted of six members from MI-AIMH and five representatives from other Alliance state IMH associations, one from each Founding Partner association. The organization was incorporated as the Alliance for the Advancement of Infant Mental Health®.
By June 2016, the Alliance shareholders approved an 11-member Board of Directors, officers, member qualifications and a set of by-laws to govern the organizations. What was once a small, grass roots effort developed by MI-AIMH had grown to be a sizable national and international movement, co-led by MI-AIMH and a new leadership structure, with multiple infant mental health associations in the United States and one in West Australia.
Founding Partners are state associations who have demonstrated a commitment to the development of the Alliance by providing financial or in-kind support to help the Alliance get on its feet. Founding Partner associations of the Alliance are:
- Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health
- Infant Toddler Mental Health Coalition of Arizona
- Connecticut Association for Infant Mental Health
- New Mexico Association for Infant Mental Health
- Rhode Island Association for Infant Mental Health
- First3Years Texas

First meeting of the Alliance Planning Board on September 22, 2014 at Wayne State University. From left to right, back row: Cathy Liesman, Sadie Funk, Fran Jozefowicz, Barry Wright, Susan Dickstein. Front row: Sheryl Goldberg, Deborah Weatherston, Margaret Holmberg, Nichole Paradis. Not pictured: Joy Browne, Mary Warren