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: