Implementing a statewide early childhood mental health consultation approach to preventing childcare expulsion

State- and local-level mental health administrators and practitioners can work collaboratively to provide effective early childhood mental health consultation (ECMHC) services that address the growing need in communities to promote healthy socioemotional functioning in infants and young children and prevent longer term mental health challenges. This article describes one state's model of ECMHC, the Child Care Expulsion Prevention Program (CCEP), as well as preliminary evaluation findings on consultants' fidelity to the developed approach to service within 31 counties in Michigan. The CCEP approach is flexible, yet adheres to six cornerstones which are essential to effectively and consistently carrying out services across local projects, including the provision of relationship-based programmatic and child/family-centered consultation, hiring and supporting high-quality consultants through professional development and reflective supervision, ongoing provision of state-level technical assistance, use of evidence-based practices, and collaboration with other early childhood service providers. In addition to the overview of CCEP's approach and effectiveness, lessons learned are provided to guide those engaged in policy development, practice, and applied research pertaining to ECMHC.