Infant & Early Child Mental Health - Graduate Certificate (8 months)

Offered at King Campus. 

Infant & Early Child Mental Health - Seneca, Toronto, Canada (senecacollege.ca)

This eight-month graduate certificate program provides you with additional training and skills to enhance your current career and open up new opportunities. As a student in this program, you will gain the tools necessary to support young families to promote positive mental health and to help prevent long-term mental health issues. You will also acquire skills, knowledge and judgment to make positive contributions to the best start in life for infants and their families.

IMH Program Learning Outcomes

This Seneca program has been validated by the Credential Validation Service as an Ontario College Credential as required by the Ministry of Colleges and Universities.

As a graduate, you will be prepared to reliably demonstrate the ability to:

• Assess symptoms of mental health to respond effectively to infants, children, and families.
• Design strategies to foster safe and healthy environments for infants, children, and families.
• Identify services, supports, and counselling to educate parents and caregivers.
• Design advocacy and educational initiatives to support ethical practice, care, and treatment based on jurisdictional principles.
• Collaborate on an interdisciplinary team to serve the mental health needs of the community.
• Design health promotion initiatives and programs to reduce stigma of infant, children, and family mental health and protect human rights.
• Analyze the importance of the social determinants of health for health policy, service delivery, and practice.

Program Map

Program Eligibility

Ontario university degree or three-year college diploma or equivalent. Applicants with a two – year college diploma and 6 months of work experience in early childhood development or a related discipline may be considered. Resume and references must be provided. 

Dropping Courses

Students who choose to drop a course without academic advisement from the student adviser may jeopardize their progression in the program. Classes in IMH run only once per year.  Therefore, dropping a class in IMH will mean that you may have to wait a calendar year to take the course again.

DUE DATES, EXTENSIONS AND ASSESSMENT POLICIES

Effective September 2024:

• Due dates for the assignments and other evaluation procedures for each subject are set in class.
• Requests for extensions must be made to the professor before the due date.  Many professors require written requests and approval forms for extensions.
• If an assessment is late, 10% may be deducted the first day.  20% may be deducted day eight, etc. Once an assessment is three weeks late without a negotiated extension, a final grade of 0 will be automatically applied.
• Unless an extension has already been approved by the professor, the last day to submit any ungraded coursework is the last class for that subject.  As of this date, any work not submitted will be given a 0. 
• When an assessment grade has been reduced to an "F" because of late submission, the "F" grade will be used to calculate the final subject grade.
• If an F is received on two or more assessments weighted 10% or higher, the student will receive an F in the course regardless of the final weighted grade.

Course Outlines

Every Seneca College course has an outline, available online, which describes the content, methods, and weighting of evaluations.  These are legal documents, and any changes made to them during the delivery of the course must be agreed upon by students and the professor and require approval by the Chair of the School of ECE. 

Subject outlines are important documents.  Refer to them during the semester and save them digitally.  If you continue your studies at any other post-secondary institutions or post diploma programs, these will be essential documents.

Field Placement

This program has a field placement component in second semester.  

Student will attend a placement orientation in the fall term to find out more about how and when to complete the field placement documents.  Students should begin working on these documents around study week in the fall term.

Requirements for Graduation

To be successful in the program all subjects must be completed with a passing grade. A minimum graduating GPA of 2.0 is required.

Convocation

You will need to apply to graduate. The Convocation information is posted here and includes the schedule of ceremonies and guest information. There is also information on graduation photos, rings, flowers and frames. 

Seneca Academic Policies

• Academic Appeal Policy
• Academic Integrity Policy and Academic Integrity Badges
• Discrimination and Harassment Policy
• Recording Lectures and Educational Activities Policy
• Student Code of Conduct
• Student Progression and Promotion Policy
• Tuition Fee and Refund Policy

Visit our Policies page for a full list of Seneca's policies.

LIBRARY RESOURCES

This guide was created to support Early Childhood Education students and faculty at Seneca. It showcases articles, documents, websites, and other resources of interest to the program. 

Early Childhood Education - LibGuides at Seneca Libraries

Academic Integrity | School of Early Childhood Education

What is APA Citation Style?

APA Style is a set of rules for research papers.You must cite sources with an in-text citation in the body of your paper and in a full citation in the Reference List at the end of your paper.

Welcome - APA Citation Guide (APA 7th Edition) - LibGuides at Seneca Libraries (senecapolytechnic.ca)

APA Citation FAQs - APA Citation Guide (APA 7th Edition) - LibGuides at Seneca Libraries (senecapolytechnic.ca)

Student Resource Guide - School of Early Childhood Education, Faculty of Community & Health