Our Partners

For ABHS and AIMHiTN, we know that relationships matter, and we keep that at the center of everything we do in our work with Tennessee's infants, young children, and their families.  We recognized early on in the COVID-19 pandemic that professionals such as pediatricians, early childcare staff, hospital staff, etc, across the state were seeking ways to engage families and hear their concerns in a meaningful way.  
 
During conversations between TFFTI (a Building Strong Brains funded grant project through Allied Behavioral Health Solutions that seeks to train a statewide workforce to see and meet the needs of children 0-72 months and their families who have experiences of trauma ) and AIMHiTN, Deborah Weatherston's frequent reference to the "4 Little Words" came to mind. We then reached out to the Alliance for the Advancement of Infant Mental Health to formulate how this might be transferred into an image that could be easily shared and utilized by a variety of professionals in an array of different settings. 

These “4 Little Words” are observe, listen, wonder, and respond.  These components invite caregivers to discover who the babies are as well as to understand the importance of nurturing relationships, past and present, to development, growth, and change.

Allied Behavioral Health Solutions and AIMHiTN hope you will join us as we set out on this five video journey to take a deeper dive into just what it means to observe, listen, wonder and respond when working with infants, young children, and their caregivers. If you are interested in receiving more information on the 4 Little Words please complete this form: 
 
https://forms.gle/bb59xhRpgvtwqA3NA