Infant & Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation

About BRIDGE

BRIDGE is an Infant & Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation (IECMHC) program brought to you by the Center for Excellence in Early Development at San Diego State University. We partner with early childhood educators, caregivers, and programs serving children from birth to five.

We walk alongside the adults in their lives – teachers, caregivers, and leaders – to strengthen relationships, classroom environments, and everyday practices that support social–emotional wellbeing.

What We Do

Through a relationship-based consultation partnership, BRIDGE offers:

• Classroom-level consultation: Support for teachers around classroom routines, transitions, and social–emotional learning.
• Child & family consultation: Support for teachers and caregivers in understanding and responding to specific children’s needs, always in a relationship-based and culturally responsive way.
• Reflective support for educators: Space for teachers to talk about what feels hard and what’s going well, and to feel held in both their strengths and struggles.
• Collaboration with programs & families: Working with directors and caregivers to align expectations, communication, and supports across home and school.

All services are collaborative and tailored to the unique needs, culture, and strengths of each classroom and program.

Our Approach

At the heart of BRIDGE is how we show up with you. We ground our work in:

• Co-creation & collaboration: We honor your expertise. We begin by listening to your experiences, needs, and hopes, and we plan with you, not for you.
• Relationship-based practice: We believe healing and growth happen in relationships. We focus on how children, caregivers, teachers, and leaders connect with one another.
• Attunement & choicefulness: We meet you where you are. We check in regularly about how the support feels and adjust together.
• Individualized support: No two classrooms or programs are the same. We tailor strategies and tools to your context, culture, and values.
• Reflective, data-informed practice: We use conversations, observations, and (when helpful) assessments to better understand your classroom and to co-create meaningful support plans.
• Trauma-informed & equity-focused lens: We hold in mind stress, trauma, culture, and systemic factors that impact children, families, and educators, and we strive to create safe, affirming spaces for everyone.

Is BRIDGE Right for You?

BRIDGE may be a good fit if you or your team are:

• Feeling overwhelmed by challenging behaviors or classroom stress
• Wanting more tools for supporting children’s emotions and regulation
• Hoping to build stronger relationships with children, families, or teaching teams
• Interested in reflective space to think about your work, identity, and values as a caregiver or educator
• Curious about IECMHC and wanting to understand what this kind of support looks like in practice
• You don’t have to have everything “figured out” to start. We begin exactly where you are.

Let's Get Connected

Ready to learn more or explore a consultation partnership?

Our first step is always a warm, low-pressure meeting to understand your hopes and to share more about what BRIDGE can offer.

Contact Us