The Infant and Early Mental Health (IEMH) Care Pathways initiative is co-creating a shared vision for the future of mental health in Canada. Grounded in collaboration, equity, and relationship-based practice, the initiative brings together community partners, service providers, researchers, and agency leaders to design integrated, developmentally informed systems of care for children from birth to 6 and their families. Through participatory methods and data-driven insights, the project explores how collective planning and learning can shape policy, programming, and practice that better support young children and families. This session will highlight lessons learned from the Canadian communities currently developing and implementing their Care Pathways maps. Participants will gain an understanding of how co-design approaches, cultural responsiveness, and data-informed decision-making can strengthen pathways of care from infancy through early childhood - building the foundation for a more responsive, inclusive, and sustainable mental health system for all children in Canada.

Learning Objectives

1. Explore how co-design and collaborative engagement across sectors, disciplines, and communities can strengthen infant and early mental health pathways in Canada. 

2. Examine emerging frameworks and strategies for integrating relationship-based, culturally grounded, and developmentally informed approaches into infant and early mental health systems, and understand how data can inform policy, programming, and practice.  

3. Identify opportunities to sustain and scale community-led innovations that promote equitable, accessible, and responsive mental health supports for young children and their families.