Our History

In adopting these competencies and Endorsement system, MassAIMH joins the national Alliance for the Advancement of Infant Mental Health (AAIMH) and affiliates with the World AIMH to honor the rich history and inspiration of Selma Fraiberg and her colleagues in Michigan who first designed a service model to identify and treat developmental and relationship challenges in infancy and early parenthood (Fraiberg, 1980).
MassAIMH developed over the course of nearly 20 years from the dedicated volunteer work of professionals who shepherded interest in IECMH into a formal non-profit entity to serve as our Commonwealth’s membership
organization in service of IECMH (www.MassAIMH.org), as inspired by beloved thought leaders Gerry Stechler, Libby Zimmerman, and T. Berry Brazelton. Dr. Jayne Singer, first elected President of MassAIMH, who also steered the 501(c)(3) and MassAIMH development process with support from Dorothy Richardson, MassAIMH Past-President.

Founding Organizations

Connected Beginnings
UMass Boston Infant-Parent Mental Health Program

Our Founding Members

Robin Adair
Diane Beach
T. Berry Brazelton
Alice S. Carter
Ann Easterbrooks
Ann Flynn
Karen Garber
Jan Gelpin
Donna Housman
Peggy H. Kaufman
Russell Lyman
Karlene Lyons-Ruth
J. Kevin Nugent
Ruth Paris
Dorothy Richardson
Kate Roper
Dorothy Sang
Jayne M. Singer
Eda Spielman
Gerald Stechler
Nancy Topping-Tailby
Ed Tronick
Donald Wertlieb
Libby Zimmerman