Past Scholars

Mary E (Meme) English, Ed.D. is currently the behavioral health manager for a clinical practice within Commonwealth Care Alliance, Inc, a community health center in Springfield, MA. She is the lead clinician in a project to implement depression screening of mothers in “well-baby” visits. Dr. English brings knowledge of trauma and its effects to her work with babies and toddlers and their caregivers. In answer to how she envisions incorporating what she will gain through the Infant-Parent Program and Connected Beginnings, Dr English explained, “As a counselor having worked for nearly 30 years with trauma survivors, I am anxious to participate early in relationships to assist parents and caregivers realize their potential to be in attunement with their children. I see this work as profoundly hopeful.”

Annastasia (Stacey) K. Keane, MS is a pediatric physical therapist currently working for Thom Charles River Early Intervention in Waltham, MA where she is integrating a relational perspective into her practice and supporting the integration of those principles within the agency. For example she is providing training and mentorship in using the Ages and Stages Questionnaire-Social-Emotional as a tool for assessment and to support parent-child interaction. In responding to how she envisions incorporating the infant mental health training, Ms Keane said, “I strongly believe that the mental health of the parent, child, and provider contributes to all of the variables affecting success of early intervention: building protective factors, supporting parent interest and involvement in services, enhancing parent confidence in themselves and their care-taking abilities, and nurturing the evolving relationships between a parent, child, and provider. Through the training I am receive in, I hope to gain a better sense of how to address all of these factors through the lens of infant-parent mental health."