2023 Infant Mental Health Advocacy Award Build Up! Conference
March 9 and 10, 2023
This year’s T. Berry Brazelton, M.D., Infant Mental Health Advocacy Award will be announced at our Infant Mental Health Award Advocacy Award Build Up! Conference on March 9, 2023.
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Conference Summary
In March of 2023, First3Years will host our Infant Mental Health Advocacy Award Conference virtually. This conference will highlight how to create innovative systems to serve children and their families. Special to this conference is the T. Berry Brazelton, M.D., Infant Mental Health Advocacy Award. This award is in honor of Dr. Brazelton, a Texas native and well known national and international pediatrician, researcher, author and advocate for parents, infants, and toddlers. The award has been given to seventeen individuals at the biennial Infant Mental Health Advocacy Conference. Each award winner has made significant contributions to the improvement of mental health in the lives of infants, toddlers, and their families in Texas. In honor of this award, Dr. Joshua Sparrow, MD., will present this honor to the awardee.
The opening keynote will be presented by internationally acclaimed keynote speaker, Dr. Joshua Sparrow. Dr. Sparrow, is executive director of the Brazelton Touchpoints Center (BTC) in the Division of Development of Medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital, where he also holds an appointment in the Department of Psychiatry.
The closing keynote will be presented by nationally renowned and sought-after presenter, Robyn Gobbel, LMSW- Clinical. Robyn has over 15 years of practice in family and child therapy experience, specializing in complex trauma, attachment, and adoption. She will present on the types of experiences that infants may experience due to trauma and toxic stress as well as the impact those experiences have on the infant’s stress response system, regulatory circuits, attachment, sense of felt safety. Additionally, Robyn will host an interactive workshop session where participants will learn how to help parents understand their infant’s cues and offering the needed soothing.
About the Award
The Infant Mental Health Advocacy Council was formed in 1989 and established the T. Berry Brazelton, M.D., Infant Mental Health Advocacy Award in 1990. This award is in honor of Dr. Brazelton, a Texas native and well known national and international pediatrician, researcher, author and advocate for parents, infants and toddlers. The award has been given to sixteen individuals at the biennial Infant Mental Health Advocacy Conference. Each award winner has made significant contributions to the improvement of mental health in the lives of infants, toddlers, and their families in Texas.
First3Years’ Infant Mental Health Advocacy Council’s objective is to bring together a diverse group of Texas professional organizations to collaborate in the process of seeking nominations for and
selecting, when there is a nominee who meets the objective criteria, the Biennial T. Berry Brazelton, M.D., Infant Mental Health Advocacy Award Winner.
Conference Agenda
Day 1 – March 9, 2023
- 8:30 AM – 8:45 AM CST: Conference Opening Ceremony – Facilitated by First3Years Staff
- 8:45 AM – 10:15 AM CST: Opening Keynote – Dr. Joshua Sparrow M.D.
- 10:15 AM – 11:00 AM CST: Q&A with Dr. Joshua Sparrow M.D.
- 11:00 AM – 11:30 AM CST: Break
- 11:30 AM – 11:50 AM CST: IMH Advocacy Award Ceremony
- 11:50 AM – 12:00 PM CST: Endorsement Ceremony / Day 1 Concludes
Dr. Joshua Sparrow M.D.
Joshua Sparrow, M.D., DFAACAP, is executive director of the Brazelton Touchpoints Center (BTC) in the Division of Development of Medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital, where he also holds an appointment in the Department of Psychiatry. Dr. Sparrow’s care in the 1990s for children hospitalized for severe psychiatric disturbances, often associated with physical and sexual abuse, and for developmental delays aggravated by social and economic deprivation, prompted his interest in the social determinants of health, and community-based prevention and health promotion. He is principal investigator on numerous foundation grants and has lectured nationally and internationally, written numerous scholarly papers, as well as books and articles for the general public. He has advised government agencies, nonprofits, and philanthropies, is a board member of Parents as Teacher and serves on the advisory boards of the Association for State and Tribal Home Visiting Initiative and Rapid Response Virtual Home Visiting.
At the Brazelton Touchpoints Center, his work focuses on cultural adaptations of family support programs, organizational professional development, and aligning systems of care with community strengths and priorities. Examples include collaborative consultation with the Harlem Children’s Zone and Tribal Early Head Start/Head Start Programs among others. BTC provides professional and leadership development, organizational learning and change, and research and evaluation for family-facing professionals in pediatrics, early childhood, infant mental health, home visiting, and child welfare. BTC is home to the Touchpoints Approach, the Brazelton Institute (Newborn Behavioral Observation and Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale), Family Connections, and the BTC Research and Evaluation team.
Day 2 – March 10, 2023
- 12:00 PM CST: Opening
- 12:15 PM – 1:15 PM CST: Closing Keynote –Robyn Gobbel, LMSW-Clinical
- 1:15 PM – 1:45 PM CST: 30 min break
- 1:45 PM – 3:15 PM CST: Workshop Session and Q&A with Robyn Gobbel
- 3:15 PM – 3:30 PM CST Conference Closing Ceremony
Robyn Gobbel, LMSW – Clinical
Robyn Gobbel, LMSW-Clinical, has 20 of practice in family and child therapy experience, specializing in complex trauma, attachment, and adoption. Robyn is a therapist, trainer, and consultant who recently relocated to Grand Rapids, MI from Austin, TX. Robyn’s diverse clinical training includes EMDR (including EMDR adapted for children with attachment trauma), Somatic Experiencing, Theraplay, Trust Based Relational Intervention®, Circle of Security Parent Educator, The Alert Program® and Yogapeutics Aerial Yoga Level 1 Teacher Training. Robyn has integrated these training modalities with a foundation of attachment theory and the relational neurosciences to create an attachment-rich, sensory-sensitive, and relational neurosciences supported healing environment for children and families. Robyn consults, teaches, and trains extensively throughout the US. She previously served as an instructor for the Foundations of Interpersonal Neurobiology Certificate Program at Portland Community College as well as with the Adoptive & Foster Family Therapy Post-Graduate Certificate Program. Robyn has served on the working board of the Global Association for Interpersonal Neurobiology Studies (GAINS). Her first book will be published by Jessica Kingsley Publisher in late spring 2023.
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