Welcome to the ITTI Care Project!
ITTI Care stands for Infant/Toddler Trauma-Informed Care. Since 2018, the ITTI Care Project has been promoting early relational health and trauma-informed practices to strengthen early care & education (ECE) systems using multi-level, resilience-building, and relationship-based approaches in North Carolina.
Project activities include:
- Recommendations for Systems to Strengthen the NC ECE Workforce (see below)
- 9-month Cohort-Based Learning Collaboratives for Early Care & Education Coaches (see below)
- Asynchronous & In-person Training for the NC ECE workforce:
- Asynchronous: Address the Stress for Child Care Professionals 1-hour webinar (see below)
- In-person and virtual professional development for Center Directors/Child Care Administrators, including Adult Mental Health First Aid, communities of practice, and “Day Away for Directors”
- In-person “Day Away Together” for child care center staff and family child care home professionals
- Communities of practice for ECE Coaches
- Ongoing research and evaluation on ITTI Care outcomes for children, teachers, family child care home professionals, and center directors
For more information, contact ITTI Care Project Director, Ennis Baker at ennis.baker@duke.edu
Recommendations for
Systems to Strengthen the NC ECE Workforce
From 2018 – 2025, the ITTI Care team engaged NC early care & education teachers, center directors, ECE support system leaders and staff to learn about the challenges underlying staff shortages and turnover, along with the necessary systemic supports for building a strong, well-supported, effective and resilient ECE workforce. We then led a 19-member Advisory Group to fine-tune these recommendations and ensure that they will directly address the needs of the early care & education workforce in North Carolina.
Click here to view or download the Executive Summary (2 pages), or
here to view or download the complete Recommendations (17 pages).
What We Do
Our goal is to build a professional development framework for the infant/toddler child care workforce across the state of North Carolina to promote trauma-informed child care.
We accomplish this goal by training and supporting early childhood professionals providing coaching (technical assistance, consultation, mentoring, practicum support, etc.) to effectively promote trauma-informed child care in their current roles.
These coaches will, in turn, train and coach teachers, family child care home professionals and child care administrators to:
- Promote understanding of the impacts of stress and trauma on infants and toddlers
- Develop skills to form supportive, resilience-building relationships and learning environments
- Identify strategies to support child care provider health and well-being
This model will leverage the existing North Carolina early care & education workforce support system to expand and strengthen trauma-informed knowledge and practice within the communities they serve.
The ITTI Care Project is committed to partnering with early care & education systems across the state of North Carolina to promote a strong and resilient early care & education workforce and early childhood system of care.
The ITTI Care Project is supported by funding from the North Carolina Division of Child Development and Early Education and is aligned with The Competency Guidelines for Endorsement for Culturally Sensitive, Relationship-Focused Practice Promoting Infant Mental Health®
To learn more about ITTI Care, please review the following 14-minute video that we prepared for the Center of Excellence for Infant & Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation March 2022 Conference.
Builds ADULT Wellbeing
Adults cannot effectively care for children if they are not supported and cared for themselves
Focuses On Relationships
Responsive relationships are more predictive of outcomes than teacher credentials or quality of instruction
Fosters A Safe Environment
Consistent, predictable, and structured environments reduce stress
Strengthens Communities
Strong communities prioritize equity, cultural responsiveness, and collaboration and prevent isolation
Who has participated? Since the fall of 2019, we have had the honor of partnering with:
- Birth-3 Specialists
- Healthy Social Behavior Specialists
- Child Care Health Consultants
- Infant/Early Childhood Mental Health consultants
- Community college early childhood practicum supervisors
- Technical assistance practitioners from local Smart Start and CCR&R organizations
- Early care & education organizations
- 57 Child Care Centers
- 11 Family Child Care Homes
For more information email the ITTI Care Project Director, Ennis Baker: ennis.baker@duke.edu