Nancy Close Receives 2011 Jane C Bourns Award
This year the CTAIMH is proud to name Dr. Nancy Close as the
recipient of the 2011 Jane C. Bourns Award. Many of you know Dr.
Close as Assistant Professor in the Yale Child Study Center and as a
highly regarded mental health consultant to early care and education
programs in the Greater New Haven community. Dr. Close has spent
many years in the infant mental health field specializing in the
assessment and treatment of children under the age of five. She is a
rare gem as a teacher, supervisor, and mentor to students, fellows,
and clinicians at both the Child Study Center and the University where
Dr. Close teaches courses on: child development, child
psychopathology, developmental assessment and clinical evaluation,
and mental health consultation and early childhood education.
For the last two years it has been my privilege to work directly with Dr. Close as my supervisor at the Minding the Baby Program. Dr. Close plays essential multiple roles leading a MTB program replication project that has gained international attention, as a core faculty of a MTB Introductory Training Institute, and as 1/3 of the program’s leadership providing clinical supervision to clinicians. Dr. Close recently became endorsed in the CT AIMH Infant Mental Health Competencies as a Level IV‐Clinical Infant Mental Health Mentor and will be leading a course on reflective supervision this spring.
Dr. Close’s unwavering commitment to nurturing and developing the infant mental health workforce at all levels ensures that practitioners, researchers, programs, families, and communities work together towards the optimal development of infants, toddlers, and young children. Her reflective style of gentle, calm curiosity is a true testament to the parallel process which must be built into infant mental health program infrastructures so that families can experience lasting, meaningful relationships that serve as the catalyst for therapeutic change. All of these exemplary accomplishments and qualities embody the spirit of the Jane C. Bourns Award.
I remember that my first encounter with Dr. Close was during a lunch and learn she led at Yale and the topic was balancing motherhood and work. I was the mother of a six month‐old and felt such relief that someone out there understood how hard this was! Here was a brilliant, accomplished woman who was gracious, kind and really practiced what she preached. Dr. Close intuitively understood that those of us doing “the work” do our best work when we are able to properly care for and balance our own family needs as well as the needs of our “families.” Dr.Close/Nancy I want to say thank you for that gift.
Please join me in recognizing Dr. Nancy Close, our “gem” in the infant mental health workforce!
