Originally published: . Volume 3, No. 9. Source pages: 1, 8.
Zero-To-Three, a national organization for the well- being of infants and toddlers has named Dr. Sherryl S. Heller, to its 2012 Class of Leaders for the 21st Century.
Dr. Heller is an applied developmental psychologist and Associate Professor at Tulane University Health Sciences Center, Tulane U. School of Medicine. She is currently a senior mental health consultant on a statewide program aimed at improving the quality of childcare centers across the state.
Dr. Heller provides early childhood mental health consultation to the kindergarten programs at Langston Hughes Elementary School through a partnership with Seamless Transitions and NOLA Outreach. This is a pilot program that is based on Tulane’s Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation (ECMHC) program, Dr. Heller explained. Tulane’s ECMHC is a state-funded program that has provided mental health consultation to childcare centers throughout Louisiana for almost 5 years. The hope is to expand this model into other kindergarten programs as well, Dr. Heller noted.
Zero-To-Three is a national, nonprofit organization that informs, trains, and supports professionals, policymakers, and parents in their efforts to improve the lives of infants and toddlers.
Since 1981, Zero-To-Three has named those to the Fellowship Class of Leaders in order to encourage emerging and current leaders across disciplines in their efforts to improve the lives of youngsters and expand the knowledge base needed to do so. Only ten Fellows each year are selected by an intensive review process to have the opportunity to engage with Zero-To-Three in projects overlapping their professional interests.
Dr. Heller earned her doctorate from the U. of New Orleans and currently serves as a Senior Mental Health Consultant and Associate Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at Tulane U. and at the Tulane Institute of Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health. Dr. Heller has a variety of research in infant mental health topics such as reflective supervision, the Crowell parent child interaction procedure, effects of maltreatment on child development, the development of attachment and attachment disturbances in very young children, mental health consultation to child care settings, the effects of violence on child development, and perinatal loss. She has been a faculty member in Tulane University’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences for almost 15 years.
Dr. Sherryl Heller (Photo courtesy Dr. Heller)
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