Thrive Center for Children, Families, and Communities

For clinicians already working with young children and their families, the Clinical Track Certificate is the depth that most graduate programs cannot provide.

You will study evidence-based treatment models for infants and young children and their families, including Child-Parent Psychotherapy and Parent-Child Interaction Therapy. You will learn about developmentally appropriate assessment. You will explore the intersection of trauma, attachment, neuroscience, and culture in the youngest children's lives.

And you will leave with a capstone connected to your real work in IECMH.

⬇️ Apply by August 1st! Link to website and application in the comments!



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GUCEI is not your run-of-the-mill professional development.

The Georgetown University Certificate in Early Intervention (GUCEI) is contemporary and evidence-based — taught by expert practitioners who support your growth and help you develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that lead to promotions, leadership roles, and real authority in your field.

⬇️ Apply by August 1st! Link to website and application in the comments!

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This week on Thrive Dispatches. Alison Peak, a clinical social worker and Executive Director of Allied Behavioral Health Solutions in Tennessee, sits down with Dr. Matt Biel to talk about the systems that hold children and families, both the formal ones with long acronyms and the informal ones built out of relationships and routine.

In this conversation:
• Why relationships, not programs, are what decide whether young children thrive
• The difference between formal and informal systems, and what each one gets right
• How a good provider becomes “the interpreter”

🔗 Listen to the full episode. Link in the comments!

📢 Applications are open for Together We Lead!

Join us July 28-30 in Philadelphia for an immersive 3-day leadership retreat designed specifically for early childhood program and agency leaders.

Developed by the creators of the Pyramid Model in partnership with the Thrive Center at Georgetown University, this retreat helps leadership teams build self-awareness, deepen connection, and walk away with a clear, actionable plan for impactful, human-centered leadership.

• Limited to 36 participants
• $1,350/participant, includes all programming, meals, and virtual follow-up sessions
• Bring your team of 3-5 leaders

⬇️ Complete the interest form to register your team. Link in the comments!

Exciting updates from our Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities on the LEADS program! This spring, partners from the University of Thessaly visited Washington, DC, and then our Georgetown team made a reciprocal visit to Greece! Both trips deepened a transatlantic partnership built on community voice and a shared commitment to inclusion.

The LEADS Joint Executive Master's in Disability Leadership and Inclusion, offered jointly by Georgetown University and the University of Thessaly, launches its inaugural cohort in January 2027. Applications open soon!

Already working as an infant and early childhood mental health consultant?

The Leadership Certificate in IECMHC adds the layer that most consultant training leaves out: how the systems around you are designed, funded, and evaluated.

Funders and policymakers: you'll leave with implementation science frameworks and the tools to evaluate whether consultation is working.

⬇️ Apply by August 1st! Link to website and application in the comments!

Looking for the Practical Certificate in IECMHC? Find the link in the comments!



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We're so excited to be featured in a recent article by Georgetown University Medical Center!

Last month, our Innovation Hub hosted a Solutions Fair featuring the latest cohort at the Watergate Hotel. Since February 2025, the fellowship has brought together 19 remarkable organizations serving more than 2 million children and families across 20+ states and several countries. The event celebrated the kind of work we believe in deeply: pairing community-driven innovation with academic research to build better mental health systems for kids and families.

As Dr. Matthew Biel, Director of the Thrive Center, explained in the article: "Many of the entrepreneurs we work with are people who have lived experience, either in their own lives or raising their children, navigating services and identifying gaps in systems. They're the perfect people to be building the systems that we need."

Thank you to GUMC for amplifying this important work!

Read the full article here: https://medicine.georgetown.edu/news-stories/georgetown-program-connects-community-innovators-with-mental-health-research-and-resources/

Innovating for Mental Healthcare - School of Medicine - Georgetown The Innovation Hub at the Thrive Center for Children, Families, and Communities hosted its first solutions fair for mental health organizations.

📢 We're hiring! Join the Thrive Center team as a Clinical Research Postdoctoral Fellow!

The Thrive Center is seeking a Clinical Research Postdoctoral Fellow to join our Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

This two-year fellowship is designed for postdoctoral trainees ready to advance their skills in both applied clinical work and program-focused research, helping us improve evidence-based practices within the child and adolescent psychiatry service in the Department.

The ideal candidate is a collaborative, equity-minded practitioner who is ready to bridge the gap between evidence-based practice and real-world impact.

⬇️ Deadline September 1, 2026! Learn more and apply (link in comments and QR code)!

You work alongside OTs, PTs, SLPs, and special educators every day.

But do you actually understand how they think in an EI setting? What they're noticing, prioritizing, deciding?

The Georgetown University Certificate in Early Intervention gives you that. 10 months learning EI alongside every discipline in the room, so you can lead across all of them.

⬇️ Apply by August 1st! Link to website with application in the comments!

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The Georgetown University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities is proud to be part of this conversation! Join this free international forum on disability leadership and inclusion this Monday, June 15, organized by the University of Thessaly and Georgetown University in connection with the LEADS program. No registration required -- just click to join.

⬇️ More information, including the link to join below!

What does real inclusion look like? Let's talk about it.

We're excited to share a FREE international forum organized by the University of Thessaly in Greece, held in connection with the Joint Executive Master's in Disability Leadership and Inclusion (LEADS) — offered jointly by the University of Thessaly and Georgetown University. It brings together voices from the U.S. and Greece for an honest conversation on disability, leadership, and systems change.

The forum will feature several incredible members of our D.C. community: Chrysanthé Courniotes, Jonathan Uy, and Fari Ghamina Tumpe

📅 Monday, June 15 | 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM EDT
💻 Online via Microsoft Teams
🔗 No sign-up needed! Link to join the discussion in the comments!

Please share with anyone who cares about disability inclusion! All are welcome!