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Department of Psychiatry

Department of Psychology
 

Welcome to the Harris Program

Expanding the field infant mental health in Colorado and beyond
Haven mothers and infants 
 

​The Irving Harris Program in Child Development and Infant Mental Health provides clinical training, consultation, advocacy, and research in infant and early childhood mental health.  Postdoctoral and community fellowships are offered to qualified professionals seeking advanced training in infant and early childhood mental health.  Program faculty provide supervision, consultation, and training to academic programs and community agencies in Colorado as well as across the nation.

 
                          Fellowships in Advanced Clinical Infant Mental Health Training

 

The Irving Harris Program in Child Development and Infant Mental Health trains postdoctoral psychology fellows and community professionals with advanced clinical skills in infancy and early childhood mental health.  The year-long clinical fellowship focuses on training in clinical, research and systems factors related to infancy and early childhood.  The training involves clinical placements, didactics, reflective supervision, and professional development.  The didactics cover content on development, attachment theory, treatment approaches, diagnostic classifications, diagnoses, perinatal mental health, cultural competence, and socio-cultural influences.  The clinical settings included traditional outpatient services, consultation in pediatric primary care and other medical clinics, early care and education centers, and home-based services (some being bilingual) within UC-AMC programs and community agencies. 

 

​Award from W.K. Kellogg Foundation for new Harris Healthy Infant Program (HHIP) 
The Harris Program is very excited to announce that it recently received a 2-year funding award from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation to develop and implement a new initiative, the Harris Healthy Infant Program (HHIP) (see article).  For more info about HHIP... 

 

​Contributions of the Harris Program to the field of early childhood mental health 
The Harris Program's training activities and infant mental health services were recently featured in a UCH Insider article.

 

 

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December 11-14, 2013

Zero To Three 27th National Training Institute, Orlando, FL; for more information

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​Robert J. Harmon, MD

The Harris Program began in 1996 under the directorship of Robert J. Harmon, MD (in memoriam, 1946-2006), an infant and child psychiatrist and Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, and with the funding support from The Irving Harris Foundation.

Dr. Harmon was a graduate of the University of Colorado School of Medicine (UCSOM) where he also received his post-graduate training in General and Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. After spending three years at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development in Bethesda, MD, Dr. Harmon returned to Colorado, joining the faculty of the School of Medicine in 1978 as an Assistant Professor and later becoming Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics in 1992. Below are some of his many appointments/recognitions during his accomplished career:

    • Founder and Director of the Irving Harris Program in Child Development and Infant Mental Health (1996-2006)
    • Medical Director of the Center for Dependency, Addiction and Rehabilitation (CeDAR) at the University of Colorado Hospital/University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
    • Psychiatric Director of the Women’s and Children’s Residential Services at The Haven, a therapeutic community for women where he implemented a community-based Doula Program
    • Board member of Zero to Three/National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families
    • Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association (APA)
    • Fellow of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) and served as Chair of the AACAP Program Committee for the 2005-2008 Annual Meetings
    • Deputy Editor of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
    • The Kempe Children’s Foundation Professional Honoree for contributions to the prevention and treatment of child abuse and neglect in April 2003
    • Received the Simon Wile Leadership in Consultation Award from the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in recognition of his outstanding leadership and contributions in the field of liaison child and adolescent psychiatry in October 2003
    • Authored of more than 150 publications on infant psychiatry, infant and family development, and the effects of the death of an infant on the family

Dr. Harmon was certified in General, Child and Adolescent, and Addiction Psychiatry.