Reflective Practice Mentor – Endorsement Mentorship Program

The California Center for I-FECMH (CA Center) assists policymakers, funders, and organizations to design and implement high-quality practices that promote the healthy social and emotional development of children under the age of five. The CA Center administers an endorsement process, which established a standard of excellence that can be used by professionals to document their expertise, by employers to determine hiring practices, and by consumers to guide decision-making about providers with whom they may work.

The endorsement process was developed based on a set of principles that all professionals working with young children and their families should be grounded in the core knowledge and training necessary to provide family-centered, diversity-informed, and developmentally appropriate services across the continuum of infant–family and early childhood mental health. The endorsement process establishes a standard of excellence that professionals can use to demonstrate their knowledge and reflective practice facilitation experience, which in turn supports the work they are doing with infants, young children, and families across a variety of multidisciplinary settings. There are six different endorsement categories. For more information on the various categories, please visit the Professional Endorsement: Defining a Standard of Excellence webpage.

As outlined in the California Compendium of Training Guidelines, Personnel Competencies, and Professional Endorsement Criteria for Infant–Family and Early Childhood Mental Health, Reflective Practice Mentors (RPM) have attained endorsement as a Reflective Practice Facilitator I or II and have also met the requirements to be able to train, support, and facilitate the learning of others undertaking the work of reflective practice facilitation. Activities of a mentor include but are not limited to program development, evaluation, supervision, training, staff development, policy development, research, and work within and across systems of care serving young children and families. RPM Endorsement requires additional criteria focused specifically on developing reflective facilitation skills.

The RPM-EMP will support 24 uniquely qualified participants in preparation to submit their application for the California RPM endorsement by June 15, 2027. The applicant must be interested in and eligible to seek endorsement as an RPM based on their current endorsement status, past and current training, experience, and professional goals. There is no cost to RPM-EMP accepted participants, including the endorsement application fee, for those who meet all requirements and submit by June 15, 2027. Program components include:

• Participants will be matched with a Reflective Practice Mentor (RPM) to review their current endorsement status, assess remaining requirements to be fulfilled, and provide support toward the development of their endorsement. They will also receive up to 9 hours of individual reflective practice as they work toward meeting the endorsement requirements. 1-hour individual reflective practice sessions will be offered October 2026 – May 2027. (up to 9 hours of RP)
• Participants will attend an on-going 90-minute small, reflective practice group [Professional Learning Cohort (PLC)], facilitated by an RPM, to receive hours toward the reflective practice mentoring requirements. Groups will meet December 2026 – May 2027. (up to 9 hours of RP)
• Participants agree to develop a Reflective Practice Pay It Forward (RP-PIF) Plan that will be established based on their unique skills and role within their agency. Following completion of the RPM-EMP, participants will implement their RP-PIF Plan, which will involve providing reflective practice mentorship to other professionals who are either endorsed or working toward endorsement. Each participant will work with their RPM as part of their individualized assessment to create an RP-PIF Plan. Participants will have up to 3 hours of individual support toward the development of their RP-PIF Plan. (up to 3 hours of RPM support)
• Participants may access additional virtual drop-in sessions to assist in their endorsement application and development of their RP-PIF Plan. (up to 6 hours of RPM support; highly recommend attending at least 2)
• Participants agree to complete a pre- and post-survey to provide feedback for continuous quality improvement of the RPM – EMP.
• Participants be prepared to apply for RPM endorsement by June 15, 2027, and will have completed the following:
  • Write a short personal statement regarding your qualifications as an RPM
  • Submit names and contact information of three Reflective Practice Facilitators who will be contacted via email to verify the length of time and quality of the reflective practice mentoring provided
  • Request at least one letter of recommendation from a professional who provided mentorship to the applicant as they became a mentor.
  • A 20-minute video of your reflective practice facilitation mentoring session and a reflective narrative

Applicants for the RPM-EMP are expected to meet the following requirements at the time of application:

• All interested applicants are highly encouraged to attend an RPM-EMP Information Session
• Have been endorsed as an RPF I or II for at least 18 months
• Provided at least 175 accrued hours of reflective practice to a supervisee or mentee after endorsement as an RPF I or II
• Have one year of experience providing reflective facilitation with someone in a leadership role who is building reflective practice facilitation skills, for example, support to a program manager or site supervisor (this experience can be acquired concurrently with experience requirements outlined in the previous bullet)
• Worked across at least two disciplines, for example, Early Childhood Educator, Social Worker, Mental Health Clinician, Occupational Therapist, Early Interventionist
• Provided, or is able to provide throughout this program, at least 25 hours of specific reflective practice facilitation with someone who is building reflective practice facilitation skills with the intent to become endorsed
• Active engagement providing on-going reflective practice to a supervisee or mentee throughout the program

It is highly recommended that all interested applicants attend one of the following RPM-EMP Information Sessions:

• August 11, 2026 (2:00–3:00 p.m.)
• August 31, 2026 (2:00–3:00 p.m.)
• September 1, 2026 (10:00–11:00 a.m.)

To register for an Info Session, sign up here.

The application will be open from August 10 through September 4. Applicants will be notified of their status by September 14.