This year’s theme, “RESILIENCE: Building Children’s Capacity to Bend Without Breaking” with keynote speaker, Nicki Patton Rowe, challenges us to strengthen our approach and collective impact as we support young children and their families. Click here to download the full agenda.
Dates
April 23-24, 2026
Location
Asbury Church, 2801 W. 15th St. N, Wichita, Kansas, 67203
Total KDHE hours
10.5
Thursday Agenda
7:30 Registration opens/breakfast
8:15 Welcome
8:30 Keynote
11:45 Annual lunch:
1:15 Breakout sessions
2:45 Break
3:00 Breakout sessions
Evening Mixer 5:00 – 6:30 pm
Friday Agenda
7:30 Registration opens/breakfast
8:15 Welcome
8:30 Keynote
11:45 Lunch
12:30 Breakout sessions
Registration is open!
Become a member of KAIMH and save $50 off your conference registration. KAIMH Conference Pricing is $325 for both days, including meals, snacks and evening entertainment! KAIMH Members receive a discounted registration of $275. . Click here to register.
Interested in applying for a scholarship? If you are a professional working in licensed child care facility, KCCTO (Kansas Child Care Training Opportunities has limited funding for scholarships to cover registration and travel fees for state conference training. Apply here .
KAIMH has limited conference scholarships funded through the Preschool Development Grant to cover registration fees. To apply click here.
Keynote Presenter Nicki Patton-Rowe
KAIMH is thrilled to host Nicki Patton-Rowe this year as she offers a two-part presentation on Resilience: Building Children’s Capacity to Bend Without Breaking. Day one session, “Rooted in Brain Architecture” explores what resilience is, how it develops, and why it depends on the integration of the emotional and thinking systems of the brain. What makes some children bounce back from adversity while others fall apart? Resilience isn’t a personality trait—it’s a brain-based capacity built over time through experience and relationships. In this powerful and practical keynote, you’ll explore how the developing brain—especially the emotional and thinking systems—lays the foundation for resilience. Discover why self-regulation and executive function matter, how stress shapes behavior, and why co-regulation is essential. Whether you’re in the classroom, clinic, or home, this session will deepen your understanding of resilience from the inside out.
Day two session, “Shaped by Experiences and Built Through Relationships” focuses on practical, evidence-based strategies that strengthen self-regulation, executive function, and co-regulation—the key building blocks of resilience. Resilience doesn’t grow on its own—it’s shaped by what children experience and who they experience it with. In this dynamic session, we move from the “what” to the “how,” exploring the everyday interactions and environments that build a child’s capacity to bounce back and bend without breaking. Discover how self-regulation, executive function, and co-regulation grow through relationships, routines, and responsive teaching. If you care for children, you’re already shaping resilience—this session shows you how to do it with intention.
As a bonus, Nicki will also present a breakout session titled, “Just Breathe: Using Belly Breathing to Calm Big Feelings and Bring Young Brains Back Online.” When big feelings take over, little brains go offline. Stressed, anxious, or upset children can’t access the part of the brain they need to learn, problem-solve, or even listen. That’s where belly breathing comes in—a simple, powerful tool that helps young children calm their nervous systems, re-engage the thinking brain, and return to learning. This interactive session explores the science behind the stress response and how intentional breathing rewires the brain for resilience.
Vendor Opportunity
We invite professionals and agencies to participate by having a resource table to showcase your programs, tools, research, and services to colleagues across Kansas. Vendor tables will be located in the main presentation room. Use this link to request your table(s). Questions? Contact Marie Treichel at [email protected]
KAIMH T-shirts Now Available!
Get your own customized KAIMH T-shirt or sweatshirt this year! Unisex sizes range from youth to 4x and are available in grey, white, purple, pink. Shirts will be available for pick up at the KAIMH Conference or you can choose to have yours shipped. Check out Hartman’s Hustle to order. Need a different color option? You can contact Hartman’s Hustle via the text option on the website.
Alice Eberhart-Wright Visionary Award
AEW Nomination
The Alice Eberhart-Wright Visionary Award recognizes outstanding achievements and significant contributions in the field of infant and early childhood mental health. The award is given to those who represent the mission of KAIMH and illustrate passion, creativity and best practices in their work supporting infant and early childhood mental health in Kansas. This award is presented each year at the KAIMH annual conference. If you would like to nominate a candidate for the 2026 award, please complete the form below.
Alice Eberhart-Wright Visionary Award Overview (160.32 KB)
Congratulations to the 2025 AEW Recipient:
Jessica Mostaffa
This year’s recipient of the Alice Eberhart-Wright award is Jessica Mostaffa. Her impactful contributions include but are not limited to: providing reflective consultation to early childhood professionals, mental health training and resource support, committee work with various early childhood organizations, and assisting home visitation leaders in effectively supporting home visitation staff. Below is Jessica’s comment on receiving this award:
At the heart of infant and early childhood mental health is one simple yet profound truth: relationships matter. It is through relationships – safe, responsive, and nurturing – that children begin to make sense of themselves and the world around them. Every moment of attuned connection lays the foundation for a child’s lifelong capacity to trust, to learn, to love, and to thrive.
But as we all know, children do not grow in isolation. They grow in the context of families, and families need support, understanding, and compassion. That’s why our work is not only about children – it’s about holding the caregivers, too. It’s about seeing the whole system and recognizing that when we support the adults, we support the child.
This is where the parallel process becomes so important. The way we engage with caregivers, the way we listen, reflect, and hold space for their experiences, directly mirrors what we hope they can offer to the children they care for. Our relationships with providers, parents, and colleagues become the model, the living blueprint, for the healing and growth we seek to foster in families. That’s what makes this work both powerful and deeply human.
I share this honor with the countless professionals who walk alongside families every day – often quietly, often without recognition – holding stories of pain and resilience, and doing the brave, relational work that changes lives. Also, with everyone who has guided me, taught me, and everyone who has trusted me with their story.
I truly believe that our field is filled with visionaries – people who imagine what’s possible when we invest in the earliest relationships, and who believe, fiercely, in the capacity for healing, connection, and hope.
Thank you for this recognition. Thank you for believing in this work. The journey continues, and I am honored to walk it with all of you.