Jordana Ash is currently Director of Early Childhood Mental Health in the Colorado Office of Early Childhood, Department of Human Services. She is the first to hold this position which represents public/private partnership and state level commitment to the role. Ms. Ash previously held the position of senior program manager of Early Childhood Services at Mental Health Partners in Boulder, Colorado. She developed the award winning, nationally recognized Kid Connects: Integrated Health and Mental Health model of early childhood mental health consultation. Ms. Ash has provided extensive training and workforce development to early childhood mental health consultants and consultation programs. She is the author of the Kid Connects Implementation Manual, a three volume resource for communities replicating the Kid Connects model. She was an overall contributor to the Mental Health Consultation in Early Care and Education: A Resource and Sustainability Toolkit for Providers, published in 2006 by JFK Partners, and principal developer of the Toolkit’s Core Knowledge and Competencies Self-Evaluation Checklist. Her most recent peer-reviewed article on mental health consultation in diverse practice settings was published in the May 2013 edition of the Zero to Three Journal. Ms. Ash is past president of the Colorado Association for Infant Mental Health. She is an Irving Harris Graduate in Child Development and Infant Mental Health at the University of Colorado Denver and is an instructor with the Harris Program. She achieved Endorsement for Culturally-Sensitive, Relationship Focused Practice Promoting Infant Mental Health® as an Infant Mental Health Mentor-Clinical in 2010.

Jordana is continuing her support for CoAIMH through acting as Liaison from the Office of Early Childhood. She is also continuing to act in a leadership role with the Colorado Endorsement Partnership, and as mentor to the Endorsement Coordinator.