The Infant Mental Health Journal published by the World Association for Infant Mental Health released a special issue March 26 honoring Nancy Suchman, PhD, who died December 25, 2020.
At the time of her death, Suchman was an associate professor in the Yale Department of Psychiatry and Yale Child Study Center. She had devoted her career to the development of Mothering from the Inside Out, an attachment-based parent intervention for mothers of young children in addiction treatment. She was also an associate editor for the journal.
Jessica Borelli, PhD, professor of psychological science at the University of California Irvine and Thomas McMahon, PhD, professor emeritus of psychiatry and in the Child Study Center at Yale, served as guest editors.
The special issue includes an introduction, nine research reports, and two commentaries written by Suchman’s colleagues and their collaborators. All nine research reports focus on the nature, measurement, and promotion of parents’ capacity for reflective functioning.
Amanda Lowell, PhD, Helena Rutherford, PhD, and Carla Stover, PhD from the Child Study Center each contributed as the first author of a research report. Cindy DeCoste, MS, Suchman’s longtime project manager, who is now at the Yale School of Nursing, contributed to the introduction and two of the research reports.
The first authors for the other research reports were Christine Carlone, PhD, from the University of Connecticut; Elizabeth Peacock-Chambers, MD, from the University of Massachusetts Chan School of Medicine-Baystate; Ruth Paris, PhD, from Boston University School of Social Work; and Amanda Zayde, PsyD, from the Albert Einstein School of Medicine and the Montefiore Medical Center.
Linda Mayes, MD, Arnold Gesell Professor of Child Psychiatry, Pediatrics, and Psychology, and Arietta Slade, PhD, professor of clinical child psychology, from the Child Study Center each wrote a commentary highlighting ways the contributions Suchman made to infant and maternal mental health are continuing around the world.