SEED Program for Early Childhood Mental Health

Supporting Early Emotional Development 

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) increase risk for poor physical and mental health across the life course. ACEs disproportionately affect children in marginalized communities and are often transmitted across generations. The World Health Organization/UNICEF Nurturing Care Framework identifies five pillars that support young children’s healthy development: good health, adequate nutrition, safety and security, opportunities for learning, and responsive caregiving. Sensitive, responsive early caregiving builds resilience and equips children with emotional skills to navigate future adversity. Evidence shows that programs supporting parents during the perinatal period and early childhood improve caregiving sensitivity across diverse cultural and clinical settings.

Part of the Department of Psychiatry at Boston Medical Center, SEED offers group and individual treatment for families from pregnancy through early childhood. SEED delivers culturally responsive, evidence-informed care designed to strengthen parent–child relationships and prevent intergenerational trauma. SEED fills a critical gap at the intersection of perinatal care and early childhood mental health — offering accessible, culturally attuned services that strengthen families, reduce long-term morbidity, and generate rigorous evidence for models that can be scaled locally and globally.

Clinical:

  • Perinatal and parenting groups (prenatal, postpartum, and parenting preschoolers) in English and Spanish
  • Dyadic treatment using Parent–Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT), including THRIVE — a trauma-informed adaptation that addresses both internalizing and externalizing problems
  • Training and supervised clinical opportunities for psychiatry, psychology, social work and mental health trainees

Research: 

SEED’s research arm is called Semillas, a global health research program advancing maternal–infant mental health and addressing intergenerational trauma in diverse settings, including Peru, El Salvador, Pakistan, India, and the Mississippi Delta. Dr. Levey has led epidemiologic and intervention research in these settings. SEED will collect program-level outcomes and implementation data within the BMC patient population to build an evidence base, inform continuous improvement, and support scalable interventions.

Meet the research team:

Elizabeth

Elizabeth Levey, MD, is the Director of SEED. Dr. Levey is Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine and serves as the Director of Psychotherapy Training for the BMC Adult Psychiatry Residency. She is a child, adolescent and adult psychiatrist, psychoanalyst and perinatal intervention researcher. Her work focuses on addressing family violence and incorporates bioethics and ethnographic methods. Dr. Levey has led perinatal intervention studies and mixed methods research in diverse global settings, including Peru, Liberia, India and Pakistan. In 2024, she served as a Fulbright US Scholar in Peru and a Visiting Professor at Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos. Dr. Levey is a faculty member for the T32 Global Psychiatry Research Fellowship and has mentored many students and trainees. 

Paola

Paola Hernandez Cintron, MA, NCC, is an Outpatient Behavioral Health Clinician in the Department of Psychiatry at Boston Medical Center, where she also serves as Associate Director of SEED. She earned her MA in Mental Health Counseling and Behavioral Medicine from Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine and is a National Certified Counselor. Paola provides psychotherapy to children, adolescents, and families, drawing on her background in early childhood education, research on parent-child play and cognitive development, and behavioral health care in both outpatient and psychiatric emergency settings. Her clinical interests include early childhood, infant, and perinatal mental health, parent-child relationships, play therapy, and trauma-informed care. As a bilingual clinician of Puerto Rican heritage, she is committed to providing culturally responsive, family-centered care for children and families from diverse communities. 

Yara

Yara Masoud, MBBS, is an MPH practicum student at BU and a research assistant with SEED. She earned her bachelor’s in medical sciences from St. George’s University in London, UK, where she was awarded first class honors for her dissertation on vascular remodeling in pregnancy. She went on to study medicine at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland-Bahrain and completed two years of NHS Foundation Training in the UK. Dr. Masoud is currently a master’s student at Boston University’s School of Public Health, where she is working on a certificate in Mental Health and Substance Use. After completing her MPH, she plans to pursue psychiatry residency, with interests in perinatal and women’s mental health, trauma-informed care, and care for underserved communities.

Amanda

Amanda Pugh is an MPH practicum student at BU and a research assistant with SEED. She earned her BS in Public Health from Brigham Young University and is currently a master’s student in Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Boston University’s School of Public Health, where she is also working on a certificate in Maternal and Child Health. She previously served as a program assistant at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in the Department of Global Health’s Malaria Division, where she supported the front office of The President’s Malaria Initiative, a joint partnership between USAID and the CDC. These experiences have shaped her research interests in reproductive health across the life course, maternal health, and the disparities that affect these areas. Amanda hopes to build a career in research and programming that addresses these disparities.