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Here is an issue of Healthy Generations that focuses on early childhood mental heatlh, providing over 40 pages a comprehensive overview. -gw
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Thursday, February 16, 2012
On Early Intervention: Evidence of the benefits
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And from Bill, these NYT items on toxic stress and effective intervention. -gw
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One successful example of early intervention is home visitation by childcare experts, like those from the Nurse-Family Partnership. This organization sends nurses to visit poor, vulnerable women who are pregnant for the first time. The nurse warns against smoking and alcohol and drug abuse, and later encourages breast-feeding and good nutrition, while coaxing mothers to cuddle their children and read to them. This program continues until the child is 2.
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At age 6, studies have found, these children are only one-third as likely to have behavioral or intellectual problems as others who weren’t enrolled. At age 15, the children are less than half as likely to have been arrested.
Changing that social structure is going to require many kinds of changes, but the point of this latest research is that we have to start early. By the time a child reaches kindergarten, it’s not exactly too late. But it’s certainly harder.
On Poverty and Toxic Stress: One plus one equals negative two
This article reinforces the importance of early childhood interventions+
Thanks for passing this on, Ellen! -gw
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Tuesday, February 7, 2012
On Wondering Together: The virtue of reflective practices
In their recent book, Mental Health Consultation in Child Care, Johnston and Brinamen (2006) capture the principles and practices of the consultative stance essential for the collaborative and capacity building elements of early childhood mental health consultation. They describe the consultative stance as a "way of being" that highlights the mutual responsibilities and "shared endeavor" of the consultant and the staff, caregivers, or family members. By "wondering together", the consultant assists caregivers in understanding a child’s behavior and participating in changes that may promote, prevent, or intervene in the social emotional development or challenging behavior of young children. The consultative stance helps those involved with the child to explore their understanding of the child and family and consider new information or ideas. Through patience, perspective, and reflective learning, consultants use their relationships with the caregivers to build the capacity of the caregivers so that they can become empathic and responsive to a child in new and effective ways.
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I presented at the Head Start Conference at Fort Worden this year on "Case Consultation to Support Reflective Practice in Home Visitation" to an audience of mostly Early Head Start homevisitors. Reflective practice sounds so mysterious, but it really is "wondering together." In EHS there is a commitment to line staff having the benefit of reflective supervision. Interestingly, in my faith community we come together for Reflection Meetings every three months. Reflective practices are widespread outside of the EHS community and are widely practiced within the human community. How many societies gather aroud a fire to wonder together before coming to make collective decisions? Wonder together is what we do as well at the Pennisulas Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation group meetings. -gw
On the Impact of the Father on Early Childhood Mental Health: Strategies for engagement
My friend Jay-Dub and his daughter
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What is the impact of the father on early childhood mental health?
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At the end of his moving testimony, Chuck told the committee, “I attribute much of who I am to the Head Start program and my life mission to be the father to my children that I never had in part is a result of the life‐lessons I learned while in Head Start.”
There are wonderful "fatherhood strategies" incorporated in this comprehensive and fairly recent powerpoint. -gw
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