Introduction
The purpose of this guide is to promote mental health for all members of the Head Start Community. This will be accomplished through activities that build skills in creating responsive, respectful relationships with co workers, parents, and children. These skills play an integral role in building programs and communities that support the ability of children and families to respond well to challenge and adversity.
The focus of this guide is exclusively on promoting mental health, while acknowledging that promotion alone is not a complete picture of mental health services in Head Start. Programs in the field are also engaged in early identification and intervention for children and families experiencing emotional difficulties.
Trainers using the series Training Guides for the Head Start Learning Community, who wish to provide mental health training which addresses the full spectrum, from normal emotional development through coping with emotional and behavioral problems, may also wish to look at activities from the guides, Enhancing Children's Development and Supporting Children with Challenging Behaviors: Relationships are Key.
This guide will be most helpful for "front-line" staff classroom teams, family service workers, home visitors, and family advocates, for example. Module 1: Where Does Mental Health Come From? is valuable to orient any staff to important concepts in the Head Start approach to promoting mental health. Module 2: Getting to Know the Whole Child offers hands- on tools to promote resiliency in Head Start children. Module 3: Getting to Know Ourselves stresses the importance of policies and practices that promote the mental health of the adults in Head Start. This is an issue of concern for supervisors as well as front-line staff.
The central mission of Head Start is to bring about a greater degree of social competence in participating children. In plain language, social competence is healthy social and emotional development, and that is what promoting early childhood mental health is all about.
While planning a program's mental health activities is typically the responsibility of the health or mental health coordinator, the task of creating a Head Start climate that encourages mentally healthy development "belongs" to everyone involved in Head Start.
The Promoting Mental Health guide has five working sections:
· Module
1: Where Does Mental Health Come From?
· Module
2: Getting to Know the Whole Child
· Module
3: Getting to Know Ourselves
· Continuing
Professional Development
· Resources
Each module provides learning opportunities for workshop sessions (12 to 25 people) and coaching (two to three people). Each has the following sections:
- Outcomes are the skills that should be acquired by staff who participate in the module's activities.
- Key Concepts are the main ideas conveyed in the module. These sections can be used as handouts or overheads.
- Background Information elaborates on the Key Concepts. This section is arranged so that it can be used as a coaching resource or as an outline for a presentation in a group session. Background Information sections can be used for handouts or as overheads to use in workshop sessions.
- Questions for Discussion/Reflection are listed at the end of each Background Information section. These questions can initiate discussion in workshops or coaching sessions, or serve as prompts for staff journals.
- Learning Activities build the skills which are needed to achieve the Outcomes stated for each module. Managers can choose to use workshop activities, coaching activities, or a combination of both.
- Handouts are included at the end of each module. Trainers should reproduce the handouts as needed for participants.
- Points to Consider are listed at the end of each activity. Keep these points in mind or use them as discussion prompts while working through the activity.
- Next Steps: Ideas to Extend Practice are additional activities to reinforce the expected Outcomes and enhance transfer of skills from the training session to the work setting.
Definitions of Icons
| Coaching |  |
A training strategy that fosters the development of skills through tailored instruction, demonstrations, practice, and feedback. The activities are written for a coach to work closely with one to three participants. |
| Workshops |  |
A facilitated group training strategy that fosters the development of skills through activities which build on learning through group interaction. These activities are written for up to 25 participants working in small or large groups with one or two trainers. |
| Next Steps: Ideas to Extended Practice |  |
Activities assigned by the trainer immediately following the completion of the module to help participants review key information, practice skills, and examine their progress toward expected outcomes of the module. |
| Continuing Professional Development |  |
Follow up
activities for the program to support continued staff development in the
regular use of the skills addressed in a particular training guide. They
include: 1) opportunities tailored to the participant to continue building on the skills learned in the training; and 2) ways to identify new skills and knowledge needed to expand and/or complement these skills through opportunities in such areas as in higher education, credentialing, or community educational programs. |
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| Module 1: Where Does Mental health Come From? | Activity 1: Me, Myself, & I-Personal Definitions of Mental Health (C) | 30 minutes |
3x5 Index Cards |
| Activity 2: Looking at Mental Health: Pictures in a Frame (W) | 30 minutes |
Easel, chart paper & markers | |
| Activity 3: Protection From the Storm: Building Resiliency (W) | 60-90 minutes |
Handout A & Handout B: 1-3 | |
| Module 2: Getting to Know the Whole Child | Activity 1: Gifts From the Heart (C) | 30 minutes | 3x5 Index Cards |
| Activity 2: What am I Supposed to Do With This Child (W) | 60-90 minutes | Handouts C: 1-7 | |
| Activity 3: Play a Day in My Shoes (W) | 45-60 minutes | Handout D | |
| Activity 4: Caregivers Are People First (C) | 30-45 minutes | Handout D | |
| Module 3: Getting to Know Ourselves | Activity 1: From Contest to Partnership (W) | 45 minutes | EAsel, chart paper & markers |
| Activity 2: Hot Spots (C) | 1 week | Journals | |
| Activity 3: Stress Busters (C) | 45-60 minutes | Handouts E: 1-4 | |
| Activity 4: Care for the Caregivers: Creating a Mentally Healthy Workplace (W) | 45 minutes | Handout F, chart paper & markers |
(C)=Coaching Activity
(W)=Workshop Activity