Module 3
Getting to Know Ourselves
After completing this module participants will be able to:
Key Concepts
- Recognize their own behavior as influencing the mental health of co-workers and Head Start families;
- Assess the program's mental health services plan to determine how well it supports the mental health of staff and the relationships between adults in the program; and
- Recognize their own mental health strengths, needs, and areas for growth.
The relationships between adults in the program, that is, between parents and staff, between co-workers, and between supervisors and staff, will be reflected in their relationships with children.
Supporting children and families, particularly children and families who are experiencing stress, is very hard, emotional work. To support the mental health of staff, supportive and safe supervision and mental health consultations are essential. This will enable workers to bring their skills and energy back to the children and families.
Caring for the emotional needs of others can trigger strong feelings. This happens to all of us. managing these feelings in ways that don't get in the way of our work is much easier with the support of our fellow workers.
The challenges that face Head Start families are often the same ones that face Head Start staff. Families ask us to help them with threats to mental health posed by economic hardship, violence, depression, and other issues. It is not uncommon for staff to be struggling with the very same stressors.
Background Information
"The most critical factor in quality child care is the human factor. Productive, confident, motivated staff are far more important to children than the blocks the children play with or the buildings in which they play. Ensuring that staff work at an optimum psychic level is rightly a central concern of every program administrator."
The work of promoting the mental health of and building resiliency in young children can sound deceptively simple-the heart of the work is in building warm, responsive, and respectful relationships. But how do we learn to be warm, responsive, and respectful partners in relationships? How are those skills nurtured and developed over time? Just as the children learn to give affection by having the experience of receiving affection, we learn to create nurturing relationships by having the opportunity to experience them.
We support the ability to be respectful, warm, and responsive in relationship to children by creating a climate where relationships among adults express these same qualities. Creating an environment for families where they are treated with respect, where power is shared, where strengths are celebrated, and where needs are addressed begins with creating a workplace environment in which these things are true for staff. Programs can take many actions that demonstrate that promoting the mental health of all members of the Head Start community is a priority.
A. Policies and Working Conditions That Promote Mental Health
Working conditions for staff make a significant contribution to their own mental health, and to that of the children.
A high-quality child development program cannot be achieved without paying attention to the quality of the working conditions for staff.
- Caregivers with optimal adult-to-child ratios and fewer competing responsibilities (i.e., not also responsible for cooking, cleaning, etc.) touch, play, and laugh with children more.
- Caregivers in supportive environments are more likely than caregivers who feel isolated and stressed to have positive interactions with children.
- Working with families to achieve economic self-sufficiency is difficult if the family advocates themselves do not make enough money to support their full range of basic needs, including adequate housing, health care, childcare, and so on.
- It is important to model self-care for children and families through the ability and willingness to set reasonable limits, and by taking time for personal days off when necessary, using stress management techniques, and asking for consultation and help when overwhelmed, for example. This is enabled by supportive and health promoting policy.
- Conflict between and among adults in any workplace is inevitable. A valuable step toward violence prevention and mental health promotion is to model methods of peaceful conflict resolution that respect individuals and protect and value relationships.
B. The Mental Health Consultant: A Resource for Establishing a Mentally Healthy Workplace
All too often, limited mental health consultation resources are devoted exclusively to emergencies. However, when a mental health consultant only comes in to observe and handle referrals and/or treatment for a crisis, opportunities for ongoing relationships with the consultant, which can promote the morale and mental health of workers, parents, and children, are lost.
The mental health consultant can support a mentally healthy workplace through roles that may not be traditionally considered. In an environment where resources are scarce, it may feel like a luxury to use the mental health consultant to care for the needs of the staff and workplace rather than those of families. Creating a climate where staff can feel good about their work and grow as professionals, however, is no luxury: it is a basic ingredient that enables quality care for families.
Things that mental health consultants can do to promote a mentally healthy workplace for adults include:
C. Supervision
- Help management institute regular supportive supervision;
- Attend staff meetings;
- Help mediate intra-staff conflict if requested;
- Facilitate staff support groups;
- Co-lead parenting classes or parent support groups;
- Provide ongoing in-service training; and
- Maintain a resource pool available to staff for their own and their families' mental health needs.
Because we are all human, the challenges that face Head Start families are often the same ones that face Head Start staff. Families ask staff to help them with threats to their mental health posed by economic hardship, violence, depression, and other difficulties. It is not uncommon for staff to be struggling with the very same stressors. Sorting out emotional reactions to the work from professional roles and responses is critical. This can only be accomplished with access to supportive relationships within which to think about the feelings that the work can stir up. Programs can help staff manage these feelings by:
Supervision in this context is more than performance review, more than a check for competencies and compliance with standards. When managers have responsibility as supervisors, their work loads need to accommodate the time that quality supervision requires. If a director or component manager is overloaded with administrative responsibilities, it may make sense to use a consultant or other adjunct staff to serve as practice supervisors.
- acknowledging that work in Head Start, like all work with young children and their families, is emotionally demanding and can touch us very close to home;
- providing a regular structure for supervision/consultation.
The essential features of supervision that acknowledge the emotional nature of Head Start work and support the ability of staff to promote the mental health of the children and families with whom they work are:
Reflection: The relationship with the supervisor provides a safe place to slow down, step back, and think about the work. It is a place where it is okay to process and learn from emotional reactions to situations, think together about responses, and clarify one's roles and goals.
Collaboration: Supervisory relationships share power and are collaborative in nature. Supervisors encourage the supervisor's growth as a professional. Communication is mutual and mirrors the kind of communication staff should strive for with families.
Regularity: All relationships take time to build, and if supervision is to be useful, a reliable allocation of time must be devoted to it. This will only occur when management supports this allocation of resources and protects it as a valuable contribution to quality services.
Questions for Discussion/Reflection
- Think about whether or not you have ever had a mentor. This may have been a teacher or supervisor in a work role, or it may be the older brother who taught you how to throw a ball the right way.
- What was it about that relationship that helped you go beyond your previous level of capability?
- Do you have any relationships like that in your current work life?
- For directors: What are the barriers to making sure that regular, high-quality supervision occurs in your program? Who could you meet with regularly to think about how to overcome those barriers and who could support you?
Handout E-1 Activity 3-1 Handout E-2 Activity 3-2 Handout E-3 Activity 3-3 Handout E-4 Activity 3-4 Handout F Next Step Index
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