By Sangeeta Parikshak, PhD, and Shana Ratcliff, PhD
May is Mental Health Awareness Month! What better time to make mental health everyone’s business?
Back in August 2021, when programs were moving back to full in-person Head Start services, we shared a few considerations for reconnecting with others after a period of social isolation, having predictable routines, providing opportunities for adults to tell their stories, and to be heard.
Even though we are fully in-person again, the new normal may still be challenging. More than ever, we are talking about the need to prevent and treat mental and behavioral health concerns in all sectors of American society. Mental and behavioral health concerns impact millions of people, and children are no exception. But as we’ve grown in recognizing the importance of young children’s mental health, the challenges in addressing them can feel like they have grown, as well. Childhood mental and behavioral health concerns were on the rise prior to and made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic further highlighted health disparities, concerns with trauma and stress-related disorders in young children and their families, grief and loss, issues with substance use and addiction, and more. As we attempt to facilitate access to mental health services, we are hearing more that providers are more limited and have longer waits, even when there are urgent concerns. Underscoring all of these challenges are inequities in experiences with and access to mental health care that often disproportionately impact Head Start families and staff.
It has become increasingly clear that with early childhood mental health, we cannot rely on outsourcing mental health to a separate system. We need to address mental health within systems that families are already a part of and trust. President Biden released a comprehensive mental health agenda aimed at revamping the mental health delivery system through this idea of integration. Within this road map, Head Start programs are focused on three areas:
- Expanding early childhood intervention services and supports, including to families
- Training social and human service professionals in basic mental health skills
- Promoting mental well-being of our frontline workforce to address shortages and promote retention
Mental health is multi-faceted. To integrate it effectively into Head Start services, we must strengthen practices that we know work and adapt to current challenges by embracing promising novel approaches. Programs should consider these and other approaches.
Trauma-informed Care
Exposure to trauma is more common than many of us might think, and its impact can span beyond individuals to communities and even generations. Trauma-informed approaches remind us that what we see is often not the full story and to shift our thinking from blaming to understanding. A trauma-informed approach seeks to understand “What has happened to you?” instead of asking, “What is wrong with you?” In Head Start programs, this can mean seeing a child engage in a behavior that challenges us and then asking ourselves about the meaning of that behavior for the child and — equally importantly — the meaning of that behavior for us. Mental health involves recognizing and addressing the past. Intergenerational trauma can impact our own health and mental health, but it can also affect the way we interact with children and with each other. Trauma-informed approaches mean rooting ourselves in this as a step toward healing.
Staff Wellness
With the COVID-19 pandemic, many programs have quickly learned and seen the consequences of how critical staff wellness is to organizations. Staff deserve to experience the joy of working in Head Start programs and to feel supported in doing so. We see that cultivating wellness is comprised of so many factors — occupational, emotional, spiritual, intellectual, physical, environmental, financial, and social. Striving to cultivate wellness is not just about a single action like taking a bath or stretching, or a single training on mindfulness. Wellness means taking a holistic approach and creating space to regularly recognize and attend to our wellness needs as individuals, organizations, and collectives. Learn more about cultivating staff wellness and check out the two interactive learning courses on the Individualized Professional Development Portfolio.
Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Recovery
We know that crises and emergency situations have continued to take a toll on Head Start programs and communities. Situations such as natural disasters impact the physical environment around us and create circumstances ripe with anxiety and uncertainty, and unfortunately often bring grief and loss. We must continue to support Head Start programs’ capacity to address mental health before, during, and after disasters or emergencies. Programs can continue to engage with infant and early childhood mental health consultation and pressing concerns like substance use.
Keep up to date with the Early Childhood Learning and Knowledge Center (ECLKC) as we support these and other mental health efforts with upcoming events. Stay tuned for the releases of a chapter on mental health in the Emergency Preparedness Manual for Early Childhood Programs and information about stay safe (active shooter) drill protocols.
Check out the ongoing Head Start Heals campaign, which recognizes that programs, children, families, and staff are still in the process healing.
We make mental health everyone’s business by understanding just how many ways mental health impacts us and our communities, integrating it even further into the foundation of what we do, and focusing on healing as a collective process where we all can contribute.
Sangeeta Parikshak is a licensed clinical child psychologist and the lead for early childhood behavioral health at the Office of Head Start. Shana Ratcliff is a licensed clinical child psychologist and SRCD/AAAS Policy Fellow at the Office of Head Start.