The Office of Head Start (OHS) values the health and well-being of children, families, and staff in Head Start programs. OHS also recognizes how important wellness is in staff’s ability to offer high-quality services and support the health, mental health, safety, and school readiness of Head Start children and families. Staff wellness includes both mental and physical health.
A key resource for a health manager is the Head Start Health Services Competencies Professional Development Assessment. Health managers and health services staff can use this resource themselves, with their supervisors, and with the staff they supervise to encourage discussions that can promote engagement and support opportunities for career development.
A health manager can also play a foundational role in promoting a program-wide culture of wellness for all staff.
Head Start Health Services Competencies
- L-15 S Promote staff wellness, including stress management, injury, and illness prevention (e.g., staff immunizations), and healthy active living.
- O-5 K Understand the risk factors that make some people healthy, and other people unhealthy (e.g., determinants of health that contribute to health disparities among culturally and linguistically diverse populations).
- O-10 S Share culturally, linguistically, and developmentally appropriate science-informed health education materials with children, families, and staff.
- O-11 S Apply the principles of health literacy when communicating with staff and families.
- L-14S Assist families and staff to increase their health literacy.
Cultivating Wellness: 8 Dimensions of Staff Well-being is an approach to staff wellness based on the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s initiative for wellness. It includes eight areas of wellness:
- Occupational
- Emotional
- Spiritual
- Intellectual
- Physical
- Environmental
- Financial
- Social
These areas are based on research on the well-being of early childhood staff, and support the connection between individual wellness and a healthy workplace (also known as organizational wellness).
Performance Standards Related to Staff Wellness
Social Determinants of Health and Equity Considerations
Head Start programs should consider the social determinants of health (SDOH) and health equity issues that affect staff. Staff may have some of the same health and wellness challenges faced by families in the program, such as difficulty finding affordable housing, high-quality health and mental health care, or fresh food. This increases their risk of health conditions like heart disease, diabetes, and obesity, and it can lead to stress and anxiety. In addition, many Head Start staff are women of color. Many Head Start staff are women of color, and may face health disparities such as reduced access to health insurance, worse maternal health outcomes, asthma, intimate partner violence, and behavioral health concerns. Awareness of the disparities affecting a program is important when preparing staff wellness plans and activities.
Last Updated: January 15, 2025