Health & Well-being

We work to ensure access to health and wellness programs, especially for those struggling with poverty, mental illness, and homelessness. 

Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation (ECMHC)

We work with families, schools, and teachers to support children who exhibit undesired behaviors and are at risk of suspension and/or expulsion from their early childhood program.

Why Early Childhood?

Children’s brains, their capacity for learning and implementing new and essential skills develop rapidly in the first few years of life. From birth to the early elementary years, children’s social and emotional skills are constantly advancing in the following areas:

  • Experiencing, regulating and expressing a range of emotions. 

  • Developing close, satisfying relationships with other children and adults. 

  • Actively exploring their environments and learning, especially through play.

Early development of social and emotional skills is the foundation for literacy, numeracy and other cognitive skills essential for school readiness and future life success. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), “Increasingly, legislation to enhance social and emotional well-being in early learners is seen as a crucial component to promoting success in school.” 

  • Improve children’s social skills and emotional functioning 

  • Promote healthy relationships

  • Reduce challenging behaviors

  • Reduce the number of suspensions and expulsions

  • Improve quality of early learning environments

  • Reduce provider stress, burnout, and turnover.

ECMHC has been shown to:

Addressing Exclusionary Discipline

Suspensions and expulsions at the early childhood level can disrupt school readiness. ECMHC has been proven to decrease exclusionary discipline.