Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation
SUPPORTING MENTAL AND BEHAVIORAL HEALTH AWARENESS IN EARLY EDUCATORS
ELCOC expanded early childhood mental health support to our early education classrooms this year with the use of Preschool Development grant funds. We established a pilot Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation (ECMHC) program to provide weekly visits by licensed early childhood mental health consultants to ten early childhood programs in Orange County. Building on the Florida Blue Foundation’s work to establish the Employee Assistance Program (EAP), early childhood mental health consultants from Kinder Konsulting provide positive mental health support and assistance to teachers as they work with children in their classrooms. To date, 87 teachers in 60 classrooms have participated in this program, and their feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.
“What was helpful to me was [the Mental Health Consultant] would come by, me being family home care provider, having kids of different ages, and my special needs child was a preschooler. She helped me and showed me how to manage when things would happen and he would act out; she would show me how to bring it back in without losing control.
She taught me so well that now I use it so much and it just comes natural. Before, I had a lot of pressure and tension because you don’t want to give up on the child and then you’re thinking, is this really the place for the child? [This child] was kicked out of two schools; when this program came along. It was heaven- my consultant came right in and the way she was with the children, it helped me to know how to handle the children. She showed me so much and it was so helpful for me and for him until I scored way beyond the [CLASS] score that was passing. I couldn’t ask for anyone better. She was awesome!” - Kissha Ballard, Kissha's Little Ones
Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation
