Rent it or build it: IECMHC in a post-requirement world

On September 29, 2026, Neal Horen and Shai Idelson led a lunch and learn for the Florida Head Start Association.

Programs across the country have read the Head Start NPRM and are asking themselves: if mental health consultation is no longer required, does it still matter, and if so, how do we sustain it?

Neal has spent more than 25 years working with early childhood programs. He leads Georgetown's Center of Excellence for IECMHC and is Pyramid Model faculty. The session covers:

• What the evidence shows consultation delivers
• Why the performance standard reflected the value of this work rather than created it
• The difference between renting capacity and building it
• What Florida programs can do now to hold on to consultation

By the end, participants can make the case for consultation in their own program and understand how to build consultation capacity within it. The recording runs 51 minutes.