Lesson 4Research to Practice: Voices from the Field
Objective 3. Identify ways to address equity, bias, and disparities in early care and education settings within a consultation framework.
The nature of mental health consultation lends itself to shifting our focus and attention to ourselves. Who are we in this work? How do we continue to work our mental health consultants to view from a health equity lens?
Closing the Gap: What improved over 12 months?
| Outcomes | Boys | African American Children | Latino/a Children |
|---|---|---|---|
| Attachment | X | X | X |
| Initiative | X* | X | |
| Self-Regulation | X | X+ | X |
| Teacher-Child Closeness | X | X | |
| Negative Outcomes | |||
| Teacher-Child Conflict | X | X | |
| Risk of Expulsion | X* | X | |
| Teacher’s Negative Attribution of Child | X |
*Almost closed the gap by 12 months; + Surpassed white students by 12 months
Knowledge Check:
Why is IECMHC a Promising Disrupter of Bias? (Select all that apply)
- 'Leaning in' with teachers
- Holding their gaze - 'I see you' (parallel process)
- Curiosity about the meaning of children's behavior
- Self-awareness
- Presence in the here and now
- Perspective-taking
- Emotion-regulation
- Empathy which supports compassionate action
See the answer
All of the above components of IECMHC make it a promising disrupter of bias.
Multi-state findings
Do issues around race, culture, bias, etc. come up in your work as a mental health consultant?
- Yes
- No
See the answer
See findings below for results of the survey
Read the transcript
This transcript was made from the recording by software. It may have small errors.
And so the first question, and as I share these patterns and these findings with you, I want you to determine whether you see yourself in some of these patterns. So the first question, do issues around race culture bias come up in your work? 92% say yes, 20% say no. When we explore these, ooh, that number is off. I'm just noticing. Yeah, that number is off. That should be eight.
Percentage of people who report no, usually they say that they report no because they say, oh, I work in an all-white community. Or they say, I don't think we should be talking about race or thinking about race in these contexts. So there's still a little bit of colorblindness there. And those are things that we start to process together in our training and in our workshops.
Dr. Eva Marie Shivers asks:
Do issues around race, culture, bias, etc. come up in your work as a mental health consultant?
A Review of the Data
Do issues around race, culture, bias, etc. come up in your work as a mental health consultant?
| Response | Percentages |
|---|---|
| Yes | 92% |
| No | 8% |
Read the transcript
This transcript was made from the recording by software. It may have small errors.
Then we ask the question, well, with whom are you most likely to encounter racial equity issues? And here, you know, it's mark all that apply so that the total will be more than 100% because people can have multiple things. The number one response here probably won't surprise you is with teachers and providers. And then the close second is with families. And then following that, they talk about with early care and education administrators, with peers and colleagues.
This question we started seeing these findings that one was I don't know if it was a bit of surprise but it was an eye-opener for us and we've spent a lot of time processing this theme around peers and colleagues and you'll see why in just a moment
Dr. Eva Marie Shivers asks:
With whom are you most likely to encounter racial equity issues?
participate below and see findings from the multi-state survey
With whom are you most likely to encounter racial equity issues?
- with ECE administrators
- with teachers/providers
- with peers and colleagues
- with leadership in my organization
- with my supervisor
- with families
See the answer
see below for findings from this survey
A Review of the Data
With whom are you most likely to encounter racial equity issues? (Mark all that apply.)
| Response | Percentages |
|---|---|
| ECE Administrators | 55% |
| Teachers/providers | 71% |
| Peers and Colleagues | 48% |
| Leadership in my organization | 25% |
| Supervisor | 25% |
| Families | 69% |
Read the transcript
This transcript was made from the recording by software. It may have small errors.
So here's the next question. So with whom do you talk or process when racialized issues come up with your work? Guess what? Colleagues, you know, they're talking about this with one another. And when we explore this a little bit more, they talk about, it comes up both in informal conversations they have with one another. And it comes up, many consultants are housed in all spaces as well. And then a close second is outside support.
So you see here, this picture here is that mental health consultants are leaning on one another mostly and outside support. These data, this finding right here has big implications and do professional development with consultants. We can do to really encourage organizations to create policies, strategies, systems where consultants can do more of this processing and learning with one another.
Dr. Eva Marie Shivers asks:
With whom do you talk/process when racialized issues come up in your work?
participate below and see findings from the multi-state survey
With whom do you talk/process when racialized issues come up in your work? (Mark all that apply)
- Other
- Outside support
- My supervisor
- Leadership
- Colleagues
- No one
See the answer
See findings from the survey below
A Review of the Data
With whom do you talk/process when racialized issues come up in your work? (Mark all that apply)
| Response | Percentages |
|---|---|
| Other | 6% |
| Outside support | 63% |
| My supervisor | 38% |
| Leadership | 39% |
| Colleagues | 90% |
| No one | 12% |
Read the transcript
This transcript was made from the recording by software. It may have small errors.
All right. I'm going to show you what our sample here, what they talked about. So similar to how you guys rated things and yes, witnessing the impact of unfair systems tied also with observing bias and consultees. So you see a lot of consistency here, fear with difficult conversations. So the top three with our multi-state sample is the top three among those of you who are here on this call.
And a close fourth place is conversations and interactions with colleagues. So again, we see this theme of colleagues and peers coming up.
Dr. Eva Marie Shivers asks:
How do you respond/react when you become dysregulated?
participate below and see findings from the multi-state survey
How do you respond/react when you become dysregulated?
- Process with colleagues
- Process with family/friends
- Process with supervisor
- Stew
- Avoid
- Address directly
- Reflect/process on my own
See the answer
See findings below for results from the survey
A Review of the Data
How do you respond/react when you become dysregulated?
| Response | Percentages |
|---|---|
| Process with Colleagues | 79% |
| Process with Family/Friends | 61% |
| Stew | 21% |
| Avoid | 23% |
| Address Directly | 5% |
| Reflect/Process on my own | 11% |
“Interestingly, when this topic has come up with teachers, they are the ones that bring it up and not the other way around. Once it is brought to my attention and I see that they are comfortable with discussing it, then I just provide the support and holding space for it.”
Key Resources for Promoting Equity and Reducing Disparities
Introduction This compendium of Web-based equity-focused resources may serve a number of purposes, for example:
- Informing state, tribal, and community leaders who are engaged in conversations about disproportionate data on preschool expulsions
- Building awareness of the need to foster collaboration and partnerships to promote greater equity and transparency in outcomes for boys and African American children
- Assisting mental health consultants as they engage in dialogue with teachers, administrators, and home visitors about implicit bias
Equity is central to the CoE’s mission and values. It is our hope that the resources herein will help practitioners in working toward the goal of attaining greater equity for all young children.
downloadable PDF below
key-resources-for-promoting-equity-reducing-disparities (PDF)
Pyramid Model Equity Coaching Guide (opens in a new tab)
Pyramid Model Equity Coaching Guide
The Pyramid Model Equity Coaching Guide provides the classroom coach with a reflection tool to examine the implementation of Pyramid Model practices through the lens of culturally responsive practices and identification of implicit bias. The Pyramid Model Equity Coaching Guide is used within the collaborative coaching partnership and ongoing coaching activities to identify when there are equity concerns related to practice implementation.
downloadable PDF below
Pyramid-Model-Equity-Coaching-Guide (PDF)
This text is intended for mental health professionals, consultants-in-training, and students of early childhood development and child-care. Johnston and Brinamen, affiliated with the Infant-Parent Program at the U. of California, San Francisco, have several decades combined experience providing mental health care consultation services in various child care settings. Here they describe theory and practical approaches to communicating with faculty, administrators, children, and parents, and dealing with such issues as internal struggles and bias, disagreements among faculty, and the mental health needs of individual children. Successful consulting in diverse circumstances is demonstrated throughout the book in two hypothetical case studies, imagined from the extensive experiences of the authors. The book is not indexed. Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
https://www.amazon.com/Mental-Health-Consultation-Child-Care/dp/0943657911 (opens in a new tab)
How do we incorporate race, disparity, and equity into these different pieces, these core components of systems and how our programs function?"