This tutorial was developed by Kathy Seitzinger Hepburn and Frances Duran for the Center for Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation, an Innovation and Improvement Project funded by the Office of Head Start.

About this Tutorial

Introduction
Strengthening Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation in Head Start and Early Head Start Programs can help programs make the most of this important resource in designing, integrating, delivering, and evaluating mental health services to young children, families and staff. Key to this process is having a clear understanding of mental health in Head Start — its historical and philosophical underpinnings as well as the program principles, requirements, and resources to guide mental health services. From this common ground, Head Start and Early Head Start staff, administrators, consultants and community partners can use this tutorial to learn about the current knowledge, practices, and research related to early childhood mental health consultation and apply and expand their thinking to create early childhood mental health consultation services that are most effective for their program.

Purpose and Overall Goal
The purpose of this tutorial is to acknowledge Head Start and Early Head Start’s long-standing commitment to mental health services, including mental health consultation, highlight the latest developments in early childhood mental health consultation, and identify how the Center for Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation can help Head Start and Early Head Start programs strengthen mental health consultation services.

Learning Objectives
After completing this tutorial, you will be able to:

• Describe the history, principles, and standards related to mental health services and mental health consultation in the Head Start and Early Head Start programs
• Identify key Head Start and Early Head Start resources to support mental health services and consultation
• Describe the evolution of early childhood mental health consultation, including its definition, evidence-base, and essential effective components, as well as community capacity for delivering services.
• Recognize how strong early childhood mental health consultation services can benefit Head Start and Early Head Start programs.
• Describe the principles and opportunities for learning of the Center for Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation

Getting Started

Time Commitment
This tutorial is designed to take about 30 minutes to complete, although timing may vary from person to person. We recommend completing the training in one sitting, but if this is not possible, you can easily pick up where you left off at a later time.

Materials Needed
Other than a computer, you will not need any materials to complete this training. You may want to keep a pen/pencil and paper handy to take notes, or to have ready access to a printer to print items that are of particular interest to you.

Glossary
Throughout this tutorial there may be words or terminology that may be new to you.  Please check our glossary by clicking on the direct link at the top of the page or in the left margin.  The glossary will open in a new window.

Questions?
If you have any questions or technical difficulties with this tutorial, please email us. Thank you and we hope you enjoy the training.