Breaking Through: Understanding Stress and Resilience in Young Children
View this 20-minute educational video to learn how toxic stress can impact a child’s lifelong health and well-being.
Mental Health
Head Start programs support the mental health of children, families, and staff every day. Early childhood mental health is the same as social and emotional well-being. It is a child’s developing capacity to express and regulate emotions, form trusting relationships, explore, and learn—all in the cultural context of family and community. The mental health of children and the adults that care for them is essential for school readiness.
Understanding Stress and Resilience in Young Children: Head Start Staff
This video appeals to Head Start staff and health care professionals. It is designed to help them understand what toxic stress is, what it does to a person, and easy things to do to help prevent it.
Understanding Stress and Resilience in Young Children: Health Care
This video appeals to Head Start staff and health care professionals. It is designed to help them understand what toxic stress is, what it does to a person, and easy things to do to help prevent it.
Parent Posters to Increase Positive Social-Emotional Interactions
Share these posters with families to help them identify daily routines and learn how to increase positive social and emotional support throughout the day.
Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation: Materials for Families
All young children benefit when their caregivers are healthy and not too stressed or depressed. Explore practical tools to help caregivers build positive relationships with their infants, toddlers, and preschoolers and reduce stress.
Social-Emotional Tips for Families with Infants
Use these posters to support families with infants. Share tips for how parents can support infants' social and emotional development.
Social-Emotional Tips for Families with Toddlers
Use these posters to support families with toddlers. Share these tips for how parents can to help them support toddlers' social and emotional development.
Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation: An Evaluation Tool Kit
This resource offers data to support the importance of investing in early childhood mental health consultation. Programs may use the resources in this tool kit as a guide in designing and implementing effective mental health services for families.
The Infant Toddler Temperament Tool (IT3): Supporting A "Goodness of Fit"
This tool supports parents and caregivers in understanding temperament. Discover simple best practice tips adults can use to foster the unique temperament of each child.
Family Connections: A Mental Health Consultation Model
Explore Family Connections, a preventive, systemwide mental health consultation and training approach to strengthen the capacity of Early Head Start and Head Start staff. Staff can use these resources in working with families dealing with parental depression and related adversities.