Mary Mackrain from the Devereux Center for Resilient Children, recently spoke at the 3rd Annual Alabama First Teacher Home Visiting Conference and 2nd Annual Infant/Toddler Academy on the importance of promoting resilience in young children and the adults who care for them by offering tips and resources that could be useful in many different settings. She began the session addressing the common misconception that mental illness is untreatable and is therefore just “the cards dealt” to a person, which not only discourages investment into needed services and research, but also discourages the need for early identification and intervention. To combat this misconception, she encouraged everyone who interacts with children and families to actively participate in reducing the stigma that is often associated with mental health by being “billboards for social-emotional health.” Additionally, she offered simple everyday tips for parents and providers working with young children that included practicing social-emotional surveillance every day; using screening tools; ensuring that every child feels loved by calling them by name, looking into their eyes, giving hugs and kisses, and laughing when they are being silly; and providing a safe and nurturing environment for them to explore and grow. She also explained that taking care of yourself, as a parent or provider, is just as important! It should be a parallel process where caregivers should be given the experiences they need to nurture their children, who may not have been shown those same skills throughout their past. Finally, she highlighted the need for providers to use “reflective practice” when working with families by actively listening to the families’ needs, always begin by assuming the family is competent in knowing what their needs are and fully capable in leading the decision making process, and “sitting on our hands” long enough to allow them to come to the conclusions of how to move forward.

See the list below for additional resources that can help you become a billboard for social-emotional health, and remember your message can be as simple as, “hug your baby today, it helps their brain to grow!”.

Additional Resources:
Adverse Childhood experience study: http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/acestudy/
Toxic Stress: http://developingchild.harvard.edu/science/key-concepts/toxic-stress/
Five numbers to remember about early childhood: http://developingchild.harvard.edu/resources/five-numbers-to-remember-about-early-childhood-development/
CDC Learn the Signs. Act Early Resources: http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/actearly/
Parents Interacting with Infants: http://csefel.vanderbilt.edu/resources/training_piwi.html
Center on the Social Emotional Foundations for Early Learning: http://csefel.vanderbilt.edu
Magic of Everyday Moments- Zero to Three: http://www.zerotothree.org/child-development/early-development/magic-of-everyday-moments.html
Center for Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation: www.ecmhc.org
Michigan Social Emotional Toolkit: www.michigan.gov/socialemotionalhealth
Environmental Checklist Group Setting: http://ecmhc.org/documents/CECMHC_Observation_Toolkit.pdf
Devereux Adult Resilience Survey: http://www.centerforresilientchildren.org/wp-content/uploads/DARS.pdf
Maternal Depression Posters: http://ecmhc.org/documents/CECMHC_Depression_Providers.pdf