Family Connections

About us

Family Connections is a program of Children's Hospital Boston. The Family Connections project was launched in 2003 as an initiative to support early childhood programs in their mental health outreach to families facing adversities, particularly parental depression. Through an Innovation and Improvement Grant from the US Department of Health and Human Services Office of Head Start, as well as from key community partners, Family Connections has designed and implemented an innovative preventive intervention model in 10 Head Start and Early Head Start Centers in the Boston area. In our partnerships, we have provided training, mental health consultation, classroom interventions, and ongoing supervision to staff.

Family Connections Staff:

Catherine Ayoub, EdD, MN, RN
Executive Director and Principal Investigator

William R. Beardslee, MD
Senior Consultant and Principal Investigator

Mary Watson Avery, MS
Senior Consultant

Emily Callejas, EdM
Training and Service Coordinator

Melissa Ryan, MSW, LICSW
Mental Health Service Consultant

Adam Von Ende, MA
Research Assistant