Family Connections

Services

Family Connections consultants, who are early childhood education specialists and licensed mental health professionals, have implemented the Family Connections preventive intervention and training model in early childhood programs throughout Massachusetts. The Family Connections training and consultation model is unique in several ways, including:

Consultation:

• Guidance in the use of an instrument design to assess a program's readiness for change;
• A coaching/mentoring approach that provides scaffolding of new skills for early childhood staff and for families;
• Building relationships in order to model the power of collaboration and partnership as an agent for change.

Training:

• Training early childhood program managers and staff to develop new skills and better understand difficult emotional issues, adversity and depression;
• Therapeutic prevention and intervention activities with children in classrooms and in the center to build positive interactions and reduce behavioral difficulties;
• Engagement, prevention and therapeutic intervention activities with parents, offering both regular group and individual consultation around issues of parenting and dealing with adversity;
• Prevention and intervention mentoring and modeling with early childhood professionals, including guidance in the development of staff support groups, and the promotion of supportive supervision;
• Networking with organizations and institutions to improve child and adult access to mental health services.