Spotlight on Nurturing Early Childhood Mental Health and Well-Being  

December 12, 2023

The resources in this Spotlight aim to address the needs of early childhood professionals and policymakers—for understanding stress and trauma in children, managing mental and behavioral health issues, and creating equitable early childhood systems.

Navigating Stress and Trauma Effectively

The Office of the California Surgeon General (OSG) recently launched Safe Spaces: Foundations of Trauma-Informed Practice for Educational and Care Settings, developed in partnership with WestEd’s Resilient and Healthy Schools and Communities (RHSC) and Early Childhood Learning and Development (ECLD) teams.

Safe Spaces provides free, online trauma-informed professional learning modules for early learning and care providers and educators to develop their responsiveness and effectiveness. The modules aim to provide a greater awareness of the impact of stress and trauma on health, development, and learning, and they provide key mindsets and strategies for responding with trauma-informed principles to help create the conditions for safe and supportive learning environments for everyone.

Learn more about the OSG’s Safe Spaces initiative.

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Community-Based Support for Early Childhood Health and Well-Being

Fresno County’s Preconception to Age 5 (P–5) initiative aims to foster inclusive economic growth and create a culturally responsive family support model to enhance child outcomes, including reducing preterm births, improving kindergarten readiness, and boosting 3rd grade reading and math proficiency.

The initiative focuses on equity and community engagement, especially for Black and African American families and families in poverty. Initial investments (2020–22) aimed at expanding access to culturally responsive services, empowering community-driven decision-making, and building civic infrastructure, including a dedicated team for guidance and efforts in data sharing and integration.

WestEd evaluated the P–5 portfolio to measure its progress in promoting equity within early childhood systems in the short term and in ensuring sustainable impacts on children and families in the long term.

Read seven strategies based on evaluation findings that policymakers might consider including in efforts to build equitable early childhood systems.