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Arson attacks paralyze French high-speed rail network hours before start of Olympics, the Obamas endorse Harris for President; A NY county creates facial recognition, privacy protections; Art breathes new life into pollution-ravaged MI community; 34 Years of the ADA.

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Harris meets with Israeli PM Netanyahu and calls for a ceasefire. MI Rep. Rashida Tlaib faces backlash for a protest during Netanyahu's speech. And VA Sen. Mark Warner advocates for student debt relief.

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There's a gap between how rural and urban folks feel about the economy, Colorado's 'Rural is Rad' aims to connect outdoor businesses, more than a dozen of Maine's infrastructure sites face repeated flooding, and chocolate chip cookies rock August.

WA investment could grow reach of child mental health program

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Monday, January 29, 2024   

A program in Washington state is helping young kids with challenging behaviors. It's hoping to secure more funding during the legislative session this year.

Holding Hope provides free mental health consultation for children, families, teachers and early education providers.

Janet Fraatz, director of infant and early childhood mental health consultation with Child Care Aware of Washington, said there's a backlog of people who could benefit from the proven mental health strategies Holding Hope provides.

"It's basically an adult capacity-building endeavor," said Fraatz, "to support and strengthen the things that they already know, and to support them with situations that are challenging with young children."

The program is free to licensed providers participating in the Early Achievers program.

Fraatz said Holding Hope is helping between 120 and 140 programs at any given time, with about 100 providers on their waitlist.

There's a request to increase the program's annual budget by $1.75 million.

Erika Larson is an early childhood mental health consultant with Holding Hope. She said the program works by building relationships with facilities, teachers and parents.

Typically, they get requests when children present a safety concern to their class.

"If we think about how behavior is communication and what's going on behind that," said Larson, "we can work with the kids to help them get the things that they need in a new way and then help support the teachers learn how to meet those needs in a more helpful way for the classroom as a whole and for the child."

The program has a track record of reducing expulsions and improving child behavior. Fraatz said that benefits everyone.

"We're improving teacher-child interactions, we're just decreasing stress and staff turnover, overall improvement in the classroom social-emotional climate," said Fraatz, "and it enhances their teaching skills with regard to social-emotional topics."

Fraatz says there's one mental health consultant for every 12,000 kids in Washington. The recommended ratio is one for every 300 kids.



Disclosure: Child Care Aware of Washington contributes to our fund for reporting on Budget Policy & Priorities, Children's Issues, Early Childhood Education, Mental Health. If you would like to help support news in the public interest, click here.


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