Sprout initiative - the supporting parenting relationships through outreach, understanding & therapy (sprout) initiative will improve the capacity of 500 family and child-serving processionals…

Sprout initiative - the supporting parenting relationships through outreach, understanding & therapy (sprout) initiative will improve the capacity of 500 family and child-serving processionals annually (2,500 over five years) to strengthen infant and early childhood mental health by providing virtual and in-person training to apply emerging concepts in mental health to their practice. Training will encompass four sectors-early intervention, child welfare, home visitation, and early childhood education-and provide a common framework for supporting young children and their caregivers. The initiative will also provide direct evidence-based/informed clinical services to 250 young children (50 per year) identified as high risk by their nurse home visitor for developing serious emotional disturbance through universal screening and specialized mental health consultation. Young children (under 6 years) will be screened and referred from the philadelphia nurse-family partnership and the mabel morris family home visit program, a parents as teachers affiliate (collectively NFP/MM). Of the approximately 800 families served annually, the pregnant/postpartum persons (who mostly identify as female) are all low-income (250% federal poverty level); have a young child (between ages of zero to five); majority are under 25; and are first-time parents (100% of NFP). Most participants are black or people of color. About 30% of the caregivers report a mental health diagnosis at intake. This population of parents and young children are underrepresented in mental health care, and this project will build on a successful community mental health collaboration begun in 2021 between the joseph j. Peters institute (jjpi) and the national nurse-led care consortium (nncc) to address this disparity in services. Jjpi is an organization with a mission to "restore hope with dignity" for individuals impacted by trauma and was one of the earliest organizations to offer trauma-focused cognitive behavior therapy (TF-CBT). Jjpi clinicians will provide direct mental health support to children and their caregivers and will also provide infant and early childhood mental health consultation to the nurse home visitors at nncc. Nncc is a member-supported 501(c)(3) nonprofit that advances nurse-led care through policy development, training and technical assistance, and innovative programs to reduce health disparities and meet people's primary care and wellness needs. NFP/MM is its largest community program. This project harnesses the strength of nncc's home visiting and its training and technical assistance expertise. Nncc will provide direct service referrals and bring together mental health experts to strengthen the capacity of philadelphia's service providers to work with children and families. Jjpi and nncc will also collaborate with the pennsylvania office of child development and early learning (ocdel), the philadelphia department of behavioral health and intellectual disability services (dbhids), the philadelphia department of human services (DHS) and the philadelphia department of public health division of maternal, child and family health (mcfh) to engage the philadelphia early childhood workforce programs under their oversight in the infant and early childhood mental health training and technical assistance opportunities. The training will be extended to ocdel home visiting providers and childcare centers; staff of the dbhids early intervention program; the home visiting programs that participate in mcfh centralized intake system; and DHS child welfare staff.