Healthy Minds, Healthy Bodies, Healthy Families
Grant Status: Completed
Training Category: Healthy Tomorrows Partnership for Children Program (HTPCP)
Project Director(s):
Angela Groseclose
People Incorporated of Virginia
1173 West Main Street
Abingdon, VA 24210
Phone: 276-619-2218
FAX: 276-628-2913
Email: agroseclose@peopleinc.net
Problem:
Low-income families in rural Southwest Virginia are impacted by stressors due to isolation, poverty and lack of educational attainment. Their current levels of stress, compounded by the effect of adverse experiences in their childhood, impact their ability to parent and their health. Unfortunately, this is a cycle that will be perpetuated without intervention. The children of these parents are already at risk for behavioral issues and physical health problems.
Goals and Objectives:
To foster resiliency in 180 parents that may have encountered adverse experiences so they are able to provide a positive and nurturing environment that supports their children's health and development. Approximately, 270 children will benefit from this project.
Methodology:
People Incorporated's Comprehensive Health Investment Project (CHIP) will provide the opportunity to take the Adverse Childhood Experience (ACEs) Screening to participating families to introduce the Healthy Minds, Healthy Bodies, Healthy Families project. Over the next 12 months, each family will learn how early stress may now be affecting their health and their parenting. CHIP will provide instruction on how to foster resiliency to families so that parents can improve their emotional health and meet the emotional and physical needs of their children. Screening for developmental delays, adverse experiences, and post-partum depression along with observation of parent and child behaviors will lead to referrals to appropriate mental health providers, and staff will support families to follow through on such referrals. Parenting lessons from the Parents as Teacher's curriculum and child growth and developmental guidance from the Bright Futures curriculum will support instruction provided to families participating in this project.
Coordination:
Program referrals come from two local health districts, Ballad Health System (Johnston Memorial Hospital maternity department), Community Service Boards (public mental health agencies), public schools and through participant referrals. Through this project, CHIP staff will work collaboratively with staff in Early Intervention Services, counselors at the Community Service Boards, and congregational representatives of faith-based recovery programs to ensure parents and children identified with mental health issues receive treatment.
Evaluation:
Pre and post surveys will capture parents' knowledge of trauma and resiliency. ACEs scores will reflect parents' risk for health issues related to childhood trauma. Staff will maintain case notes with anecdotal records of noted improvements, referrals and treatments. All services will be tracked in a database that can generate reports on services to include in on-going evaluation to determine program success.