Wednesday, January 15, 2025
1/15/2025
As a Project LAUNCH grant awardee, Ohel Children's Home and Family Services (Ohel) will provide place-based Early Childhood Mental Health (ECMH) consultation in medical practices and early childhood educational settings to improve the wellness of children, 0-8, and their caregivers in Brooklyn, NY Community Districts 7 (Sunset Park), 12 (Flatbush/Midwood), and 14 (Borough Park), with a particular focus on Black, Latino, Asian, and Jewish Children. Ohel's project goals are to (1) Increase public awareness of early childhood development, trauma, and ACEs; (2) Increase capacity of child-serving organizations to screen, assess, and refer children, 0-8, and caregivers to treatment; and (3) Increase the number of children and families screened for and referred to behavioral health services. We plan to address these goals by embedding ECMH consultants (MSWs) in five preschools and six medical practices in the catchment area to provide screening, assessment, consultation, and referral to treatment. In preschool settings, ECMH consultants will use the Georgetown Model of ECMH Consultation, an evidence-informed, multilevel intervention in which mental health professionals collaborate with those who care for young children to promote healthy social-emotional growth. Ohel consultants will also: (1) conduct three trainings annually for teachers and preschool staff to recognize the signs of neglect, child abuse, anxiety, and depression with criteria for referral for further services; (2) conduct one training annually for partner pediatric and OBGYN providers and their staff in trauma-informed care and early identification of early childhood and parental behavioral health and developmental issues; (3) offer two evidence-based parenting programs annually (i.e. Triple P [Positive Parenting Program] and Circle of Security [COS]) to parents screened in our partner medical offices to educate and train them about early childhood development, co-regulation, trauma, and ACEs; and (4) distribute 5,000 Ohel-published social-emotional wellness educational workbooks to underserved children, ages 0-8. These books will be available in Spanish, Hebrew, and simplified Chinese. During the grant period, Ohel will seek to screen and/or assess 500 children, 0-8, using the Devereaux Early Childhood Assessment for Preschoolers (DECA-P2) and Pediatric Symptom Checklist-17 (PSC-17) as well as 500 parents/caregivers using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), Edinburgh Peri/Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS), Modified Simple Screening Instrument for Substance Abuse (MSSI-SA), and/or Parent and Family Adjustment Scales (PAFAS). Of those screened, Ohel will refer 50 young children and families with young children with identified behavioral or developmental concerns to early childhood mental healthcare in a licensed outpatient clinic. To measure progress using the Georgetown Model within preschool settings, Ohel ECMH consultants will seek to reduce to Classroom Behavioral Difficulties and Classroom Burden Indices, measured by the Classroom Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), in 80% of cases. To measure progress within the evidence-based parenting programs, Ohel consultants will seek to reduce PAFAS scores on either or both the PAFAS Parenting and Family Adjustment scales for 80% of participants in the Triple P parenting programs.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).