Mental Health Library

Print resources available from
Head Start Information and Publication Center (HSIPC)

Promoting Mental Health
    Helps to encourage mental health promotion for all members of the Head Start community. It will present activities that build skills in creating responsive, respectful relationships with coworkers, parents and children and promote the ability to respond well to challenge and adversity. (Head Start Information and Publication Center Order #812) Order

Responding to Children Under Stress
    This guide is designed to support staff in understanding and responding to the needs of children under stress. It looks at the child in the context of the family and helps staff look at the effects of stress on children, what they provide for children and what changes they may need to make. (Head Start Information and Publication Center Order #98) Prepared by DGK & Co. 185p. Order

Additional Publications in our Catalog

Other Resources

Demaree, Mary Ann Responding to Violence in Their Lives: Creating Nurturing Environments for Children with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. (New England RAP for Disabilities Services at EDC). 31p.
    Developed to guide classroom staff and others in Head Start in identifying the symptoms of PTSD and working with the child, family, and other professionals.  

Order this title from:
 Education Development Center (EDC)
 55 Chapel Street
 Newton, MA 02158
 Attn. RAP
 FAX: (617) 969-3440

Carl Dundst, Carol Trivette, and Angela Deal. Enabling and Empowering Families: Principles and Guidelines for Practice. (Family Resource Coalition). 212 p.
    Excellent resource for family service managers and practitioners. This work is the basis for current thinking that informal supports are of greater importance than formal supports.

Kinney, Jill, et al. Beyond the Buzzwords: Key Principles in Effective Frontline Practice. (Family Resource Coalition). 36p.
    Working paper relevant for family service managers and practitioners. Principles of family support are described in very understandable, applicable terms, includes ways that evaluators can assess if principles are being put into practice.

Order these titles from:
 Family Resource Coalition
 200 South Michigan Avenue 16th Floor
 Chicago, IL 60604
 Phone: (312) 341-0900
 FAX: (312) 341-9361
 OR
 Brookline Books, Inc.
 P.O. Box 1046
 Cambridge, MA 02238-1046

Gilkerson, Linda and Rebecca Shamoan Shanuk and Jeree Pawl Reflective Supervision: A Relationship for Learning - A Training Videotape, Discussion Guide, and Sourcebook. Zero to Three Publications. Video, 60 minutes.
    Addresses elements of supervision and the parallel nature of relationship building.

Greenspan, Stanley and Serena Weider Diagnostic Classification of Mental Health and Developmental Disorders at Infancy and Early Childhood. Zero to Three Publications.
    This publication offers a comprehensive framework for diagnosing emotional and developmental problems.  

Order these titles from:
 Zero to Three
 734 15th Street, N.W. Suite 1000
 Washington, DC 20005
 Phone: (800) 899-4301
 FAX: (202) 638-0851

A Good Beginning: Social and Emotional Competence
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/childhp/monograph.pdf
    This report indicates that kindergartners' social and emotional skills are as important for academic success as cognitive skills, such as knowing the ABCs and 1-2-3s.

Mental Health: A Report of the Surgeon General
http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/mentalhealth/summary.html
     This is the first Surgeon General's report ever issued on the topic of mental health and mental illness. The science-based report conveys several messages. One is that mental health is fundamental to health. A second message of the report is that mental disorders are real health conditions that have an immense impact on individuals and families throughout this Nation and the world. The single, explicit recommendation of the report is to seek help if you have a mental health problem or think you have symptoms of a mental disorder.

Yoshikawa, Hirokazu and Knitzer, Jane Lessons from the Field: Head Start Mental Health Strategies to Meet Changing Needs.
http://cpmcnet.columbia.edu/dept/nccp/lessons.html
    This publication, supported by the National Center for Children in Poverty and the American Orthopsychiatric Association, describes promising strategies being implemented in 14 Head Start programs across the nation. The challenges described will be familiar to Head Start programs and the proposed strategies stimulate thought about solutions could apply in one's own community.

What Every Child Needs for Good Mental Health
http://www.nmha.org/infoctr/factsheets/72.cfm
    Six components, crucial to a child's mental health, are identified. Simple strategies are suggested to implement them.

Articles from Journals

The following articles may be available full-text through your local or university libraries or through a commercial document delivery service.

Fantuzzo J.; Stoltzfus J; Lutz MN; Hamlet H; Balraj T; Turner C; Mosca S. "An evaluation of the special needs referral process for low-income preschool children with emotional and behavioral problems." Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 14, No. 4 (1999): 465-482.
    The present study is an evaluation of the special needs referral system in a large urban Head Start program. The Early Intervention Screening Profile (EISP) was used to indicate the distribution of problem behaviors of these special needs children. Reliable evaluations revealed that all of the referred children displayed speech and language problems, with 70% showing only speech problems and 30% showing speech plus emotional and behavioral problems. Teachers' results indicated that over 70% of the children evidenced emotional and behavioral problems with no accompanying speech difficulties and 30% displayed emotional and behavioral problems plus speech problems. Implications of referral biases were discussed.

Holmes, Maggie and Bethany Robertson. "Why Head Start and Mental Health Associations Should Collaborate. Pathways to Partnership." NHSA Journal; 14 No.1( Sum-Fall 1995): p23, 25-28.
    Suggests that one way to counteract the negative effects of violence on Head Start children is to employ a program of early prevention education. Describes NHSA's Partnership Project to expand the mental health component at Head Start sites, noting five issues that must be addressed: approach, adequate staffing, referral process, accessibility, and training.

Honig, Alice Sterling. "Mental Health for Babies: What Do Theory and Research Tell Us?" Young Children, (Spring, 1993).
    Eight page article which provides an overview of infant mental health from three major theorists and addresses issues of relationships and of caring for very young children in groups (caregiver impact on infant mental health).

Mann, T. "Promoting the Mental Health of Infants and Toddlers in Early Head Start: Responsibilities, Partnerships, and Supports." Zero to Three, 18, No. 2 (November 1997): 37-40.
http://www.ehsnrc.org/ftmental.htm
    Using a complex case study, describes ways, including reflective supervision, that allow infant/family programs to support staff in responding to mental health issues. Emphasizes the need to provide services in partnership with parents that are responsive to the mental health needs of the family constellation.

McNamara, JR. "A Preliminary Study of the Usefulness of the Behavior Assessment Systems for Children in the Evaluation of Mental Health Needs in a Head Start Population." Psychological Reports, 75, No. 3 (1994): 1195-1201.
    122 parents and 18 teachers rated Head Start children on the pre-school version of the Behavioral Assessment System for Children. Parents tended to rate their children as having greater problem scores than did their teacher, but both ratings, when compared to general norms, were within normal limits. Low to moderate correlations were found for the same scales on Parent and Teacher forms. Teachers rated children in the center program as having fewer problems than their home-based peers, while parents evaluated center children as having better adaptive behavior than children in the home-based program.

"Preventing Conduct Problems and Promoting Social Competence in Head Start Children: The Incredible Years; Parent, Teacher and Child Series" Focal Point, A National Bulletin on Family Support and Children's Mental Health (PDF 677 KB), 1, No. 2 (Spring 2000): 14-16.
http://www.rtc.pdx.edu/FPinPDF/fpSpr00.pdf
    "The Incredible Years" curricula has three components, one for teachers, one for families and one for children. Over 200 videotaped vignettes in the series show common behavioral situations faced by teachers, parents and children. The manuals, materials and certification guidelines ensure that the program can be easily and accurately replicated. This article describes how "The Incredible Years" program was used in two separate randomized, controlled prevention studies in Head Start, with very positive results.

Rafanello, Donna. "Partnerships to Promote Mental Health.", Healthy Child Care America, 3, No. 4 (Fall 1999): 3, 10-11.
http://nccic.org/hcca/nl/nlfal99.pdf
    Discover successful strategies and partnerships to promote mental wellness in your Head Start program. Identifying problem behaviors for early intervention is emphasized and providing quality support for child-care providers is praised; case-study examples are highlighted.

Velting, Olivia and Grover J. Whitehurst. "Inattention-hyperactivity and reading achievement in children from low-income families: a longitudinal model." Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 25, No.4 (August, 1997): 321-332.
    This study examined how preschool inattention-hyperactivity is related to elementary school reading achievement. The results failed to show a significant path between inattention-hyperactivity and pre-reading skills at both the Head Start and kindergarten levels. A significant path was found between first grade attention-hyperactivity and reading skills, confirming that the strong relationship between inattention-hyperactivity and poor reading achievement commonly found in children from other SES levels was also significant in this low-SES sample. Strong relationships were found between pre-reading skills and reading skills, as well as among hyperactivity levels at the three grades.

Websites

Promoting the Mental Health of Infants and Toddlers in Early Head Start
http://www.ehsnrc.org/ftmental.htm
    Outlines staff development components/process to help both center-based professionals and home visitors in infant/family programs become skilled and comfortable in their relationships with families when mental health problems are present.

Children's Social and Emotional Competence Critical to a Good Start in the Early Years of School
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/childhp/monograph.pdf
    Risk factors and protective factors influence a child's early school outcomes. A review and synthesis of two studies identifies the gaps between what research shows about the importance of these factors and the development and implementation of federal policies and programs.

The Children's Mental Health Education Campaign
http://www.mentalhealth.org/cmhs/childrenscampaign/index.htm
    Knowledge Exchange Network (KEN)'s site to publicize a four-year national public education campaign to increase awareness about the emotional problems of America's children and adolescents and gain support for needed services.

Educational Resources Information Center - Exceptional Children (ERIC-EC)
http://ericec.org/
    Gathers and disseminates the professional literature, information, and resources on the education and development of individuals of all ages who have disabilities and/or who are gifted.

Facts for Families by The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP)
http://www.aacap.org/publications/factsfam/index.htm
    Series provides concise fact sheets, "Facts for Families" on mental health issues that affect children, teenagers, and their families. (includes many in Spanish)

Health Resources and Services Administration: Maternal and Child Health
http://www.ask.hrsa.gov/mch.cfm
    On-line service provides access to a catalog of maternal and child health publications and links to state level maternal and child health contacts

Healthfinder®
http://www.healthfinder.gov
    A free gateway to reliable consumer health and human services information developed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Healthfinder® can lead you to selected on-line publications, clearinghouses, databases, web sites, and support and self-help groups, as well as the government agencies and not-for-profit organizations that produce reliable information for the public.

Internet Mental Health
http://www.mentalhealth.com/
    A free international encyclopedia of mental health information. Information is organized by the most common mental disorders and contains descriptions, treatment and research information, booklets (from professional organizations and support groups), and articles (from national magazines, professional newsletters, and newspapers).

Knowledge Exchange Network(KEN)
http://www.mentalhealth.org/
    Knowledge Exchange Network (KEN), presented by the Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS), provides information about mental health services for the general public, policy makers, providers, and the media. In addition to this web site KEN provides a toll-free telephone service (800-789-2647) where staff respond to questions from the public and professionals. KEN staff quickly directs callers to Federal, State, and local organizations dedicated to treating and preventing mental illness.

"Mental Health: The Cornerstone of Health"
http://www.mentalhealth.org/cornerstone/
    Contains mental health information related to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) research, programs, policies, and media campaigns and highlights the latest research findings and policy efforts.
SPANISH VERSION : Búsqueda Para Información Sobre Salud Mental.

Mental Health Net
http://mentalhelp.net/
    A nonprofit mental health organization providing on-line information and educational resources to the global community. Its main underwriter at this time is CMHC Systems, a mental health software developer.

National Information Center for Children and Youth with Disabilities ( NICHCY)
http://www.nichcy.org
    Makes available a wide variety of publications, including fact sheets on specific disabilities, state resource sheets, and parent guides. Most publications can be printed off the Internet. NICHCY's referral service can put you in touch with disability organizations, parent groups, and professional associations at the state and national level.
SPANISH VERSION: El Centro Nacional de Información para Niños y Jóvenes con Discapacidades

Pediatric Development and Behavior
http://www.dbpeds.org
    The Pediatric Developmental and Behavior homepage promotes better care and outcomes for children and families affected by developmental, learning, and behavioral problems by providing access to clinically relevant information and educational material for physicians, fellows, resident physicians, and students. It may also be of interest to psychologists, nurses, nurse practitioners, social workers, therapists, educators, and parents.

Prevent Child Abuse America: Selected child abuse information and resource directory
http://www.childabuse.org/
    Dedicated to breaking the cycle of child abuse and neglect and strengthening children and families.

Screening for Mental Health
http://www.mentalhealthscreening.org/
    Works with national, professional, psychiatric, medical and psychological organizations to coordinate nationwide mental health screening programs. At this time, topics include depression, eating disorders, suicide, and anxiety. The web site provides useful articles, examples of free anonymous screening questions, and helps to locate qualified local health professionals by state and city for each mental health topic.