HEAD START®

Laying a Foundation in Health & Wellness

Training Guides for the Head Start Learning Community

Table of Contents | Preface | Introduction | Module 1 | Module 2 | Module 3
| Continuing Professional Development | Resources

Introduction

Overview

Purpose

Staff can use Laying a Foundation in Health & Wellness to begin to explore the Head Start approach to health. This guide:

• explains how important health is to Head Start’s central mission: to encourage social competence;
  
  
• offers opportunities to arrive at personal definitions of health and encourages a comprehensive view of health and well-being;
  
  
• presents a vision of health services that begins with the basic health needs, builds to include prevention of illness and injury, and expands to the promotion of positive health behaviors;
  
  
• clarifies for all staff how they contribute to the health of children, families and fellow staff members through daily activities and role modeling.

Audience
This training guide is for all staff in a Head Start program. It explains what they need to know about health and wellness in Head Start.

• New staff can learn Head Start’s approach to health.
  
  
• Experienced health staff can use the guide as a review of health concepts, and get ideas for training new staff.
  
  
• For staff members who do not see themselves as responsible for health work, the guide can help them understand how important their work is in promoting the health of children, families and staff.

Ideas and activities in this guide also can be adapted for parent and child education.

Performance Standards
The Head Start Performance Standards address practices and policies that relate to the health of children, parents and staff. Overall, programs are directed to:

• provide comprehensive health services that help children develop toward the overall goal of social competence;
  
  
• teach healthy behaviors that help prevent health problems, identify illnesses and injuries, then ensure delivery of early intervention strategies and treatment;
  
  
• help families to develop skills and linkages that the family can use to get necessary health care after leaving Head Start;
  
  
• work toward safe- and health-promoting environments at school, home, and within the community; and
  
  
• recognize that parents are a child’s primary health care decision-maker and health promoter and offer support to them to fulfill that role.
  

Orientation to Foundation Guide

• The Foundation Guide has five working sections:
  
  
• Module 1: Health and Wellness—What do they Mean?
  
  
• Module 2: Linking Health and Social Competence
  
  
• Module 3: Planning For a Healthier Tomorrow
  
  
• Continuing Professional Development
  
  
• Resources
  
  

Each module is organized to provide learning opportunities for a workshop session or for coaching. Each has the following segments:

• Expected Outcomes are the skills which should be acquired by staff who participate in the module’s activities.
  
  
• Key Concepts are the main ideas conveyed in the module.
  
  
• Background Information elaborates on the Key Concepts. This section is arranged so that it can be used as a coaching resource or as an outline for a presentation in a group session. Background information sections can be used for handouts or as overheads to use in workshop sessions.
  
  
• Questions for Discussion/Reflection are at the end of each background section. They can help initiate discussion in workshops or coaching sessions or serve as prompts for staff journals.
  
  
• Learning Activities build the skills which are needed to achieve the outcomes stated for each module. Managers can choose to use workshop activities, coaching activities, or a combination of both.
  
  
• Handouts are included at the end of each module. Trainers should reproduce the handouts as needed for participants.
  
  
• Points to Consider are issues listed at the end of each activity to keep in mind or to use as discussion prompts while working through the activity.
  
  
• Next Steps: Ideas to Extend Practice are additional activities to reinforce the expected outcomes and enhance transfer of skills from training to the work setting.
  
  

Definition of Icons

Coaching
A training strategy that fosters the development of skills through tailored instruction, demonstrations, practice, and feedback. The activities are written for a coach to work closely with one to three participants.

Workshops
A facilitated group training strategy that fosters the development of skills through activities which build on learning through group interaction. These activities are written for up to 25 participants working in small or large groups with one or two trainers.

Next Steps: Ideas to Extend Practice
Activities assigned by the trainer immediately following the completion of the module to help participants review key information, practice skills, and examine their progress toward expected outcomes of the module.

Continuing Professional Development
Followup activities for the program to support continued staff development in the regular use of the skills addressed in a particular training guide. It includes: