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

Preface

We can learn about health and wellness by following the lead of children. Think of Kenya, who has diabetes that she and her mom together have learned to manage. Kenya has an illness, but Kenya is experiencing wellness—she is a little girl who is learning, laughing, growing in spirit and body. Kenya is thriving. Think then of Lucas. Lucas comes to school hungry some mornings. When Lucas is hungry he can’t concentrate, or play cooperatively, or feel good about a world where his basic needs are going unanswered. Kenya and Lucas don’t separate themselves out into components or disciplines; they simply engage in the world as integrated and complex people. Although Kenya and Lucas may not be able to say so, they each know that health and wellness depend on all the parts of themselves functioning in harmony.

Each member of the Head Start family can play a role in promoting and supporting the health and wellness of children, families, and communities so that we can all thrive. Laying a Foundation in Health & Wellness is a foundation training guide which can help participants explore their personal understanding of health and wellness and further their contribution to the health of coworkers, children, and families. It encourages a vision of health and wellness that is wholistic, preventive and inclusive.

It’s easy to get caught up in the “medical model,” where we only think about health if it’s not there. Yes, it is important to measure hematocrits, check to be sure that immunizations are up to date, and practice good infection control. However, our children and our spirits tell us that there is more to health than the absence of illness! When we look at “wellness” and consider how a wellness attitude can improve our own health and the health of the children and families we serve, it gives us a different perspective. Wellness means every person is always striving in her own way to be the best she can be. She may have a physical disability; she may have an emotional difficulty—nevertheless she knows what makes her feel well.

Training Guides for the Head Start Learning Community are designed to help programs support and enhance quality. The Foundation series is for all staff and sets forth the core principles and practices of the Head Start approach. The guides which follow are more specific and may be used by the management team to address needed technical skills in certain job categories. Together they make up a comprehensive staff development library across all of the Head Start functional areas.

The concepts in this guide build one upon the other, so it is best to proceed from the beginning to the end. However, we encourage users to adapt the learning activities to their own situations. For example, if one of the workshop activities would work well for you in a coaching situation with some changes, feel free to adapt. You may also want to change language or examples to make the material more compatible with your community. The order of activities and the ideas and strategies are suggestions; each user will find some things more useful than others.

This training guide was developed over a ten-month period. We solicited ideas from the Head Start Bureau in Washington, from programs in the field, and from Regional Offices, Technical Assistance Support Centers (TASCs) and Regional Access Projects (RAPs) for Head Start. We made many revisions to activities and concepts based on this feedback.

We are also grateful to those Head Start programs which allowed us to visit them and field test activities and to the many staff people from Head Start programs throughout the United States who gave feedback during conferences and regional training sessions.

The ultimate test of any staff development tool is how well it transfers to use in the everyday work setting. Best practice standards for adult learning tell us that this takes place best when learning occurs over time and skills and knowledge learned in a workshop or coaching session are supported by follow-up activities. To help learners, trainers, and coaches design long-term learning plans, all of the Training Guides for the Head Start Learning Community include sections on continuing professional development. We also know that adults, like children, learn when they are playing—and so we hope that you have fun.