Mutually Beneficial: A Head Start-School Psychology Program Partnership

ABSTRACT

Since Head Start’s inception, mental health has been an important component of their service delivery. The Head Start Performance Standards provide a foundation for programs to design and deliver mental health services. Mental Health Consultants are the professionals who provide these services. Head Start has a robust history of building collaborative relationships with community partners to support their families. A more than two-decade partnership between a large Head Start agency and a school psychology program that provides the agency mental health consultants will be described. The consultation model of service delivery will be detailed including the roles and responsibilities of the mental health consultants and implications for training and practice.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Antoinette Halsell Miranda

Antoinette Miranda, PhD worked as a school psychologist in urban, suburban, and rural districts. She has been on faculty at The Ohio State University since 1988. She is currently the Chair of the Department of Teaching and Learning at The Ohio State University and a Professor in the School Psychology Program. Her research interests include developing effective interventions with at-risk children in urban settings, consultation services in urban settings, as well as system level change that include practices that work to close the opportunity gap. Antoinette was elected to the Ohio State Board of Education in November 2016 and was re-elected in November 2020.

Stephanie Flood

Stephanie Flood, M.A., BCBA, is a doctoral candidate in the School Psychology Program at The Ohio State University. Stephanie is a K-12 licensed school counselor and a behavioral health consultant in the private practice setting working with children and adolescents ages 3-21 with various mental health diagnoses, neurodiversity, and developmental disabilities. Additionally, Stephanie served as a Mental Health Consultant for Head Start in 2019-2020 providing mental health and behavioral consultation through a multicultural lens. Her research interests include interdisciplinary treatments across the home and school settings, conjoint behavioral and multicultural school consultation, transforming the role of school-based mental health professionals to create systems-level change, and the self-care and wellbeing of practicing and future practitioners.

Rachel McConnell

Rachel McConnell, M.A., is a doctoral candidate in the School Psychology Program at The Ohio State University. Rachel worked in a middle school cross-categorical classroom serving ten to fifteen year olds with various disabilities in the public-school setting. During the 2019-2020 year, she worked as a Mental Health Consultant for Head Start which utilized the multicultural consultation lens to provide mental health and behavioral aid to teachers, families, and children. Rachel's research interests include disproportional representation of minority students in special education, the role of the school psychologists in interpreting culturally relevant background information on children, and special education policy development and implementation.

Terri Blake

Terri Blake, Ed.S., LPC, is a third-year doctoral student in the School Psychology Program at The Ohio State University. Terri works as a mental health therapist in the private practice setting assessing and treating various mental and emotional health disorders and life changes. She discovered her passion for working in urban settings and investigating the relationship between education and mental health during her time working in a charter school in Newark, New Jersey. Terri is interested in conducting research that focuses on how trauma impacts mental and behavioral health and learning in the classroom. She is also interested in African Americans experiences of psychological stressors and trauma during graduate school.

Kenyona Walker

Dr. Kenyona Walker is a Senior Project Manager at the Center on Education and Training for Employment (CETE). Her passion for education and equity, led her to earn her PhD in Educational Studies, with a focus on School Psychology from The Ohio State University. She has extensive experience with working with preschool educators and parents to address behavioral and academic concerns. As an agile evaluator and researcher, Dr. Walker enjoys focusing her efforts on educational equity and access, with a keen focus on the educational experiences of Black females, in addition to the role of parents, educators and the community in education.