The Health Institute provides training for Head Start staff who work with families on all aspects of health, including physical and mental well-being.  

Audience: Head Start managers, consultants, and coordinators in the areas of mental health, nutrition, and general health. Plus, program directors and family service workers looking to expand their knowledge on health topics. 

Selection Criteria:

Every proposal is reviewed by at least three of your peers. Criteria for acceptance include, but are not limited to the following:

• Workshop timeliness and relevancy to the content
• The educational value of content
• Workshop objectives, and do the learner outcomes meet the objectives
• Is the proposal thorough and professional
• Presenter qualifications on the workshop subject matter
• If the presenter is commercially vested in the product, did he/she provide a clear understanding of how they will present their workshop without giving the audience a sales pitch
• Equal representation of presentations among the topic tracks

Review Process & Acceptance

Typically there are between 20-40 proposals submitted. The review and selection process takes approximately 14-21 days to complete (considering that the proposal reviewers are fulfilling this project on their own time). Notifications will begin in July.

The number of sessions will be limited to approximately 25. This means the selection process will be highly competitive. HSC seeks thoughtfully prepared, original proposals from established experts and seasoned presenters on the following topics:

Safety Practices

• Indoor and Outdoor Safety

• Safety and Security for Head Start Centers. 

• Addressing Special Health Care Needs – asthma, seizure disorders, others

• Cleaning and Disinfecting, Green Cleaning

• COVID-19 Guidance

• Special Health Care Needs (medical needs in classroom)

• Healthy Air & Ventilation Best Practices

• Environmental Health (Lead in the water)

• Medication administration (storage, record keeping, etc.)

• Emergency Prep (Fire, earthquake, etc.)

• Sleep Safety

• Home Safety (home visits, checklists)

Nutrition & Food Services

• Meal Services: Family Style - Starting up again

• Teaching Nutritional Activities in the Classroom - How to do it Safely

• Food Resources for Families: CSA boxes, food scarcity, SNAP

• WIC Resources and Partnerships

• Remote Nutrition Education for Families

• Food Allergies/Intolerances/ Special Nutrition Needs

• Food & Culture (Equity within Nutrition/Menu Diversity)

• Feeding Infants and Toddlers

• IMIL, Eat Healthy Stay Active

• Food insecurity

Mental Health & Wellness

• Staff wellness
• Social-Emotional Learning
• Mental Health Consultants   
• Family Wellness   
• Parental Mental Health  
• Father Engagement & Health  
• Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES)/ PEARLS
• Trauma & Healing
• Racism/Inequity – how to address
• Equity and Inclusion – culture diversity
• Teaching pyramid 

Maternal & Infant Health 

• Pregnant people & Health Outcomes

• Doulas

• Increasing Breastfeeding Rates

• Partnering with WIC and other Community Partners

• Postpartum Visits

• Maternal Nutrition during pregnancy

• Maternal Mental Health

Health Services 

• Immunizations/medical exemptions/COVID Vaccine 

• Health Equity 

• Health Services Advisory Committee

• Head Start Child Health Requirements

• Health Data & Tracking & Monitoring 

• Community Health Partnerships 

• Telehealth Services

• Health Education via remote access (creative content, best practices)

• Hearing and Vision Screenings

• Oral Health (Tooth brushing care/fluoride)

• Short term exclusions 

• Contagious Diseases