Philly SPROUT Year 2

The National Nurse-Led Care Consortium (NNCC) and the Joseph J. Peter’s Institute (JJPI) are working on Year 2 of the Philly SPROUT (Supporting Parenting Relationships through Outreach, Understanding, & Training) program, an initiative to further improve mental health outcomes among children in Philadelphia. We had a tremendous year of growth this year, learn about it below.

What is Philly SPROUT?

Philly SPROUT takes a generational and systems-level approach: Philly SPROUT will support children and their caregivers participating in NNCC’s home visiting programs, Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP) and Mabel Morris Family Home Visit Program (MM), through mental health services provided by JJPI mental health clinicians. The program will also enhance the capacity of Philadelphia-based child and family service providers through infant and early childhood mental health (IECMH) training and learning collaboratives.

A Year of Growth: Philly SPROUT Year 2

During Year 2, one of the goals of the Philly SPROUT program was, and remains, to enhance the capacity of child and family service providers through IECMH trainings, learning collaboratives, and a Summit.  The program hit its stride this past year, growing the initiative through the creation of its Advisory Board; hosting  an in-person Summit; and providing three virtual trainings and two virtual learning collaboratives. 

To learn more about Year 2’s events, read on below:

Annual In-Person Summit 

1. On May 17, the inaugural Summit featured a keynote presentation by Brenda Jones Harden, PhD, MSW, with programming focused on strengthening cross-sector collaboration to support the IECMH workforce. A recap of the engaging event can be found here. 

Webinars:

1. On June 10, NNCC welcomed Kathleen Ramsey, PhD, licensed child psychologist, and Jamiel Owens, Family Relations Coordinator, from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Center for Autism Research to present about Early Childhood Development and Autism. Dr. Ramsey presented clinical information for family and child serving providers to understand from a trauma-informed lens. Jamiel Owens discussed his lived experience as a father of a child with autism and how parents can advocate for the needs of their children.
2. On July 10, Sarah Leaman, MEd, Family Support Specialist, and Chou Hallegra, MA, CTCP, Program Manager, from the Philadelphia Family Supports Projects at Vision for Equality, presented on How to Support Families from a Trauma-Informed Lens. During their presentation, they discussed trauma, its impact, and practices to support families in crisis. 
3. On July 30, Sandhyaa Iyengar, MD, MPH, FAAP, attending physician with the Division of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, presented on Holding and Healing: Practical Trauma-Informed Strategies for Young Children’s Social-Emotional Development. Dr. Iyengar discussed the prevalence and impact of trauma on young children’s development and provided strategies to promote general social-emotional development in the context of trauma. 

Learning Collaboratives:

1. On September 16, Emily LaBree, LSW, Associate Director of Specialized Behavioral Health Foster Care at Turning Points for Children, and Chartan Nelson, Executive Director at Grand Central, Inc., presented Understanding Kinship Care in Philadelphia, where they provided an overview of kinship care and legislation, discussed the differences between informal and formal kinship care, and provided resources for caregivers and those working with kinship families.
2. On September 23, Blair Lamb, BSN, RN, Nurse Supervisor with the Philadelphia Nurse-Family Partnership at NNCC, and Una Majmudar, MSW, LCSW, IMH-E®, Clinical Director with the Health Federation of Philadelphia provided an overview of the history of reflective supervision and infant mental health, and attendees participated in a breakout group discussion based on reflective supervision prompts.

Looking Ahead to Year 3

After the second year of the program, the Philly SPROUT team looks forward to continuing to support child and family service providers in their IECMH work. We welcome your engagement; upcoming trainings will be posted on our website or you can sign up for the newsletter here.

Where can I learn more about Philly SPROUT IECMH training?

Home visitors and other child and family-serving providers play a critical role in empowering families to build on their strengths and learn parenting and life skills that will support optimal child development. Philly SPROUT training offerings will be open to providers across multiple disciplines (child welfare, early intervention, early childhood education, home visiting, and mental and/or behavioral health) and supply providers with additional tools to recognize and address the mental health needs of the children they serve. Our goal is to create a common language among the sectors and highlight topics and interventions that positively affect children and their surrounding systems of support. Philadelphia child or family-serving providers interested in IECMH training offerings can view the NNCC website and click on the Training Tab for upcoming webinars or events.

This publication was made possible by Grant Award #1H79SM086431-01 from SAMHSA. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the SAMHSA.