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Ensuring the healthy development of all youth by focusing on the psychosocial well-being of early childhood professionals

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Ensuring the healthy development of all youth by focusing on the psychosocial well-being of early childhood professionals

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Content 1 Running head: Ensuring the Healthy Development of All Youth
Ensuring the Healthy Development of All Youth by Focusing on the Psychosocial Well-Being of
Early Childhood Professionals
Zsalanda Richardson
Capstone Project Submitted in Partial Fulfillment for the Degree
Doctor of Social Work
University of Southern California
Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work
Professor Annalisa Enrile, Ph.D., MSW
Course and Date: 722/July 8, 2020
August 2020
Ensuring the Healthy Development of All Youth: 2
Table of Contents
Executive Summary ..................................................................................................................................................... 5
Conceptual Framework ............................................................................................................................................... 8
Defining the Problem ................................................................................................................................................. 8
The New Social Norm with a Twist. ..................................................................................................................... 9
History. ................................................................................................................................................................ 10
Actors. ................................................................................................................................................................. 11
Limits................................................................................................................................................................... 12
Configuration....................................................................................................................................................... 12
Parthood............................................................................................................................................................... 12
Deviants. .............................................................................................................................................................. 13
Second Deviant.................................................................................................................................................... 13
Third Deviant. ..................................................................................................................................................... 13
Current Research, Practice, and Innovation ............................................................................................................ 14
The Research. ...................................................................................................................................................... 14
The Social Significance of the Problem .................................................................................................................. 14
Theory of Change .................................................................................................................................................... 15
Inputs and Resources. .......................................................................................................................................... 15
Activities, and Outputs. ....................................................................................................................................... 16
Short-Term and Long-Term Outcomes. .............................................................................................................. 16
Problems of Practice and Innovation ....................................................................................................................... 17
The Proposed Project and Its Contribution to the Grand Challenge ....................................................................... 17
Empowerment. .................................................................................................................................................... 17
Nurturing and Networking to Build Social Capital. ............................................................................................ 17
Enlightening. ....................................................................................................................................................... 18
Building Reflective Capacity to Create Social Capital. ...................................................................................... 19
The Contribution. ................................................................................................................................................ 20
The Problem from the View of the Stakeholders .................................................................................................... 20
Early Childhood Professionals ................................................................................................................................ 20
Anonymous Early Childhood Agency in Michigan. ........................................................................................... 20
Early Childhood Organizations ............................................................................................................................... 22
Local Mental Health Agency. ............................................................................................................................. 22
National Head Start Association. ........................................................................................................................ 22
How the Proposal Builds on the Current Landscape ............................................................................................. 23
The Policy Landscape. ........................................................................................................................................ 23
Ensuring the Healthy Development of All Youth: 3
Current Landscape/Practice. ................................................................................................................................ 23
The Existing Opportunities for Innovation .............................................................................................................. 25
How the Proposal Aligns with the Logic Model ...................................................................................................... 25
In the Beginning ...................................................................................................................................................... 25
Staffing. ............................................................................................................................................................... 26
The Structure of Activities. ................................................................................................................................. 26
The Outcome. ...................................................................................................................................................... 26
The Metrics of Success ............................................................................................................................................ 27
Short-term. ........................................................................................................................................................... 27
Intermediate. ........................................................................................................................................................ 27
Long-term. ........................................................................................................................................................... 28
The Likelihood of Success ......................................................................................................................................... 28
Project Structure, Methodology, and Action Components .................................................................................... 29
Project Structure ...................................................................................................................................................... 29
Prototype. ............................................................................................................................................................ 29
Market Analysis ....................................................................................................................................................... 29
Target................................................................................................................................................................... 29
Methods of Implementation and Strategy................................................................................................................ 30
Financial Plan and Capstone Budgets...................................................................................................................... 31
Start-Up. .............................................................................................................................................................. 31
First Full Year of Operation. ............................................................................................................................... 32
Summary of Capstone Budgets ............................................................................................................................... 32
Relevant Stakeholder Involvement. .................................................................................................................... 33
Assessment of Impact/Efficiency ............................................................................................................................ 33
Performance Measures............................................................................................................................................. 34
Communication Products and Strategies ................................................................................................................. 34
How the Capstone Addresses the Problem .............................................................................................................. 35
Ethical Concerns and Negative Consequences ........................................................................................................ 35
Conclusions, Actions, and Implications ................................................................................................................... 36
The Next Steps, Proverbial Implications, Limitations, and Risks ........................................................................... 36
References ................................................................................................................................................................... 38
Appendix A ................................................................................................................................................................. 45
Appendix B………………………………………………………………………………………………………......46
Appendix C ................................................................................................................................................................. 49
Ensuring the Healthy Development of All Youth: 4
Appendix D ................................................................................................................................................................. 50
Ensuring the Healthy Development of All Youth: 5

Executive Summary
This paper describes in detail the creation and planned strategic implementation of the
E.N.N.E.R.G. program. The acronym stands for Empowering, Nurturing, Networking,
Enlightening, Reflective Capacity Building Group. The program was created to address the
Social Work Grand Challenge of Ensuring the Healthy Development of All Youth by focusing
on the psychosocial well-being of early childhood professionals, specifically Head Start
professionals.
The purpose of the E.N.N.E.R.G. program is to provide support for early childhood
professionals. It aims to address these three key areas to help fill the gap: 1. Social Support 2.
Professional Development 3. Reflective Supervision. Research has shown that when a work
environment has social capital, workers thrive and productivity increases. Seasoned social
workers with more training and experience are known to be more empathetic, meaning that they
have some form of reflective capacity. They are also known to be less likely to burnout quickly
when compared to new social work graduates who have no background of social work
experience. This is where the E.N.N.E.R.G. program addresses gaps in training. It is a ten-week
program that will take up no more than two hours of a participant’s time. One hour includes the
weekly group session. The second hour is a scheduled one-on-one reflective supervision with
one of the facilitators. During the ten weeks professionals will venture through the following
topics: Week 1: Mental Health, Week 2: Stress, Week 3: Vicarious Trauma, Week 4:
Compassion Fatigue, Week 5: Self-Care Planning, Week 6: Group Reflective Supervision-Let’s
put it into practice, Week 7: Group Reflective Supervision-What is new? What is different?
Week 8: Group Reflective Supervision-What are we learning about ourselves? Week 9: Group
Ensuring the Healthy Development of All Youth: 6
Reflective Supervision-What do we need to tweak? and Week 10: Group Reflective Supervision-
Where do we go from here? Participants will receive Continuing Education Units [CEUs].
The E.N.N.E.R.G. program is aimed to hit the projected implementation markers: Pilot
with local Head Start agency in the year 2020 to 2021; Start the hiring process for mental health
clinicians between 2021 to 2022; Start the full year of operation in the year 2022 to 2023. The
E.N.N.E.R.G. curriculum will be published in the year 2020 with the hopes of attracting
stakeholders outside the state of Michigan. Future action steps will be to complete 5
E.N.N.E.R.G. cohorts during the pilot year meaning that the program will have reached 100
participants during the pilot phase. The program utilizes a quasi-experimental method of
administering assessments at the beginning, mid-way through, and at the conclusion of the
program. The program will also follow-up with participants one year after their completion of
the program. The evaluations aim to assess the efficiency of the program delivery.
The program innovatively addresses future implications. In attachment theory the parent
must be able to hold the child mentally in order to provide a foundation for attachment. If the
parent does not know how to hold and nurture, then the child struggles in learning how to hold
and nurture. If Head Start staff are not supported by their managers, supervisors, and
administrators, they will struggle in their task to hold and nurture the children and families they
are tasked with supporting. If this cycle continues, the Head Start agencies will do more harm
than good. On a broader perspective, many childcare centers have been closed due to the
COVID-19 Pandemic. In the nation’s rush to re-open the economy it was forced to realize the
importance of childcare due to the parental workforce. However, the lack of care for the
psychosocial well-being of the early childhood worker has not changed. This continued
disregard will lead to an increase in Child Protective Services claims due to parents being placed
Ensuring the Healthy Development of All Youth: 7
in compromised positions that cause them to choose between food on the table or adequate
supervision for their child. A Child Protective Services’ record may mean the lack of job
opportunities for some bread winners. This will lead to a high level of unemployment which will
ultimately hurt the economy. If America cares about the economy, then America needs to start
caring about the psychosocial well-being of its workers.
Ensuring the Healthy Development of All Youth: 8
Ensuring the Healthy Development of All Youth by Focusing on the Psychosocial Well-
Being of Early Childhood Professionals
Conceptual Framework
This Capstone Proposal will be addressing the Grand Challenge of Ensuring the Healthy
Development of All Youth (Fong, Lubben, & Barth, 2018), by focusing on the psychosocial
well-being of the early childhood professionals that service youth between the ages of zero to
five and pregnant mothers. When early childhood professionals feel valued, the children they
work with feel valued (Bucholz & Sheffler, 2009). When agencies are held accountable to how
they treat their staff, their staff is then able to hold the servicing families accountable for their
treatment and/or their child’s educational plan (Schillemans, 2008). When families are able to
maintain accountability, they are empowered. Empowered staff create empowered families
(Wong & Laschinger, 2012). Empowered families create empowered children (Delgato-Gaitan,
1999). Empowered children help to create an empowered future (Graves & Shelton, 2007).
Overall, this creates an empowered global community.
Defining the Problem
The wicked problem that is occurring in regard to effectively ensuring the healthy
development of America’s children, is being able to effectively support the healthy well-being of
America’s early childhood professionals. Early childhood professionals including, child
therapists, child protective service workers, child daycare workers, Head Start workers, and
Early Head Start workers to name a few are among professionals who experience burnout,
compassion fatigue, excessive workloads, hostile work environments with little support from
supervisors, a lack of professional development opportunities, absenteeism, and punitive tactics
if they attempt to take time off which then leads to presenteeism (Julien-Chinn & Lietz, 2016).
Ensuring the Healthy Development of All Youth: 9
Early childhood professionals are left feeling as if they have little to no recourse in their career
options. This systemic and organizational problem then leads the worker into taking an
excessive amount of days off and/or not taking enough days off to take care of their physical,
emotional, and mental health needs. Child daycare workers, Head Start workers, and Early Head
Start workers in particular receive lower than average pay that is nowhere near commensurate to
the level of work that is provided (Shdaimah, Palley, & Miller. 2018). Preschool teachers make
55 percent less than the wages a kindergarten teacher makes (U.S. Department of Education,
2016). The sense of urgency to address this problem is now becoming more urgent indirectly
due to the current global COVID-19 Pandemic and the national civil unrest the United States is
currently experiencing (Milligan, 2020).
The New Social Norm with a Twist. Even in light of the current pandemic, society’s
view of the early childhood professional is still not held in the highest regard (Mizan, 2020).
Due to state closures, COVID-19 leaves a high demand for early childhood services. According
to Cedillo (2020), nearly half of the 17.4 million children of front-line workers in need of
childcare due to the pandemic are children between the ages of 0-5. States like Colorado,
Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, and Pennsylvania ordered statewide closures of
early childcare facilities with the exception of those providing care for front line health care
workers (Cedillo, 2020). However, in states like, Louisiana, Florida, Kansas, and Texas (to
name a few) closures were not mandated. Meanwhile, in Wisconsin childcare workers are
advocating to be compensated in pay and value by seeking hazard pay and health insurance as
they service the children of essential workers (Mizan, 2020). Society expects early childhood
professionals to help parents learn how to parent (Concordia, 2015). However, society views
Ensuring the Healthy Development of All Youth: 10
early childhood professionals as nannies who should sacrifice compensation and self-care for the
greater good (Concordia, 2015).
History. Society’s negative view of the early childhood professional can be dated back
to the 1800s. Josephine Jewell Dodge opened the first nursery in New York in the year 1893
(Thompson, 2019). However, the public discourse was not positive. According to Thompson
(2019), Dodge wanted to support working mothers and to show society that children in out of
home care services could still benefit from quality parenting. However, the public viewed
nurseries as a way of allowing mothers to skip out on parenting just to work a minimum wage
job (Thompson, 2019). This type of perception of childcare started the warp sense of perception
that society now has towards early childhood professionals and the services they provide.
In the 1900s the American government turned its eyes towards early childhood services
looking for a solution to help mothers who had to work due to their husbands being drafted to
serve in the military during World War II (Thompson, 2019). During the Great Depression,
nurseries suffered due to the lack of employment. However, the Works Progress Administration
[WPA] established the Emergency Nursery Schools Program [ENSP] as a way to provide
employment opportunities for teachers who were unemployed (Thompson, 2019; Encyclopedia
Britannica, 2019; Emergency Nursery Schools, 1934).
Head Start was brought onto the scene in 1964 when President Lyndon B. Johnson
declared the War on Poverty (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services-1, 2019). During
this era childcare evolved and was no longer just the answer to parenting and child supervision.
It was now addressing the symptoms of poverty which included nutrition, health, and behavioral
health (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services-1, 2019).
Ensuring the Healthy Development of All Youth: 11
Actors. Society’s youth play a major role in this wicked problem because ultimately,
they are the ones who will suffer if the social beliefs feeding the problem do not change. A
second set of actors are the early childhood professionals. They are front line to working with
society’s youth. They experience the indirect trauma that the families experience. Actors within
this group of actors are women. According to the United States Census Bureau, women made up
a little more than 50 percent of the American population in the year 2010 (United States Census
Bureau, 2020). Witters (2017), reported that women along-side with minorities (men excluded)
showed a decline in over-all well-being between the year 2016 to 2017. Women of color are the
next set of sub-actors. Research shows that women of color will be the majority by the year
2060 (Catalyst, 2020). Women of color make up a little under 50% of the low-wage workforce
(Catalyst, 2020). This female dominated workforce which includes home health aides, food
preparation workers, and serving workers (which includes, but is not limited to childcare and fast
food workers) is predicted to increase within the next decade (Catalyst, 2020). Supervisors/mid-
level management, and administrators are the next set of actors. They are key because their
attitudes dictate how policies and protocols are received within an organization (Finn, Torres,
Ehrhart, Roesch, & Aarons, 2016). And finally, the government is the last tier of actors that play
a crucial role in the wicked problem. Local and federal government set wages and provide
funding with requirements as to how the funding is to be utilized. Government can set the
precedent in grants requiring that a percentage of released funding go towards the well-being of a
worker providing services; for example, like some local Michigan governments giving hazard
pay to essential workers working during the COVID-19 Pandemic (Hunter, Martindale, &
LeBlanc, 2020). The government starts the domino effect of how the nation views the early
childhood professionals and how the youth will be treated overall.
Ensuring the Healthy Development of All Youth: 12
Limits. Current government regulations assist in holding these norms in place. America
was the only wealthy country that did not mandate employers (Pre-COVID-19 Pandemic) to give
their employees a paid leave of absence (McCarthy, 2018). Last year, Michigan passed a law on
March 29, 2019 mandating organizations to pay their employees sick leave. However, the
limitations fall within the requirements of this bill. A worker must be employed by an agency
with a minimum of 50 workers. Forty percent of Michigan employees work for private
organizations that employ less than fifty employees (Mack, 2019). While other countries are
mandating paid time off for employees, America falls out of the ranks, lower than Mexico by
only mandating 10 paid holidays off for the American employees (Test, 2018; McCarthy, 2018).
Configuration. Throughout history, it is easy to deduce the labels that are used to
stigmatize the early childhood profession and perpetuate the wicked beliefs and/or prejudices
associated with it. They are as follows: rich and poor; race and gender; privileged and non-
privileged; low-income and above income; single parent home and two parent home; mentally
stable and mentally un-stable; inner city and outer city; minority youth and non-minority youth;
COVID-19 positive and COVID-19 negative; COVID-19 antibodies and COVID-19 non-
antibodies; and Black Lives Matter, All Lives Matter, and Blue Lives Matter.
Parthood. This segues into the parthood. There appears to be another problem that this
issue resides in, and that is race. Most jobs that employ early childhood professionals are those
that serve the at-risk population, low-income population, and/ or minority population. Policies
and regulations around these programs are dictated by the nation’s “privileged whites” (DeSante,
2013). DeSante (2013), argued that African Americans now experience a new form of racism
called “modern racism.” Modern racism is the opinion and actions of privileged whites around
political policies such as welfare, affirmative action, (DeSante, 2013) and now Black Lives
Ensuring the Healthy Development of All Youth: 13
Matter [BLM] (Black Lives Matter, 2020). DeSante wrote that most Americans are against
racially charged actions in regard to policies. The American way of success is to put in the
wrench time and work hard (DeSante, 2013). These are what society calls American values.
However, when resources are low, and both blacks and whites are in competition for the same
resources, these same American values then go out the window and hard work is no longer an
indicator of who gets the resources. Skin color is now the deciding factor (DeSante, 2013).
Deviants. Research shows that an increase in social capital helps to make the work
environment feel less hostile (Sommer, Sabol, Chase-Lansdale, Small, Wilde, Brown, & Huang,
2017). Where there is work comradery, staff tends to feel more supported both during work and
after work hours (Sommer et al., 2017). Research explains that networking with peers allow
individuals to build natural supports they can turn to when they are not at work, therefore
improving their well-being (Somer et al., 2017).
Second Deviant. A second deviant is reflective capacity. According to Kinman and
Grant (2017), social workers who are able to be self-aware and empathetic, are less likely to
succumb to the secondary trauma of high stressed jobs. Social workers who are empathetic are
more mature socially and emotionally compared to co-workers who are not empathetic (Kinman
& Grant, 2011).
Third Deviant. A third deviant is professional development. Working in the early
childhood profession requires skill and training. When workers are consistently being trained,
they are more confident in their abilities. This requires insight on behalf of supervisors to know
when their employees need training and how often they need it. This means that professional
development includes the supervisor acting as a mentor and building up the supervisor-
supervisee relationship (Julien-Chinn, & Lietz, 2016). Kinman and Grant also discovered that
Ensuring the Healthy Development of All Youth: 14
age had a great influence as to whether a social worker was more resilient or not. It was
observed that social workers that were more experienced and trained, were less likely to suffer
from burnout than social workers who were new to the field and did not have any type of social
work experience (Kinman & Grant, 2011).
Current Research, Practice, and Innovation
The Research. Delaney and Karnik (2019), wrote that child mental health diagnosis was
on the rise and is steadily rising. This dilemma is even more urgent for the children in foster
care, juvenile justice, and homeless situations (Delaney & Karnik, 2019). They argue that in
order to change the system that is perpetually traumatizing and inflicting mental health issues
upon society’s youth, mental health workers must be trained within the very communities they
are seeking to service. Professionals needs to obtain evidenced based practice within the
community they seek to serve (Delaney & Karnik, 2019). Their research shows that educating
professionals how to effectively engage the target population will decrease the service gaps
causing the rise in mental health diagnosis and trauma in children (Delaney & Karnik, 2019).
Kinman and Grant (2011), facilitated a research aimed to help guide the intervention of
well-being for the fast-growing profession of social work. The researchers sought to identify
factors that played a strong role in decreasing resiliency and increasing burnout. It was
discovered that social support, effective regulation of cognitions, setting clear boundaries
between work and home, peer support, and enhancing self-awareness were factors that greatly
increased resiliency and decreased burnout (Kinman & Grant, 2011).
The Social Significance of the Problem
If the need to support the psychosocial well-being of the early childhood professional is
not met with an urgency, America will see an increase in the lack of child supervision and an
Ensuring the Healthy Development of All Youth: 15
oversight in the services provided to children. Society will not only see an oversight in care from
individual workers, but this oversight will ultimately affect the agencies and organizations that
are providing the services (Sharma, & Cooper, 2017). It runs the risk of becoming viewed as the
perpetual homeless person that an individual may pass by every day while traveling to work
(Homeless Hub, 2019). The problem is seen; however, because the solution appears to be out of
sight, the individual learns how to deal with seeing the problem every day (Homeless Hub,
2019).
Theory of Change
The theory of change that the Empowering, Nurturing, Networking, Enlightening,
Reflective Capacity Building Group [E.N.N.E.R.G]. program relies on is the theory of
attachment. Parents that engage in attachment-based interventions increase their reflective and
empathetic skills (Myors, Cleary, Johnson, & Schmied, 2018). These skills allow them to form
meaningful relationships with their infants, therefore allowing their infants to experience a
meaningful relationship. When parents are nurtured and held (mentally, and emotionally), they
are then able to provide a safe holding place (mentally and emotionally) for their infants (Myors,
et al., 2018). The E.N.N.E.R.G. program will provide a safe holding space (mentally,
emotionally, and physically) for early childhood professionals. The E.N.N.E.R.G. program
believes that when professionals are held, nurtured, and supported, then they will be able to hold,
nurture, and support the children and families they service.
Inputs and Resources. A local Head Start within Flint, Michigan is currently in the
process of building up its focus on the well-being of its staff. The E.N.N.E.R.G. program will
seek to collaborate with this Head Start agency. Funding will be sought from local stakeholders
such as: The Hagerman Foundation of Flint, Michigan, Flint ReCAST (which accepts proposal
Ensuring the Healthy Development of All Youth: 16
from individuals whose goals are aligned with that of Flint ReCAST), and the National Office of
Head Start through the federal government (The Hagerman Foundation, n.d.; Flint ReCAST,
n.d.; Department of Health and Human Services-2, 2019). Due to COVID-19, the E.N.N.E.R.G.
program has downsized from needing thirteen staff members to only six staff members to start:
Chief Executive Officer, Information Specialist, and four clinically licensed masters level mental
health professionals to employ the roles of the reflective supervisors and group facilitators
(Appendix A).
Activities, and Outputs. Early childhood professionals will attend the E.N.N.E.R.G.
program for two hours, every week for ten-weeks. One hour will be dedicated to group time and
the other hour will be dedicated to one-on-one reflective supervision with one of the facilitators
(Appendix A). The creator of the program plans to engage one hundred participants by June 30,
2021. The plan is to successfully commence five cohorts from local Head Start agencies
(Appendix A). A successful group composite will consist of one group of mid-level
management, and the second group consisting of entry-level positioned employees.
Short-Term and Long-Term Outcomes. If successful, participants should show signs
of happiness on the job (Appendix A). Participants will show resilience exhibited in their
outlook and perception of the stressors on their jobs. Mid-level managers should show signs of
happiness as well. They will become more self-reflective and empathetic. This will be exhibited
in their patience and rapport building with their staff and team members (Appendix A).
Participating local Head Start agencies should also see an overall change in the participants of
the program (Appendix A).
Ensuring the Healthy Development of All Youth: 17
Problems of Practice and Innovation
The Proposed Project and Its Contribution to the Grand Challenge
The proposed project is aimed to Ensure the Healthy Development of All Youth by
addressing the three deviants previously mentioned: social support, building of reflective
capacity, and professional development (Fong, Lubben, & Barth, 2018). The Empowering,
Nurturing, Networking, Enlightening, Reflective Capacity Building Group [E.N.N.E.R.G.]
program is designed to address some of the gaps the early childhood profession has pertaining to
staff. Its goal is to bring awareness to the importance of the psychosocial well-being of early
childhood professionals by educating, supporting, and strengthening the overall well-being of the
worker.
Empowerment. Empowerment is the act of giving power to another. It is the act of
inspiring and enabling. According to Linuesa-Langreo, Ruiz-Palomino, & Elche-Hortelano,
(2018), Servant Leadership [SL] does just that. Servant leaders are administrators who seek to
serve their followers. They are administrators who address the needs of their followers by doing
good to their followers, recognizing their followers’ potential, and encouraging their followers
towards professional development (Linuesa, et, al, 2018). Servant leaders empower and
motivate their followers to think of others and to put others first.
Nurturing and Networking to Build Social Capital. According to Linuesa-Langreo, et
al., (2018), in order to build effective social capital, an organization’s leaders must be servant
minded. They argue that Servant Leadership [SL] improves the Group Citizenship Behavior
[GCB] which ultimately creates and improves Group Social Capital [GSC] within an
organization. GSC is comprised of the following three components: Structural Dimension,
Relational Dimension, and Cognitive Dimension (Linuesa-Langreo, et al., 2018). The Structural
Ensuring the Healthy Development of All Youth: 18
Dimension consists of the frequency in which workers interact to share knowledge, skills, and
information (Linuesa-Langreo, et al., 2018). The Relational Dimension is all about the quality of
the relationships that are created (Linuesa-Langreo, et al., 2018). It is based on a history or
previous knowledge of a person. Lastly, Cognitive Dimension entails that the group be on one
accord (Linuesa-Langreo, et al., 2018). It is about commonality. It exists due to the group
coming together for the same reasons; to meet the same goals. It is linked to the group’s ability
to identify, agree on, and work towards a common goal (Linuesa-Langreo, et al., 2018). It is the
cognitive attributes that can either make or break an organization in regard to having a
collaborative work culture or a non-collaborative work culture (Boyas, Wind, & Kang, 2012).
The E.N.N.E.R.G. program addresses the issue of networking by allowing participants to
meet in a group setting. Through the course of the ten weeks, participants will have the
opportunity to learn not only about themselves, but about the other individuals within the group.
The participants will interact with each other through group exercises. Individuals will develop
new skills. The group format will allow participants to share information that they would not
normally be able to receive. The group facilitators are the servant leaders who will model and
provide a supportive and nurturing atmosphere. It is through their modeling over the course of
ten weeks that participants of the E.N.N.E.R.G. program will begin to establish a trust with each
other.
Enlightening. Servant leaders are helpful and instructional. They enable the work
environment so that the worker can access and/or obtain needed information (Linuesa-Langreo,
et al., 2018). They observe and seek out the potential in their followers and seek to reinforce it
rather than exploit it. Individuals who engage in some type of professional learning, and/or
educational assistance are more confident, more resilient, and less likely to suffer from burnout
Ensuring the Healthy Development of All Youth: 19
(Colling, Coffey, & Morris, 2010). Collins, et al., (2010), argue that social work students with
low self-esteem and poor emotional stability can benefit from frequent peer and tutorial support
within the university environment.
Building Reflective Capacity to Create Social Capital. Kinman, & Grant (2011),
observed reflective ability and empathy as indicators for resilience. In other words, they studied
the emotional intelligence of social workers in training. They argued that social workers who
were emotionally intelligent, who exhibited empathetic skills, and reflective capacity were more
resilient to stress. They further stated that social workers who struggled with managing their
own emotions struggled more in a field (such as social work) that required them to manage the
emotions of others.
One of the essential roles of an early childhood professional is to manage the emotions of
children ages 0 to 5 who have not yet fully developed the regulatory mechanism in their brains to
manage their own emotions. At this age children need all the guidance they can receive. It is
estimated that more than 12 million infants and toddlers in America attend daycare (Lang, 2005).
Infants and toddlers in childcare spend almost 40 hours per week away from home (Lang, 2005).
Some children spend 33 percent of their day in a classroom setting-like childcare facility and
then another 20 percent at another childcare facility to accommodate for their parents working
longer hours. Time away from the home can be emotionally exhausting for an infant and
toddler. This is one of the reasons why early childhood professionals observe a lot of problem
behaviors in the children they work with (Lang, 2005). This is also one of the reasons why early
childhood professionals experience a lot of stress (Becker, Gallagher, & Whitaker, 2017). If they
are a classroom teacher, then they receive the brunt of child tantrums, behaviors, trauma
reactions, and attachment issues because they are the ones who spend a great portion of the day
Ensuring the Healthy Development of All Youth: 20
with young children. Head Start and Early Head Start teachers are responsible for managing the
behaviors within their classrooms. How the teachers manage the behaviors and respond to a
child’s behavior will determine how that child reacts, problem solve, and ultimately learn how to
self-regulate (Becker, Gallagher, & Whitaker, 20187). Children who attend high quality pre-
school programming are more likely to develop healthy social emotional and cognitive skills
(Michigan League for Public Policy, 2018).
The Contribution. The E.N.N.E.R.G. program will contribute by Ensuring the Healthy
Development of All Youth, particularly those between the ages of 0 to 5. The program will
teach early childhood professionals how to be the “kinder, stronger, calmer, and wiser” adults
that infants and toddlers need when struggling emotionally during the childcare experience
(Circle of Security International, 2019). The program will focus its intervention and evaluations
on the organization managers and administrators, early childhood professionals, and the parents
and caregivers to confirm it is meeting its goal of ensuring the healthy development of children 0
to 5 years of age.
The Problem from the View of the Stakeholders
Early Childhood Professionals
Anonymous Early Childhood Agency in Michigan. During an interview with an
anonymous early childhood professional from an anonymous location, it was acknowledged
across the board that staff morale was low, and staff was over stressed. When asked what could
be done to improve staff well-being, one early childhood professional stated the following, “I
don’t see…. I don’t feel like staff…we push issues so much and it goes ignored. There is almost
nothing we can come up with or to say to make them lean towards us. Our opinions don’t
matter, so I don’t see it having a turnover. I feel like they are stuck in their ways and that it
Ensuring the Healthy Development of All Youth: 21
won’t change” (Personal Communication, February 2019). One employee expressed that they
did not get trained and/or prepared for this job prior to taking it except, for the Parents as
Teachers curriculum (Personal Communication, February 2019). Another employee expressed
that she received training through her previous job prior to coming to work for the agency
(Personal Communication, February 2019). Another employee expressed that being able to get
away from the office to complete paperwork would greatly improve her work mood. She stated,
“A massage, a yearly retreat for staff, and the ability to work from home for four hours on a
given day, and still get a paid lunch” would do great wonders for her morale (Personal
Communication, February 2019).
During an interview with an early childhood professional manager, it was expressed that
there are some methods present to help combat the stress and low morale of staff. She expressed
that personal days are given, and reflective supervision is available, however she also expressed
that she did not feel that everyone was aware of the provided services. When asked what
methods were being implemented agency wide to mitigate high stress and low morale she stated,
“Program wide, I don’t see it. They talk about it and give us personal time, but a lot of times I
don’t think people use it for that purpose. I think it’s known and it’s out there, but do we
actually do it, measure it, and monitor it? No. We talk about it, and have reflective supervision,
but if people don’t utilize it, it won’t help” (Personal Communication, February 2019).
In another interview with a local manager it was reported that the mental health
consultants undergo a lot of stress trying to provide a supportive environment for early childhood
professionals. She stated, “Teachers have their own baggage of trauma. It’s hard for them to
open up and receive help from the mental health staff” (Personal Communication, February
2019). Other stakeholders within the Head Start community expressed that workers leave the
Ensuring the Healthy Development of All Youth: 22
agency because they do not feel supported or valued by their supervisors. It was expressed that
creating intensive training to engage teachers can combat this dilemma. And lastly, there was a
shared response that drastic changes in staff assignments and/or employment would possibly
help in mitigating the issue.
Early Childhood Organizations
Local Mental Health Agency. During an interview with the Program Manager of a
local mental health agency, it was reported that staff usually end up leaving the agency due to the
high amount of stress, the demand to be on-call after work hours, and the required face-to-face
time that they must meet with families weekly (Personal Communication, February 2019).
When asked what methods the agency takes to combat this issue, she expressed that the agency
does the following: provide group reflective supervision, train staff on how to understand
boundaries, provide secondary stress training, and sends emails to staff giving them tips on how
to stay healthy.
National Head Start Association. The National Head Start Association is beginning to
turn its focus more towards the well-being of Head Start staff. In 2017, the Head Start Early
Childhood and Learning and Knowledge Center [Head Start ECLKC] conducted a well-being
survey among staff. Sixty-one percent of staff surveyed expressed that they were very happy and
satisfied working at Head Start and 26 percent reported they were somewhat happy and satisfied
(Head Start ECLKC, 2017). However, 29 percent reported that they feel stressed weekly due to
the work; 32 percent expressed that it has been a while since they last felt valued at work; and 34
percent reported that interactions with specific co-workers is the most stressful related activity
they have to do in regard to the job.
Ensuring the Healthy Development of All Youth: 23
How the Proposal Builds on the Current Landscape
The Policy Landscape. Currently there are no policies regarding the wellness of staff in
the workplace. However, due to the current COVID-19 Pandemic, policies regarding the
wellness of staff have been implemented only pertaining to the still currently rising cases of
COVID-19. Due to the presence of the pandemic, the government have mandated that agencies
take a major role in protecting their workers. Agencies are now responsible for providing
protective barriers, allowing employees to work remotely, and giving 40 hours of mandated paid
leave of absence if a worker and/or a family member becomes ill due to COVID-19. Without the
pandemic, many Americans (especially low-wage workers) receive little to no support from their
employers in regard to wellness.
Current Landscape/Practice. New Jersey schools have a program where they provide
incentives for school districts to be held accountable for the well-being of both their employees
and students (Sustainable Jersey, 2019). The state offers the districts the ability to write for a
grant that will help to fund a well-being initiative that the district creates. The requirement is
that it must be focused on well-being. This means that it could be focused on the environment,
nutrition, physical health, and/or mental health as well. Whatever the focus is, it must include
the healthy development of the youth within the districts along with the employees that are
working with the youth (Sustainable Jersey, 2019).
In 2017, the Head Start Early Childhood Learning and Knowledge Center [HSECLKC]
conducted a survey to inquire of Head Start employees what well-being practices were currently
being promoted and implemented in their agency. Employees reported the following practices:
breathing, stretching, walking, talking, lunch break, and coloring (Head Start Early Childhood
Learning and Knowledge Center, 2019). The presence of detailed wellness practices are not
Ensuring the Healthy Development of All Youth: 24
found amongst a lot of Head Start agencies. The responsibility of implementing wellness
protocols are left to individual agencies. This responsibility is then left to individuals to be
exhibited by taking their breaks.
Given the current global COVID-19 Pandemic, Head Start staff have been forced to work
remotely. As a result, the Office of Head Start allowed its employees to attend webinars and
count the time as work. These online trainings and webinars have been made free and available
to staff in order to provide and support the professional development of Head Start and Early
Head Start employees (Early Childhood National Centers, 2020). Due to COVID-19, Head Start
is not only forced to address the deviant of professional development for its staff, but it is now
also forced to allow the time for it due to national closures.
Another current practice of wellness can be found in the state of Pennsylvania. The
Healthy Works, LLC. is a relationship focused wellness organization specializing in working
with educational professionals in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area (Healthy Works LLC., n.d.).
The owner, Dr. Shannon Thieroff provides the following services not only for educational
institutions but other organizations as well: wellness consultation, lunch and learn options, health
fairs, biometric screenings, on-site coaching, massage therapy, team building, exercise activities,
and technology options (Healthy Works LLC., n.d.). This is the only practice that comes close to
the services the E.N.N.E.R.G. program will offer.
Landscapes Outside of the Field. In 2014, Draper Inc., an engineering company was
nominated as one of the best organizations to work for due to their agency wide wellness
initiative (Thieroff, 2016). Thieroff wrote that the company implemented an onsite clinic to be
utilized for its employees and their family members. To assist its employees in achieving better
health, it also provided education and medication to those struggling with obesity and tobacco
Ensuring the Healthy Development of All Youth: 25
use (Thieroff, 2016). The corporation also allows its employees to enter a drawing for an all-
expense paid trip to Hawaii via their wellness steps program (Thieroff, 2016).
The Existing Opportunities for Innovation
Given the feedback from local stakeholders, the current pandemic, and the discourse of
Head Start staff, there are opportunities for the proposed project. Head Start agencies may be
more willing to accept the proposal of the E.N.N.E.R.G. program due to its focus on staff
wellness in the midst of the pandemic. The agencies may also be more receptive to dispersing
their own wellness survey to assess staffs’ view of the agency’s workplace wellness. This
opportunity may even serve as a way for previously interviewed staff throughout the state of
Michigan to get their concerns heard. This is an opportunity for the directors of local Head Start
agencies to observe the differing views behind what they say the reasons for low staff morale is
and what staff express is the reason for their low morale. This is also an opportunity to seek out
funding from more local stakeholders within the community. And lastly, there is an opportunity
to seek funding through the current grants that have been allocated to respond to the wellness of
families and staff in regard to the COVID-19 Pandemic.
How the Proposal Aligns with the Logic Model
In the Beginning
The E.N.N.E.R.G. program proposal will be presented to the administration team of the
prospecting piloting agency, a local Head Start. The local Head Start will receive an opportunity
to have the E.N.N.E.R.G. program piloted through their management team and home visiting
team. As of now, the pilot of the program will take place remotely. Any in person contact will
be done with the proper social distancing and the presence of protective gear as per the
governor’s order.
Ensuring the Healthy Development of All Youth: 26
Staffing. It will take only six employees to run the E.N.N.E.R.G. program. The
employees will consist of the following: President, Information Technology Specialist, and four
clinically licensed masters level mental health clinicians who will also be the group facilitators.
The total cost for salaries will be approximately $500,000. The salary will cover staff time that
is spent towards the project. This cost includes the time the mental health clinicians will spend
both during group and outside of group providing reflective supervision to participants. The
salary will also cover the time it takes to create and organize the curriculum for the groups
(Appendix A). Fringe benefits will play a major role in modeling the message of wellness.
The Structure of Activities. For ten weeks, four highly trained mental health
professionals will facilitate weekly groups/training around mental health, stress, vicarious
trauma, compassion fatigue/burnout, self-care, and reflective supervision. Two mental health
professionals will facilitate the group for the teachers/home visitors. The remaining two mental
health professionals will facilitate the group for the mid-level managers. In addition to the
weekly facilitations, the four mental health professionals will also provide weekly one-on-one
reflective supervision to the participants. Each mental health professional will be assigned a
maximum caseload of five participants in which they will provide the weekly reflective
supervision (Appendix A).
The Outcome. Evaluations will be provided to assess whether the project is truly
effective for the targeted population. The group facilitators will be responsible for administering
the pre and post evaluations for the program. The first set of evaluations will be administered
during week one to establish a baseline. They will be administered again at week five to show
immediate effects of improvement and/or the lack thereof. And finally, they will be
administered at week ten to showcase the final effects of the ten weeks (Appendix A).
Ensuring the Healthy Development of All Youth: 27
The Metrics of Success
Short-term. The first metric of success will be the workplace happiness of the staff.
This will be assessed by evaluating the pre and post responses of the completed Professional
Quality of Life Assessment (ProQOL). It will be administered during week one, five, and ten. A
successful outcome will be an overall ten-point increase on the ProQOL assessment at week ten.
The second will be the level of absenteeism. The facilitators will obtain staffs’ input on the
amount of time they take off from work per month. This will be assessed during weeks one, and
five. A successful outcome will be that of a staff person taking no more than one day off per
month (if they previously took more days off). The third metric of success will be to evaluate
the productivity. Since home visitors are required a certain amount of face-to-face time with
families, their productivity will be measured by the amount of home visits they make within the
ten weeks. This survey will be completed by the home visitors’ supervisors during weeks one,
and five. A successful outcome will be an increase in the amount of paperwork and face-to-face
time completed by week ten (Appendix A).
Intermediate. The first metric of success will be how happy the supervisors are within
the workplace. Supervisors will be administered the same Professional Quality of Life
(ProQOL) assessment during weeks one, five, and ten (Appendix A). A successful outcome will
be an overall ten-point increase on the ProQOL assessment by week ten. The second metric of
success will measure rapport building between staff and supervisors. This evaluation will be
administered to both staff and supervisors during weeks one, five, and ten. A successful
outcome will consist of more positive feedback from staff in the survey. Another successful
outcome will be the overall increase in supportive supervision via meetings from the supervisor
by week ten. The third metric of success will be measuring how supportive and nurturing
Ensuring the Healthy Development of All Youth: 28
supervisors are towards their staff. This evaluation will be administered through a survey to the
staff during weeks one, five, and ten. A successful outcome will be the positive feedback from
staff in the survey, and the increased amount of time supervisors spend in supportive supervision
with staff by week ten.
Long-term. The first metric of success will be a ten percent increase in the overall
productivity of the organization by show of financial savings (Appendix A). A successful
outcome will be a minimum saving of half a million dollars (if 200 employees went from two
days to one day off per month) by week ten. The second metric of success will be the decrease in
absenteeism by week ten (Appendix A). A successful outcome will be no more than one day
taken off per month (due to non-emergency reasons). The third metric of success will be
satisfied clients (Appendix A). A survey will be administered to the families of the participating
staff at week one and ten. A successful outcome will be positive feedback on 90% of the surveys
administered by week ten (Appendix A).
The Likelihood of Success
The E.N.N.E.R.G. program has the opportunity to be very successful and to even spark
future innovative ways to address the psychosocial well-being of early childhood professionals.
This project model can be used in other professions other than the early childhood profession as
well. The ultimate successful outcome of the project will be to see the model being utilized
globally across the various professional fields. Nurses, doctors, lawyers, law enforcement
officers, mental health agencies, elementary and high school teachers, and many other essential
workers can benefit from this program. This success will depend on the buy-in of stakeholders,
the location, and the ability to relate the material to the professional audience it will target.
Ensuring the Healthy Development of All Youth: 29
Project Structure, Methodology, and Action Components
Project Structure
Prototype. As previously mentioned, the E.N.N.E.R.G. program is a ten-week program.
The program prototype walks you through an all-inclusive view of what the program will be like
for both the participants, and the facilitators (Appendix B). The PowerPoint presentation is what
the participants will view during their presence within the class. The curriculum is a Train-the-
Trainer curriculum that walks the facilitators through what to say during the group facilitation.
Market Analysis
The United States employs more than 980 thousand early childhood professionals (Data
USA, n.d.). The average age of America’s early childhood professional is 36 years old (Data
USA, n.d.). The average salary for the American early childhood professional ranges between
fifteen thousand to twenty thousand dollars per year depending on the program and its location
(Data USA, n.d.). Ninety-two percent of early childhood professionals are female (Data USA,
n.d.). The most common majors that early childhood professionals study are education, business,
psychology, and human sciences (Data USA, n.d.).
Target. The E.N.N.E.R.G. campaign will first target women because they make up the
majority of the workforce within the early childhood profession. The next targeted group will be
men. Men make up 7% of the early childhood profession (Data USA, n.d.). However, the
strategy is to gain buy-in from top executives who will be willing to fund and spread the
importance of early childhood professionals into other working sectors. To do this, the program
will launch its campaign with a video. In this video a car will be used in comparison to an early
childhood worker. The goal is to spark society’s interest into questioning whether they treat their
cars better than early childhood workers. Eighty-three percent of Americans drive a car (Brenan,
Ensuring the Healthy Development of All Youth: 30
2018). Men make up 69% of the drivers on the road (Brenan, 2018). Eighty-two percent of
those driver bring home a salary of $90,000 or more per year (Brenan, 2018). The campaign will
be titled, “Treat them better than a car.”
The market for this innovation has always been present. However, given the recent turn
of events within the global community, the market has never been stronger for it. Right now, a
concept like the E.N.N.E.R.G. program can ride the wave of the nation’s pandemic. Executive
Directors and Chief Operating Officers within various fields other than early childhood, are
brainstorming ways to make sure their company is in compliance with their state’s government
in supporting the wellness of employees. The money is present, and leaders want to get their
hands on the money.
Methods of Implementation and Strategy
Before the program can open its doors, there are a series of tasks and steps that must be
completed. The following needs must be met prior to the official launch: 1. Finalize curriculum
and show proof of it working via pilot so that agencies will desire to utilize it. 2. Write for a
Hagerman Foundation grant. 3. Write for a Head Start grant under their newly implemented
wellness initiative through the federal government. 4. Begin the hiring process for the six staff
members. Job postings will need to be placed in ads, on jobs sites, and sent to local agencies
such as the Michigan Association of Infant Mental Health (MI-AIMH, 2020) to get posting out
to their network of endorsed professionals. This is imperative due to the reflective supervision
experience required for the four group facilitators. The Alliance for the Advancement of Infant
Mental Health (AAIMH, 2020), is another Michigan based agency that will be sought to push
employment opportunities out to their network due to their global connection to endorsed
reflective supervisors.
Ensuring the Healthy Development of All Youth: 31
The implementation framework this program utilizes is the “Quality Assurance
Framework” (Think Education, n.d.). This model demonstrates to be more adaptable to the
program than the Exploration, Preparation, Implementation, and Sustainment [EPIS] model
(Brownson et al., 2018). The Quality Assurance Framework includes steps and stages that are
agreeable to the E.N.N.E.R.G. program’s goals, key components, and outcomes (Appendix C).
It consists of the following steps: 1. Plan: establish and define the expected output; 2.
Implement: implement the plan; assign roles; collect data; 3. Monitor and Review: study the
results of the implemented stage; assess whether the objectives and outcomes have been met
from the planning stage; 4. Improve: assess results from the monitoring stage; assess what
changes need to be implemented to obtain the objectives and outcomes from the planning stage.
This process will take about two years to complete pending the funding received. This process
will require the skill set of an organized leader. The leader will need to have a form of executive
presence, be self-aware, exhibit change management, but most of all will need to have a business
presence and demonstrate business intelligence for the implementation phase.
Financial Plan and Capstone Budgets
Start-Up. The program will run as a pilot for the start-up year. Initially, the creator of
the E.N.N.E.R.G. program will be the one facilitating the groups for the pilot. During the initial
pilot, cohort 1 will consist of a group of Early Head Start and Head Start Home Visitors. The
second group will consist of Early Head Start and Head Start Managers. The creator of the
program and the Information Technology [IT] Specialist will be the only working personnel
during this initial phase. The revenue for the initial pilot will cost the program approximately
$106,000 (Appendix D).
Ensuring the Healthy Development of All Youth: 32
First Full Year of Operation. The first full year of operation will cost more than the
start-up year due to the program being out of its pilot phase. During this phase the majority of
the revenue will come from the federal government. During this phase the program is expecting
more support from the local Hagerman Foundation. The program will be looking to start hiring
more personnel to help keep the program afloat as it expands.
Summary of Capstone Budgets
Appendix D lays out the start-up budget for the first year of pilots. Revenue is received
from the Hagerman Foundation, and the local Head Start organization via In-Kind donations.
The total expenses for the pilot year will be $106,000 (Appendix D). This cost will go towards
the sustainability of the pilot and serve as a stipend to compensate both the creator and the IT
Specialist.
Appendix E lays out the projected budget for the first full year of operation. It shows a
revenue of $1.2M (Appendix E). The only funders for this phase are the Hagerman Foundation,
and the Federal Government. The appointment of key leadership personnel and the acquiring of
a building helps to boost the expenses in this phase. However, due to the current COVID-19
Pandemic, less building space is needed. During the transition between these two phases,
personnel expenses will jump from $40,000 in the start-up to $455,000 for the first full year of
operation (Appendix D and E).
The cost for staff salary within the first full year of implementation will be $350,000
(Appendix E). Forty-thousand dollars will be allocated for each licensed mental health
professional. Hired mental health professionals must commit to completing five cohorts during
the start-up period as part of salary. The break-down cost for completing one cohort will be
$8,000 (Appendix E). The productivity cost for completing five cohorts will be $40,000
Ensuring the Healthy Development of All Youth: 33
(Appendix E). The full year cost for the four licensed mental health professionals will cost the
program $160,000 for the first full year (Appendix E). The Chief Executive Officer’s salary will
cost $120,000 (Appendix E). The IT Specialist will cost $70,000. Benefits will be offered at
30% (Appendix E).
Relevant Stakeholder Involvement. In addition to the stakeholders previously
mentioned that may serve as competitors and/or collaborators with the E.N.N.E.R.G. program,
the goal is to obtain and maintain monetary stakeholders who have common interests with the
program and/or a desire to see the program succeed. Both the federal government and the
Hagerman Foundation fits this description. Head Start is federally funded. Improving the well-
being of the workers who receive federal dollars can be seen as an investment for the federal
government. This can be a win-win situation. The Hagerman Foundation is a local organization
that seeks out individuals to receive their grants. One contact person from the organization
expressed that the funders are especially fond of funding projects that aim to help pregnant
mothers and their infants.
Assessment of Impact/Efficiency
In order to evaluate the efficiency of the operation, the program will measure the amount
of trainings and/or cohorts that are completed yearly. During the initial year, successful
operational efficiency will yield a minimum of five cohorts. As the program grows, it is
expected to see this minimum increase to at least ten cohorts a year. The program will also
measure the timeliness of documented group data from the facilitators. Facilitators will be
required to log in hours each time they facilitate a session including, the one-on-one reflective
supervision time with each participant. Participants will be required to sign-in utilizing digital
sign-in via online software. This will allow the program to keep track of the follow through of
Ensuring the Healthy Development of All Youth: 34
the facilitators, the number of sessions held weekly, the number of cohorts engaged, and the
attendance of the participants within the program. These measures are important to assure that
the program is doing what it is set out to do.
Performance Measures
As previously mentioned, measures to evaluate the efficiency of performance will be the
actual improvements that can be seen within the participants. Absenteeism and presenteeism
rates will be looked at. This will be gathered through surveys administered throughout the active
cohort ten-week sessions. Staff morale and workplace compassion fatigue will be monitored
through the administration of the Professional Quality of Life Scale [ProQOL] (Professional
Quality of Life Measure, 2019). After participants have completed the ten-weeks, there will be a
follow-up in one year to evaluate the participants current status and to evaluate whether there has
been a change in their working environment and/or their profession. This will ultimately
evaluate any possible changes in the workplace on behalf of their agencies, or any changes in
employment leading to turnovers. Surveys will also be gathered to obtain the satisfactions of the
clientele population being served by the workers and/or their agencies. These measures will
show us how effective or non-effective the approach is in helping the profession and ultimately
the community.
Communication Products and Strategies
The primary product of communication for this particular audience is going to be that of
face to face encounter. The collaborating stakeholders and users of this program are those within
a working profession that is predominantly hands on. Being able to talk to stakeholders and
users face to face is going to go a long way in obtaining and maintaining their buy-in. Fancy
marketing strategies can be used however, at the end of the day the targeted audience wants to
Ensuring the Healthy Development of All Youth: 35
know that they are seen and heard; and what better way to affirm this than by stepping into the
pool with them and engaging them.
How the Capstone Addresses the Problem
On a micro level, the E.N.N.E.R.G. program addresses the three deviants of a lack of
social support, a lack of reflective capacity, and a lack of adequate professional development in
particular, pertaining to vicarious trauma. It is only through the successful implementation and
efficacy of the program that stakeholders will see the problem being addressed on the macro
level (Appendix C). On this level is where policy changes will be seen. When organizations are
able to show that they can save and obtain more money via an implemented program, policy
makers, local officials, state officials, and national officials will listen.
Ethical Concerns and Negative Consequences
Ethically, the E.N.N.E.R.G. program is the right thing to do. There is an ever-growing
problem, and now that the world is dealing with the blowback of a pandemic, this problem is
catching the attention of everyone from the blue-collar workers to the white-collar workers. As
the country re-opens, the need for childcare is more prevalent. The need for quality, heathy,
confident, and competent early childhood professionals are needed. The consequences of not
dealing with the need of quality early childhood professionals and showing how valuable they
are can lead to the following: more burned out workers; higher turnover rates; and a shortage in
early childhood workers. This will then lead to a shortage in early childhood centers; children
not learning socially and emotionally within a classroom setting; parents not working due to a
lack of childcare; parents working and leaving their children unattended; or parents leaving their
children in other unsafe situations. This shortage can place a lot of underprivileged caregivers in
Ensuring the Healthy Development of All Youth: 36
compromising situations just for the sake of trying to stay underneath the radar of Child
Protective Services.
Conclusions, Actions, and Implications
The mission of the E.N.N.E.R.G. program is to evoke an awareness of the psychosocial
well-being of all workers regardless of sex, religion, or creed, but with an emphasis towards
workers who cannot afford the luxury of taking time off to deter a mental or physical breakdown.
The COVID-19 Pandemic is helping to usher in this awareness by focusing on the physical. The
aim is that governmental officials will understand and see the need for a mental health break, just
as much as they see the need for a vaccine, and the need to re-open the country.
The Next Steps, Proverbial Implications, Limitations, and Risks
The next plan is to establish the E.N.N.E.R.G. program as a for profit LLC. The next
immediate step prior to piloting the prototype within the community is to then publish the
curriculum. The strategy is to quickly publish through Apple’s iBook to establish ownership of
the curriculum. Publishing via this platform will make it available to stakeholders outside of
Michigan. A previous stakeholder suggested an attempt to start the program outside the state of
Michigan due to the fact that the local government is more likely to accept innovative ideas that
are proven outside the state of Michigan rather than inside the state. Therefore, this step will
allow the creator the ability to have options and an alternative plan if piloting through the local
Head Start agencies does not work.
The implications of not addressing this issue will place an already COVID-19 Pandemic-
traumatized America at greater risk for an epidemic mental breakdown. If a race car driver does
not heed the warnings on his car, he will not finish the race. If America continues to redline it by
pushing its citizens into work without a care for their mental, physical, and emotional well-being,
Ensuring the Healthy Development of All Youth: 37
then just like the engine of a car that is revved too high and ends up blowing out, American
citizens will give out. To continue pushing individuals in this manner is very unethical. Some
cars are treated better than humans. Legally, there is no backing for the worker in this regard.
However, just like a race cannot be won without a car, America cannot rebuild and/or stimulate
its economy without the workers. Financially, the E.N.N.E.R.G. program is imperative.

Ensuring the Healthy Development of All Youth: 38
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Ensuring the Healthy Development of All Youth: 45
Appendix A
Logic Model

Inputs
• Creation of the curriculum.
• Computer software.
• Training of 4 group facilitators.
• Creation of the evaluation
assessments.
• Employ CEO and IT Specialist
Activities
• Implement curriculum
• Hold weekly meetings for 10 weeks.
• Hold one-on-one Reflective Supervision meetings weekly.
Outputs
• Complete five cohorts during the start-up
year (two groups per cohort)- total of ten
groups.
Outcomes
•Participants will be happier by a show of a minimum
10% increase on the ProQOL Assessment.
•Metric 1: ProQOL administered during week 1, 5, &
10.
________________
Decrease in absenteeism
Metric 2: Survey assessing attendance during week 1,
5, & 10.
_________________
Lead to increase in productivity.
Outcomes
•Happier Supervisors and Managers by a show of a minimum of
10% increase on the ProQOL Assessment.
•Metric 1: Administer ProQOL during week 1, 5, & 10.
_________________
Rapport building with supervisees.
•Metric 2: Administration of surveys assessing for improved
support and relationship at week 1, 5, & 10.
__________________
Lead to more supportive and nurturing supervisors/managers.
Outcomes.
•A minimum 10% increase in productivity by show of an
increase in agency's financial savings and/or gains in budget.
•Metric 1: Evaluation of agency budgets at week 10.
___________________
Decrease in absenteeism.
Metric 2: Post evaluation during week 10.
___________________
Lead to an increase in satisfied clients.
Ensuring the Healthy Development of All Youth: 46
Appendix B

Ensuring the Healthy Development of All Youth: 47
Appendix B (continued)

Ensuring the Healthy Development of All Youth: 48
Appendix B (continued)

Ensuring the Healthy Development of All Youth: 49
Appendix C

Long-Term Outcomes of Implementation

Addressing the Lack of
Social Support
• Increase in social
support offered to
early childhood
professionals by 2025
• Increase in the amount
of social support
provided for children
ages zero to five by
2021
• Overall increase in the
psychosocial well-
being of early
childhood
professionals by 2025
Addressing the Lack
of Reflective Capacity
• Increase in amount of
reflective supervision
provided for early
childhood
professionals by 2025
• Children ages zero to
five years old will
receives services that
are 20% more
reflective by 2021
• Youth will benefit
from reflective
services allowing them
to become more
empathetic and
reflective as adults by
2040 and continuing
Addressing the Lack of
Professional
Development
• Increase in trauma
informed training
provided for early
childhood
professionals by 2025
• Increase in morale,
social capital, and
workplace support by
2045
• Increase in children
being serviced by
trauma informed
teachers by 2045

Ensuring the Healthy Development of All Youth: 50
Appendix D
REVENUE
Hagerman Foundation $76,000
*GCCARD Head Start (In-Kind): $30,000
Total Revenue: $106,000
EXPENSES
Personnel
Salary: (not currently needed) N/A
Benefits @ 30%: (not currently needed) N/A
**Stipends: $40,000
Sub-total of Personnel Expens: $40,000
Non-Personnel
*Building Rental (In-Kind Donation) $30,000
Includes:
Furniture
Space
Computers: $10,000
Software: $5,000
Internet & Mobile Devices: $6,000
Curriculum Creation & Distribution: $15,000
Travel Expenses: N/A
Sub-total of Other Expenses: $66,000
TOTAL EXPENSES: $106,000
SUPRPLUS/DEFICITS: $0
* In-Kind Donation
**Stipend for creator of the program and the IT Specialist
Note: This budget reflects a period of 12 months.
AGENCY NAME: E.N.N.E.R.G. LLC
FY Sepember 2020 to August 2021-PILOT
Start-Up Year
Ensuring the Healthy Development of All Youth: 51
Appendix E
REVENUE
Hagerman Foundation: $500,000
Federal Government: $700,000
Total Revenue: $1,200,000
EXPENSES
Personnel
Salary: $350,000
Benefits @ 30%: $105,000
(Includes 6 staff members)
Sub-total of Personnel Expense: $455,000
**Building Rent: $30,000
Includes
Utilities
Grounds
Keeping:
Furniture: $20,000
Office Stationary: $2,800
Computers: $20,000
Software: $62,400
Internet & Mobile Devices: $30,000
Curriculum Creation & Distribution: $100,000
*Travel Expenses: $175,000
Sub-total of Other Expenses: $440,200
TOTAL EXPENSES: $895,200
SURPLUS/ DEFICIT: $304,800
Note: This budget reflects a period of 12 months.
** Acquired building; no longer utilizing in-kinds/donations for building;
Non-Personnel
AGENCY NAME: E.N.N.E.R.G. LLC
FY September 2022 to August 2023- Full Year
First Full Year

Abstract (if available)

Abstract Staff morale and the overall culture of an agency has a tremendous effect on the workers physical and emotional well-being. This effect will either have a positive or negative influence on the productivity of the agency. In the field of early childhood, children are on the receiving end of the results of that productivity. The Empowering, Nurturing, Networking, Enlightening, Reflective Capacity Building Group [E.N.N.E.R.G.] program is strategically designed to address the psychosocial well-being of early childhood professionals via the building of their reflective capacity. It is a ten-week program aimed at teaching a group of professionals (including administrators) about mental health, vicarious trauma, stress, and self-care while engaging in reflective supervision. The paper outlines the history and limitations behind the problem while also outlining steps to be taken to implement the intervention.

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Asset Metadata

Creator Richardson, Zsalanda (author)

Core Title Ensuring the healthy development of all youth by focusing on the psychosocial well-being of early childhood professionals

School Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work

Degree Doctor of Social Work

Degree Program Social Work

Publication Date 02/01/2021

Defense Date 07/31/2020

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag Early childhood,OAI-PMH Harvest,reflective supervision,well-being,youth

Format application/pdf (imt)

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Enrile, Annalisa (committee chair), Nguyen, Loc (committee member), Wind, James (committee member)

Creator Email msrich28@gmail.com,msrich28@yahoo.com

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c89-418363

Unique identifier UC11673199

Identifier etd-Richardson-9256.pdf (filename),usctheses-c89-418363 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier etd-Richardson-9256-0.pdf

Dmrecord 418363

Document Type Capstone project

Format application/pdf (imt)

Rights Richardson, Zsalanda

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the a...

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