About this poster

---

Panel information
Panel 6. Risk, Intervention, Prevention, and Action

Abstract

---

Research and data continue to show that young Black children, boys, and children with disabilities continue to be subjects of bias and discrimination. Evidence shows that Black children are viewed as older, less innocent, and require less support and comfort. These views of Black children are likely contributing to negative interactions between early childhood education (ECE) providers and Black children and their families. Specifically, ECE teachers report more conflict with Black children than with white children, and are more likely to use disciplinary practices that exclude Black children. Given these challenges and the interpersonal nature of these decisions, ECE programs, such as Head Start, have adopted Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation (IECMHC) to support adults who experience challenges working with young children.

IECMHC pairs an early childhood mental health consultant (MHC) with adults (e.g., parents, teachers, directors) who work with young children birth to eight in a variety of settings, including ECE, to increase their capacity to minimize bias and support children’s emotional and psychological health. MHCs in ECE settings, are uniquely trained and supervised to build trusting, secure, and nonjudgmental relationships with teachers that support having difficult conversations around bias (Johnston & Brinamen, 2006; Shea et al., 2021). A key component of IECMHC that supports MHCs to embody a way of being that creates space for teachers to explore their biases, especially towards children of color, is reflective supervision (RS; Barron et al., 2022; Shivers et al., 2021). RS is an embedded component in most IECMHC program where a MHC is paired with a supervisor where they are provided opportunities to discuss their emotional responses to their work and work through any beliefs or attitudes that may limit their ability to serve the children and families they work on behalf (Barron et al., 2022).

Promising research shows that ECE teachers who have access to an IECMHC professional show improved relationships and interactions with Black children, particularly Black boys (Shivers et al., 2021). Findings revealed that when MHCs had prior knowledge of cultural diversity and developed positive consultative relationships, they had teachers who reported more positive relationships and felt more efficacious with Black boys (Shivers et al., 2021). These findings led to research that sought to understand how IECMHC professionals developed the self-awareness, understanding, and skills needed that lead to changes in ECE teachers' behaviors and practices with Black boys.

Using qualitative methodology, the current study explored how mental health consultants (MHCs) who work with ECE teachers engage in anti-bias practices that encourage change in behaviors and practices with children of color and Black boys. MHCs participated in focus groups that were centered around the central research question of “in what ways do you advance equity in IECMHC?” Study participants were majority white (50%) and Latina (50%) and worked in public child care settings serving preschool-aged children. Results from the focus groups were analyzed using grounded theory methods. This study used a grounded theory approach and a priori theoretical orientation. The researcher engaged in a three-step coding process, initial, axial, and selective to identify emergent themes.

Findings revealed that MHCs used reflective supervision and professional development opportunities as mechanisms to acknowledge and interrogate bias in themselves and their teachers, and use anti-bias practices. This poster will describe components of effective supervisory relationships, practices that reflective supervisors engage in that encourage reflection, and types of professional development opportunities that support self-awareness and reflection. MHCs described the ways that they were not only able to recognize bias, but also how to address biased interactions.

⇦ Back to session