mental health

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Addressing many of the determinants such as income and housing (Mikkonen, & Raphael, 2010) are effective ways to deal with prevention of mental health problems in younger children. These determinants are linked (based on class discussion) and form the underlying grounds for maltreatment and neglect leading to increased mental health problems in young children and ensuing foster care placement. Although this is significant, this paper has emphasized the growing number of young children already residing in foster care with increasing mental health needs. Early childhood development directly influences young children, especially ones in foster care. The current initiatives being implemented attempt organizational change yet occur at the interpersonal level and fail to address the gaps identified earlier. As with my experience at the Children’s Cottage, interventions were at the interpersonal level. While the caregivers had early childhood training, many were lacking in how to provide proper mental health care to the foster children that frequented the facility. In depth training on the complex issues that foster children face, such as maltreatment and neglect was overlooked. Therefore, in my opinion, building upon these interventions and applying them to an organizational level allows for the reduction and or resolution of those gaps. The organizational level has the ability to promote health on a wider scale (K. Raine, personal communication, November 15, 2013). Many families use organizations such as the Cottage thus, becoming prime opportunity for collectively changing/improving mental health for all young foster children.
A strategy with the potential to achieve this is through a collaborative approach focused early ...

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...ed by the speech therapist could yield numerous beneficial results (Wotherspoon, O’Neill-Laberge, Rafaat, et al., 2008). Furthermore, “An “a-ha” moment for us was realizing that the strategies I promote as a speech therapist (e.g., observing, waiting, listening, modeling, expanding) also promote stronger relationships because they encourage interacting with the infant” (Wotherspoon, O’Neill-Laberge, Rafaat, et al., 2008, p. 14). Reshaping mental health problems in terms of development, as discerned by the speech therapist, helped in the communication and relationship between parents and children (Wotherspoon, O’Neill-Laberge, Rafaat, et al., 2008). This proves that organizational change, through collaboration on early childhood development, has the ability to help young foster children prevent exacerbations of mental health problems and achieve mental wellbeing.

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