SFCP Newsroom: Oct 2007

City’s Preschoolers Reap Social and Academic Benefits of Early Childhood Mental Health Program

The San Francisco Center f or Psychoanalysis received a 3-year extension of its grant f or mental health services in supp ort of four preschools in San Francisco’s toughest neighb orhoods.

San Francisco , CA – October 8, 2007 – Preschool can be scary f or any child. But for children in Bayview-Hunters Point, the Mission, and other tough San Francisco neighborhoods, going to preschool can be especially challenging. From Family Fun Nights to playgroups, one program aims to establish a secure emotional base for children in the face of multiple stresses, such as violence, poverty, immigration, and long daily separations from their parents, thus allowing them to become better students.

Working with the City, the San Francisco Center f or Psychoanalysis (SFCP) provides mental health insight and advice to all the people who constitute a preschool child’s supp ort system: parents, teachers, and school administrat ors. SFCP has provided mental health consultation services in the City’s preschools since 1999. In late October, the group will officially receive a three-year extension of its annual $124,000 grant to continue its w ork at Mission YMCA, Burnett Child Development Center, Bret Harte Child Development Center, and Starr King Elementary School.

“I am impressed with the innovation and longevity of the Center’s work with our program,” said Rhea Durr, Early Childhood Mental Health Services Coordinator. “Their consultants have introduced innovative activities to engage the preschoolers’ families in caring f or their children, given the multiple activities that often compete f or a parent’s time and attention.”

SFCP introduced Family Fun Nights to bring families to each of the four school sites after hours and create a positive opp ortunity f or playing and talking with their children. “This is a wonderful example of how the Center is w orking to make parents partners with their children’s preschool teachers and mental health consultants,” said Durr. “It also helps the teachers and consultants to pay attention a family’s overall mental health picture.”

Outreach programs such as SFCP’s Early Childhood Mental Health Program provide the four fact ors that are crucial to an effective learning environment: consistency, structure, emotional supp ort, and appropriate stimulation. Additional SFCP services offered at the preschools include:

Teacher Training
Parent Supp ort Groups
Classroom Observations
Individual and Playgroup Consultations f or Preschoolers
Weekly Staff Meetings

“Our work is based on an awareness that all early childhood learning occurs in relationships with trusted adults,” said Eileen Keller, Ph.D., Direct or of SFCP’s Early Childhood Mental Health Program. “All the research shows that a feeling of security is crucial to early learning. We believe that if we can provide emotional supp ort to the teachers, teachers will develop stronger relationships with the children.

“The City of San Francisco is a national leader in providing mental health consultation in preschools. We are quite excited to continue to have a place at the table and contribute to the care and education of San Francisco’s next generation,” said Keller.

Funding for the Early Childhood Mental Health Program is provided by a variety of agencies, including the Department of Children, Youth and Their Families, the Human Services Agency, First 5 San Francisco, and the Department of Behavi oral Health Services. In addition to SFCP’s w ork in the Mission, Bayview Hunter’s Point, Double Rock, and Potrero Hill areas, several other non-profit organizations supp ort the program at sites located throughout the City.

The San Francisco Center f or Psychoanalysis provides mental health services to the people of the San Francisco Bay Area. Psychoanalysts are experienced mental health professionals, already possessing advanced degrees (MD’s, PhD’s or MSW’s), who have undergone extensive psychoanalytic training. SFCP offers extended education programs f or mental health professionals, a broad variety of arts and academic programs f or the general public, access to the largest collection of psychoanalytic publications in the Western United States, and selected service eff orts such as the acclaimed Child Development Program.