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Early relational health integrates science-based and experience-informed ideas, values, and practices which elevate the significance of the earliest attentive, responsive, nurturing, and reciprocal caregiver-child interactions in promoting children’s healthy development and well-being. This report outlines the actionable implications of 10 foundational principles of the early relational health paradigm.
(26 pp)
This guide is meant to be a tool to help the many voices supporting and working on Early Relational Health to speak the same language and spread awareness, spark interest, advocate holistically, and accelerate change.
(39 pp)
The early and foundational relationships that babies and toddlers experience with their parents shape the health and well-being of two generations. This brief highlights opportunities to promote early relational health with policy change and investments, including with existing programs, pandemic funding, and pending legislation in Congress.
(6 pp)
The Early Relational Health Community Mapping Tool allows community leaders to (1) reflect on the ways in which their community currently supports and promotes the development of ERH, and (2) identify action steps to improve and expand upon those efforts. Download an editable version of the tool if you would like to type directly into the document.
(20 pp)
The 12th Willis & Friends livestream explored the concerns from pediatricians, home visitors, child development experts, and parents have had on the impact of mask-wearing on mother-infant relationships.
The 11th Willis & Friends discussed how to view children's growth through healthy outcomes from positive experiences (HOPE). These positive early childhood experiences are important drivers of healthy child development and future adult health and counter adversity, that can come from adverse childhood experiences.
The 10th Willis & Friends brought together two of the three developers of the Early Relational Health Conversation model – Marie-Celeste Condon, PhD, and Dominique Charlot-Swilley, PhD. They described their experiences in researching African American families’ experiences with the ERH screening and the emergence of ERH Conversations, a family and culture-centered model for ERH-focused visits in pediatric care settings.
The 9th edition of the Willis & Friends series explored the attachment infants and young children have to toys. Speakers examined preliminary findings from infant-parent research, lived experiences, and the shared emotional experiences from within the Latinx, Asian, and Black communities.
In the first session, David Willis, MD, Senior Fellow at the Center for the Study of Social Policy, is in conversation with MaryEtta Callier-Wells, Parenting Program Supervisor, Lead Educator and Facilitator at Self Enhancement, Inc., about the principles and framework of Early Relational Health. They discuss why Early Relational Health is essential to child and family well-being and what parents are telling us about the importance of creating and nurturing healthy early relationships.
