From the ground up: The role of YK in implementing the science and policy of early childhood development Katherine Harford, Programme Manager , Young Knocknaheeny ABC

Policy Practical implementation of the national policies, Better Outcomes – Brighter Futures: The National Policy Framework for Children and Young People 2014-2020. (DCYA, 2014), Healthy Ireland, (Department of Health, 2013), EU Commission recommendations in Investing in children: Breaking the cycle of disadvantage (2013), WHO recommendations in the European Report on Preventing Child Maltreatment (2013). Aligned to, and compliments, the Tusla Child and Family Agency Prevention, Partnership & Family Support strategy (2015), National Maternity strategy (2016) Nurture HSE Infant Health and Wellbeing Strategy (2016).

National Policy to Practice Area Based Childhood Programme Nurture HSE Infant Health and Wellbeing Quality and Capacity Building Initiative (QCBI) CYPSC Meitheal Better Start Quality Development Service Cork Northwest Quarter Regeneration So how do YK provide an implementation mechanism? Implementation Mechanism

The Young Knocknaheeny Approach Implementation Mechanism What the framework for our approach?

Michigan Association of IMH Collaboration North Cork Infant Mental Health Network Tusla/ Springboard Parents and communities Cork Healthy Cities Scoil Padre Pio HSE Community Work Department Tusla/ School Completion Programme HSE Speech and Language Department Kidscope YK PROGRAMME Hollyhill Library HSE Cork University Maternity Hospital St Mary’s on the Hill National School HSE Primary Care, Child Adolescent and Family Psychology. General Practitioners Archways UCC School of Nursing and Midwifery NICHE **Lead agency St Mary’s on the Hill Crèche Tusla/ North Lee Social Work Department Cork City Council/ City Northwest Regeneration Youthlinks UCC Department of Applied Social Studies ABC programme sites and structures Padre Pio Early Start Hollyhill/ Knocknaheey Family Centre UCC Department of Epidemiology and Public Health More information in our document “preparing for a whole community prevention and early intervention programme Implementation science, building on existing community & services, collective planning, design, resources, implementation: 4 strands of work HSE Public Health Nursing Before 5 Family Centre Sundays Well Girls National School Sundays Well Boys National School Paisti @ No 3 Preschool and Crèche UCC Department of School of Applied Psychology Barnardos Brighter Futures Centre Cork City Childcare Company Tusla North Lee Social Work Dept. Highscope Ireland

Science and Evidence Pre-birth and the first three years of a child's life is critical to their brain development Early relationships are key to a childs’ social and emotional development Financial investment in the early years leads to long term savings Integrated, community based service delivery model, designed around the child and family experience Evidence-based practice with fidelity Continuous upskilling of caregivers Building Workforce Capacity and Environments of Continuous Learning together with Reflective Practice supervision Strengths based Early Intervention and Prevention of the highest quality can improve outcomes for children who experience disadvantage Cherishing all the children equally? 2016 Local area child focused profile Informed ourselves as a consortium, drew on evidence and best practice for implementation and built in research to our programme.

Practice: Direct Service Work Force Capacity building Service Integration Quality Improvement

Direct Service Developing a framework and infrastructure which supports 0-3 years: a critical period of development IMH interdisciplinary Home Visiting programme pre-birth to 3 Babbling Babies universal communication session with parents and 9month baby in conjunction with PHN clinics Groups: preparing for parenthood, communication, education, parenting Building a universal tier which otherwise doesn’t exist, to be preventative before secondary and tertiary services kick in See more about this service in the leaflet in your conference brochure

Workforce Capacity Building 1: Infant Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy Environments of continuous learning: Infant Mental Health 2 day Masterclasses in communities and in-house training, followed by monthly practitioner network meetings. Reflective practice supervision 3: Early Childhood Care and Education Strategy Highscope curriculum training for Crèche and Preschool Staff Montessori 3 day Masterclass Outdoor play 2: Speech Language and Literacy Strategy Delivering Early Years Hanen ‘Learning Language & Loving It’ programme -Delivering Hanen ABC and Beyond to Junior Infant teacher -Provision of oral language development training for Elklan Let’s Talk with your Baby 4: Pro-social Behaviour and Self Regulation Strategy Incredible Years Teacher Classroom Management Training -Incredible Years Basic Parent Leader Programme Training -Incredible Years Whole Classroom Dina Programme Training Only examples, more detail elsewhere.

Ongoing Quality Improvement Baseline data (ECRS, Language Assessments etc) Science, knowledge and best practice for Early Intervention & Prevention Evidence based programmes for parents (coaching model) Evidence based capacity building programmes for practitioners(coaching /reflective practice) Mentoring Whole community

Service Integration Consortium & Service Delivery Partners Whole community approach 4 Interconnected strategies Common language of early childhood development Co-facilitation Kidscope Mainstream service provision of secondments/clinical governance/referral pathways Wrap around for families Cross-Service Implementation groups Cross-service and multidisciplinary training/coaching

Mainstreaming in every YK action National policy alignment National Programme Consortium interagency local service delivery Common understanding and language Shared resources Co-facilitation Wrap around for families CPD for mainstream service providers Co-ordinated implementation processes Alignment and growth from existing best practice Complex but deliberate, right thing to do

Conclusion: I think every C&V sector organisation needs to align with the national and international policy framework it relates to.

Thank you