Strength Based ♥ Heart Centered
The Challenge:
Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) can result in severe emotional and behavioral challenges for young children. Intensive stressors lead to family instability and trauma for thousands of children daily, sometimes resulting in foster placement. Separation from the primary caregiver is the most statistically significant predictor of negative future outcomes like homelessness, incarceration, and substance abuse. ACEs that disrupt attachment relationships between children and their caregivers are a significant predictor of risk for child emotional or behavioral problems. These children are often passed from one placement to another with each transition contributing to their trauma and further escalating behavioral challenges. It is a cycle that often precedes negative lifelong outcomes associated with high ACEs scores. Because of the emotional and behavioral challenges, expulsions from preschools, day care and after school programs and failed foster placements are frequent.
One Solution:
New research suggests that the negative impact of ACEs may be minimized by Positive Childhood Experiences (PCEs). HeartLand Child & Family Services is opening the HeartLand Child Development Center in Del Paso Heights offering a day program for preschoolers with high ACEs scores. A therapeutic milieu will provide PCEs and will encourage positive relationships and consequent attachment with well-trained, trauma-informed childcare staff.
About Us:
HeartLand Child and Family Services has been serving the mental health needs of children and adolescents in Sacramento County for more than forty years. Our three clinics are located in the Del Paso Heights, Arden Arcade and Little Saigon communities. Serving over 1000 children and families annually with our Strength Based ♥ Heart Centered approach, our dedicated staff of professional therapists, behavioral specialists, peer advocates, case managers, psychiatrists, and housing specialists strive to change lives.
"Our strength-based methods may have evolved over time as evidenced-based practices have improved mental health outcomes,” says Jeff Wilkinson, “but our commitment to doing whatever it takes for our community has never wavered. It is every bit as strong as the day we first opened our doors.”
According to a CDC-Kaiser study, Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) have been demonstrated to negatively impact adults, often leading to decreases in overall health, wellbeing, and even lifespan. “Our mission is to be available to children and families who experience traumatic events – to help them cultivate resiliency and wellness and to empower them to meet life challenges with strength and confidence,” says Deborah Hicks, LCSW, Director of Employee and Community Development. “We’re here to lessen the lasting effects of adverse childhood experiences on those we serve.”
Stigma surrounding issues of mental health remains a problem in the region. “We’ve found a reluctance to ask for assistance,” says Todd Palumbo, LMFT, Director of Clinical Services. “One of HeartLand’s main goals is to be a strong advocate to reduce the stigma associated with mental illness so more of those in need will seek out the help they deserve.”
More About the HeartLand Child Development Center
HeartLand Child Development Center (HCDC) will act as a hub bringing together the sum of our community’s behavioral health armamentarium, including Behavioral Specialists, Therapists, Parent Child Interactive Therapy (PCIT) and Parenting Skills Trainers, and Foster Caregiver Coaches. HCDC will maintain lower than average child/staff ratios and will encourage frequent one-on-one “play dates” to promote attachment with childcare staff. Each day will be organized to maximize Positive Childhood Experiences (PCEs), a buffer against ACEs. 
A Behavioral Specialist, with advanced training in trauma-informed care, will be on-site to address behavioral issues in real time. Children meeting medical necessity will be referred to the Mental Health Access Team allowing deployment of additional behavioral health resources on site and in the home. Caregivers (foster and/or biological) will receive individualized coaching informed by staff observations and will be encouraged to participate in trauma focused sessions as warranted.
Youth at highest risk of disrupted attachment and ACEs may continue into HCDC’s afterschool program once they enter primary school. HCDC intends to provide youth an opportunity to disengage according to their needs as independence develops naturally. For those who wish to stay with HCDC through their teens, volunteerism, advocacy, and childcare employment training will become part of their ongoing curriculum.
One of HCDC’s primary objectives is to counter the disrupted attachment of multiple placements by providing youth with positive alternative relationships and a stable routine in their otherwise turbulent lives. Our “Doing Whatever It Takes” culture ensures that we never give up.
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