Mindful Emotion Coaching and Early Years

Mindful Emotion Coaching and Early Years from EHCAP on Vimeo.

Dr Sarah Temple is supported by EHCAP Ltd to devise an innovative approach to emotion intelligence and wellness appropriate for Early Years settings.

The approach is based on the extensive evidence base and practical learning materials created by Center on the Developing Child, Harvard University. Sign Up to join EHCAP's Learning Community  and find out more about the work Sarah is leading, the thinking behind it and how you could do something similar in your community.

Healthy development in the early years provides the building blocks for educational achievement, economic productivity, responsible citizenship, strong communities, and successful parenting of the next generation. From brain architecture to toxic stress to serve and return, The Brain Architects, a new podcast from the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, explores what we can do during this incredibly important period.. 

EHCAP looks for evidence based metaphors that enable change - the model of positive, tolerable, toxic stress where toxic stress disrupts the developing brain and other biological systems with lifelong consequences for learning, behaviour and health (more likely to have heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, addiction) is an example of this. We know from the science that the laying down of brain architecture is particularly affected by toxic stress in pregnancy and the first couple of years of life and that this brain architectural difference leads to difficulties with emotion regulation and executive function.

The psycho education tool Mindful Emotion Coaching builds core life skills in insight, empathy and emotion intelligence. In Early Years settings we are building these core skills in parents and carers of children who the Early Years team have identified as having social communication difficulties. This is an approach in which effects of intergenerational adversity are addressed with a Wellness Plan for care givers as part of preparation for school (often called school readiness). It is a conscious move away from the ‘identify and treat’ model into normalising conversations about the effects of toxic stress and building skills and capabilities.