Safe Start Spokane is a research project aimed at reducing the exposure of children and families to violence. WSU is one of 10 sites around the nation to receive this grant funding and one of two sites working within early learning. The Safe Start Evaluation Project, overseen by the RAND Corporation and funded by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, seeks to implement a universal response strategy for children exposed to violence by integrating social emotional learning and response to trauma as complementary service strategies in publicly funded early learning programs. WSU has partnered with Spokane Head Start to implement Fostering Resiliency in Early Learning Environments (FREE) training to all staff. WSU has introduced two intervention programs delivered by early learning staff: the Circle of Security (COS) and the Attachment, Self-Regulation, and Competence (ARC) Model. Both models are psychoeducational interventions intended to improve parent adjustment, parent-child relationship, and child development in families. A principal goal of the program is to demonstrate professional development strategies that enhance early learning system capacity to address the needs of trauma exposed children and their families in a sustainable and replicable model of development.
Helpful Links
- Spokane Safe Start Center
- The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) Safe Start Communities
Partners
- Circle of Security
- The Trauma Center at Justice Resource Institute
- Office of Justice Programs- Juvenile Justice
- Office of Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP)
- Rand Corporation
- Community Colleges of Spokane
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