Changing an entire community’s future begins with changing a single family’s life.
That’s the vitally important work Family Development Services Director Pam Mortensen and her team do in Butler County every day through programs like Parent Education Classes, The Parent Project®, and Early Childhood Mental Health (ECMH) consultation.
These programs are public/private partnerships which represent Butler County’s community investment in helping families and parents prosper. Transformation in this community stems from public support, local community foundation investments, as well as Catholic Charities own fundraising which enable us to empower people and help families thrive. This exemplifies how a community can transform its safety net to promote the lives and dignity of its residents.
Parent Education Classes teach mothers and fathers to parent more effectively. The classes help parents increase their knowledge of child development, build appropriate discipline skills, and improve their relationships with their children.
The Parent Project® addresses behavioral and mental health challenges in children and teens and provides parents with strategies to foster positive connections with their kids.
And ECMH consultation gives children from birth to six the skills they need to process their feelings, develop empathy, regulate their emotions, and build strong relationships.
“As a community, it’s smart for us to ensure we’re protecting children while they’re young so they can have a better chance of being successful in school and life,” Pam says. “These children are our neighbors. These children are our future workforce. We can get them better-equipped to have loving, respectful relationships — the real basics.”
Reaching children and families early is critical, Pam explains. Research has shown that when a child is expelled from preschool because of behavior, “they’re potentially in a pipeline to prison.” “You don’t want the 25-year-old who’s punching their coworker,” Pam says.
“You don’t want someone to react the same way at 23 that they did when they were three because their brain hasn’t learned to calm itself.”
By working in childcare settings, Pam’s team extends its reach to thousands of children in the community. When a struggling child begins to thrive, her peers feel less anxiety, her teachers can spread their attention to more children, and the entire class can learn, play, and grow without disruption. Life at home improves for the child and her family, as well.
“The intervention of ECMH consultation to support children, their teachers, and their parents strengthens the whole system,” Pam says. “Children are very resilient. We’re the helping hands to get them through. And each one of them is worth it.”
*Name changed for privacy