Huddle Up, the leader in supporting children’s growth, development, and mental health, has officially announced a groundbreaking sponsored partnership with Massachusetts Head Start Association. According to certain reports, the stated partnership is geared towards improving the access of comprehensive mental health care for children from low-income families, thus ensuring they receive the support they need for their cognitive, social, and emotional development. Talk about the given value proposition on a slightly deeper level, it packs together a whole assortment of mental health consultations, evaluations, and therapy sessions that will look to treat participating children in Head Start programs across Massachusetts. Next up, we must get into how the partnership will effectively expand IEP support. Here, Huddle Up will support Head Start programs to continue partnerships with public school districts for Individualized Education Program (IEP) services. Such a facility makes it possible for children with special needs to receive the tailored support, support to which they are also legally entitled. Beyond that, these IEP services reach into school psychology, speech pathology, and occupational therapy etc. Then, there is the promise of sponsored outreach to programs for support and resources. In essence, the partnership will allow Huddle Up to sponsor outreach efforts for Head Start programs, and therefore promote the consultations and services available. Not just that, it also enables sponsorship of educational sessions and resources for Huddle Up’s own programs.
“Head Start changed the trajectory of my life by providing me with the support and encouragement I needed at a young age,” said Dr. Colleen Kraft, Board Member at Huddle Up. “Through the collaboration between Huddle Up and the Massachusetts Head Start Association, we can better support the growth, development and mental health of children and adolescents and create even greater opportunities for future generations to succeed and thrive.”
Now, even though it’s already trying to pursue some significant goals, this partnership between Huddle Up and Massachusetts Head Start Association will make a play for something even bigger in the near future. For instance, the organizations will try and increase the supply of qualified mental health providers through apprenticeships and upskilling programs. They will further advocate for policy changes that, on their part, support better mental health services in early childhood education. Another major objective which the organizations will make a push to realize is concerned with developing and implementing new strategies for the integration of mental health support into everyday classroom activities.
But what makes Massachusetts Head Start Association an ideal partner for such an initiative? Well, the answer to that resides in its long-standing tradition of promoting school readiness by enhancing the cognitive, social, and emotional development of children from birth to age five. Backed by Federal authorities, the association’s Head Start and Early Head Start programs support pregnant women and children birth, and they do so through early education and comprehensive services, including health, mental health, nutrition, services for children with disabilities, and family services.
As for Huddle Up, it is known for creating a circle of support around children and adolescents so to transform the care experience and create new levels of engagement and outcomes beyond traditional, in-person offerings. The company’s excellence in what it does can also be understood once you consider that it is currently available in 50 states, where it offers 25 insurance plans to a thousand schools in diverse regions throughout the nation. Thus far, Huddle Up has successfully delivered around 900,000 sessions, all while enjoying a 4.5/5 student star rating and a 96% provider retention rate.
“Many of the children Head Start serves in Massachusetts are on waitlists for mental health services for a long time,” said Michelle Haimowitz, Executive Director at Massachusetts Head Start Association. “Huddle Up gives our programs the opportunity for newfound access to mental health consultations and services across Massachusetts.”