Early Years 8 Areas of Focus
The purpose of this paper is to provide professionals, working with infants/young children and their families, with common messages focused on early social-emotional development which contributes to positive mental health and well-being. Download the Social-Emotional Development in the Early Years: A Common Message Paper (2nd Ed.).
A shared understanding of the experiences, resources and protective factors that foster healthy social-emotional development strengthens our collective ability to:
- Provide caregivers with information and resources to promote their infant/young child’s healthy social-emotional development
- Identify when infants/young children would benefit from additional help and support
- Mitigate factors that can negatively impact an infant/young child’s social-emotional development
- Ensure that infants/young children and/or their caregivers are linked to the right people providing the right services at the right time
The 8 areas of focus that promote healthy social-emotional development and their related messages can be used to:
- Increase awareness of the importance of the early years in providing the foundation for mental health and well-being
- Orientate, educate and align a shared understanding of factors that contribute to optimal social-emotional development
- Tailor marketing and/or communication strategies promoting social-emotional well-being
Moving from Knowledge to Practice
The EYMHC has developed a brief overview for each of the eight areas of focus, highlighting learning and talking points as well as linking to specific resources that can be shared with colleagues and/or families.
