Unburying the Lede

implemented by early childhood specialists to counteract the “trauma tsunami” brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Jennifer Brookland’s article discusses the profound impact the pandemic has had on the mental health of young children, revealing an escalating crisis that Michigan childcare workers were ill-prepared for.

The nation is now turning its attention toward the issues Starr Commonwealth and its partners were warning of in the early days of COVID-19.

Jennifer Brookland, author of the poignant article, “Michigan child care workers were unprepared for kids’ post-pandemic mental health crisis”, discussing the mental health crisis in children due to the COVID-19 pandemic, recently appeared on Starr Commonwealth’s series, “Mental Health Matters.” The series is dedicated to fostering a community-oriented approach to address the burgeoning childhood mental health crisis.

Alongside Brookland were Dr. Caelan Soma, Chief Clinical Officer at Starr Commonwealth; Angela Tucker, an Early On Service Coordinator, Early Interventionist, and Occupational Therapist from St. Clair County RESA; Tracee Blake, a Special Education Teacher Consultant and Early Interventionist also from St. Clair County RESA; and Joe Zima, the 2022 Stand Tall Award Honoree and a Behavior Specialist & Professional Development Coordinator at St. Clair County RESA. Their conversation centered on the revelations from Brookland’s article and the strategies

Despite the nation’s efforts to “return to normal”, kids have displayed increasing levels of aggression, crying, and lack of focus, indicating mental health issues exacerbated by the pandemic. The article asserts that childcare centers, already dealing with staff shortages and low wages, are now overwhelmed by these heightened behavioral challenges. Furthermore, it highlights the critical importance of stable caregiver-child relationships and the potential of play therapy as mitigating factors, while stressing the necessity for better resources, training, and funding to address both the children’s and the caregivers’ mental health needs.

Read Jennifer Brookland’s article “Michigan child care workers were unprepared for kids’ postpandemic mental health crisis” at the Detroit Free Press or USA Today.

“[Many] of these childcare providers I was speaking with were talking about the effect of COVID-19 and the changes that they were seeing post-COVID. But what they also told me was that this was not something that was created by the pandemic. Young children have had mental health issues and emotional struggles well-preceding the pandemic. They’ve been exacerbated by the pandemic, coupled with the fact that their providers are under stress—their parents are under stress. So, it’s kind of a perfect storm of factors playing into the sort of acute environment where these kids are struggling and they don’t have the support that they need. Their parents don’t have the support they need, and their childcare providers don’t have what they need to address it.”

- Jennifer Brookland