Health, Wellness & Therapeutic Services

By providing early interventions to children with learning disabilities, cognitive delays, and health problems, Bright Beginnings ensures that children enter kindergarten ready to learn. All Bright Beginnings students receive therapeutic and health screenings within 45 days of enrollment. Our therapeutic and health screenings help us develop individualized instructional plans while also providing social service plans. Bright Beginnings’ therapeutic services team includes a clinical psychologist, trauma, physical and occupational therapists, and speech and language pathologists who work with our children, teachers, and parents to provide professional development and training, classroom interventions, and ongoing consultations.

BBI Therapeutic Strategy

  • Maintain a supportive school environment that cultivates and promotes children’s social-emotional health, a positive self-concept, and appropriate social skills.

  • Provide developmental and mental health screenings for all children within 45 days of entry to Bright Beginnings and utilize information from screenings, assessments, and evaluations to individualize the program for each child.

  • Provide therapeutic services on-site to support children’s development.

  • Encourage and support parents’ active participation in addressing their children’s therapeutic needs with frequent consultations and progress reports.

  • Provide ongoing training and professional development for teachers on therapeutic, mental health, disability, and social-emotional challenges.

Healthy Living

Bright Beginnings cultivates healthy families through our Eat Right, Live Well Program, which promotes healthy lifestyles, nutrition, healthy eating on a budget, and increased physical activity. Underresourced families suffer disproportionately from obesity, poor nutrition, and chronic poor health. Bright Beginnings rectifies hunger and poor nutrition by providing daily well-balanced breakfasts, lunches, snacks and dinner for our children.  We build on these nutritionally balanced meals by teaching students the importance of taking care of their bodies, eating well, and getting enough sleep.

 Since healthy parents raise healthy children, Bright Beginnings encourages parents to adopt a healthy lifestyle. Through our supplemental food programs designed to ensure families facing food insecurity have well-balanced, highly nutritious meals, BBI also offers health and wellness workshops, seminars, cooking demonstrations, as well as, grocery store trips with a nutritionist so that families can learn realistic ways to eat healthier and exercise on a limited budget.

Finally, The Eat Right, Live Well Program improves the health and well-being of children and their families through early detection of health concerns and preventative health screenings conducted by BBI’s medical community partners.

 
 
BBI - Web Graphics 1.3.png

Annual Medical Screenings include:

  • Hearing & Vision Screens

  • Medical & Dental Screens

  • Developmental Screenings

 
 

Health Services Advisory Council (HSAC)

The purpose of the Health Services Advisory Council is to support children’s healthy development. The HSAC is an advisory group composed of local health providers who represent a wide variety of local social services agencies. They include pediatricians, nurses, nurse practitioners, dentists, nutritionists, and mental health providers. Staff and parents also serve on the HSAC. Effective partnerships are key to the success of this Health Advisory Council. BBI’s Health Advisory Council meets quarterly to set the goals for the program year and ensure all families have the knowledge, resources and services they need to ensure the health & wellness of the entire family.

Mental Health

Bright Beginnings works individually with families to set and achieve specific mental health goals, and connect them with services as needed.