VITAL is an effort that works to apply the science of relational health and the importance of supportive relationships for the well-being of children and their families. To spread this knowledge, Sarah Rock, JD, and Rachel Gilgoff, MD, have co-created the VITAL: Relational Health Curriculum, a free online course of six clinical, evidence-based curriculum modules. Sarah Rock, a former child abuse and neglect attorney, now working in prevention and early intervention and as a change designer and implementer for communities, and Rachel Gilgoff, a General Pediatrician, Child Abuse Pediatrician and Integrative Medicine Specialist, have come together to promote a stronger emphasis on social support in the medical clinic and broader network of care. They saw a need for a curriculum that combines the science on social support and emphasizes the need to support communities. VITAL promotes relational health as a protective factor. Rock shared, “What we’re trying to do is integrate the science on social support and foundational relationships. There are so many silos in early childhood, and this is one of our attempts to address that."

VITAL concretely puts into words the latest science on relational health, and shares resources and practical tools to support professionals to help them connect to community and the community network. Informed by the latest research and leading experts in the field of relational health, the VITAL curriculum helps providers learn ways to apply this knowledge to speak to their patients about relational health, explains how to use different options for assessing relational health, and demonstrates how to have strength-based conversations with patients and clients. Importantly, VITAL teaches participants how to use community supports as interventions.

The focus of the curriculum is on pediatric primary providers but is applicable to any practitioner that works with children. The content is intentionally grounded in the science and biology of relationships. Gilgoff highlighted that, “There is biology to relationships. When we are talking about giving another person a hug or a kind supportive gesture, there are neurologic and physiologic responses that happen within all of us. So we wanted to highlight that for everyone who’s interacting with children and providing care, whether you’re a medical provider, social worker, doula, or working in child welfare.”

Throughout the modules participants can expect to learn:

“What’s important about the VITAL program is it puts concrete solutions in the hands of people who can use them, instead of just telling doctors, ‘you need to do more.’ As people are walking in with trauma they have from the pandemic and other pre-existing trauma, we need to give doctors concrete, immediate, and doable solutions. That’s what VITAL does,” explained Rock. See her describe the 3 approaches to considering the relational health of patients in this teaser video: The 3 approaches to considering the relational health of patients.

Going forward, they hope to test and expand the curriculum. In the coming months, they will be seeking to work with providers/residents willing to take the course and provide feedback, as well as partner with clinics to study the curriculum and the stepped care model in clinical practice. They also aspire to connect the curriculum to program and policy implementation. VITAL will continue highlighting the importance of conversations about relational health and giving people concrete tools and strategies to use.

The mission of the National Early Relational Health Initiative 3.0 is to ensure that all infants, young children, and their families benefit from supports and social connections that advance early relational health and its contribution to lifelong well-being and thriving.

The ERH Initiative is one piece of the many activities at CSSP related to young children and their families, from DULCE, to Strengthening Families, to the Early Learning Nation work, to the EC-LINC work, to the development and promotions of anti-racist, family-driven, and effective early childhood policies, programs, and systems.

WRG Foundation