In times of stress and overwhelm, we are often reminded to engage in “self-care.” But what happens when our nervous systems are simply unable to keep up or slow down enough to respond effectively?

It’s futile to think that “self-care” strategies alone are what will keep ourselves, our staff, and our colleagues thriving and well. These are simply one small part of a bigger picture. We must adapt our interactions, reshape our environments, and adjust our systems towards becoming “Stress-Responsive, Trauma-Informed, and Staff-Resilient”. The MCH Workforce Development team is committed to sharing tools, ideas, and resources at both the interpersonal and systems levels. For purposes of this article, however, we are choosing to prioritize you and will focus on what we as individuals have the most influence over - our “selves.”  

Though this too, is “yet another article,” we hope in reading it and engaging in the practices linked, you create an intentional moment for yourself, to pause, learn, and reflect, understanding why these moments are critical for our learning, and our ability to remain productive and engaged. Some of the practices may feel uncomfortable. But before you skip over or turn away, we would like you to know that they come from a deep care for your well-being. Not only have we felt overwhelmed ourselves, we also have listened and heard your own experiences with feelings of overwhelm and burnout. As a result, we hope you choose to take a step into that discomfort and give yourself this gift.  

You too are probably reading this on the go or in between meetings, so before we dive into the content we linked to below, we would like you to click on the following link and give yourself a moment (literally 1 minute and 38 seconds) of pause. This will help you settle into yourself and your space and give your brain the shift it needs to learn the information that follows.

CPHA Culture of Data - April 7- 8, 2022. Virtual. Registration is now open.

AMCHP 2022 Annual Conference - May 24 - 26, 2022. Completely virtual. Early-bird registration ends April 1.

Institute for Transportation & Development Policy (ITDP) webinar on March 1, 2022 at 9am. Register today. Presenters will discuss the realities of access for babies, toddlers, and caregivers, before exploring how we can improve those realities through the 15-minute neighborhood framework, showcasing best practices and tools from selected cities.

Social Determinants of Health

March 4, 2022 2:00pm

This position will be supporting economic mobility efforts with a focus on outreach and access to tax credits, especially for women of color, immigrants and refugees. The announcement will close February 28, 2022.

Social Justice Connect

Social Justice Connect is a resource hub that publicizes events with a social justice lens. It connects organizations promoting their social justice events to the people who are interested in participating in those events.

The Preschool Development Grant (PDG) Quality Nutrition workgroup is excited to share a new resource with you! The new Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) brochure was developed specifically for child care center providers, with their input, to explain the benefits of participating in CACFP:

Providers can also see how much money they could receive in reimbursements by participating in the program.

Please consider sharing this resource as you interact with licensed child care center providers or those interested in becoming a licensed child care center provider. All non-profit licensed child care center providers are eligible for CACFP. For-profit child care centers are eligible if they have at least 25% of enrolled children or licensed capacity from families at 185% of the federal poverty line or below. Details on this can be found in the brochure. These resources and more are available on the CACFP website.

Explore the Child Opportunity Index mapping tool to understand what children and families are experiencing in your community.

Check the bill tracker for the status of legislation that relates to the MCH population.

Living in Archuleta or La Plata County means some families must drive up to seven hours to access speciality care at Colorado Children's hospital. This has been a barrier in particular for one family who has a child with special health care needs. HCP Care Coordination and Public Health Nurse Karen Maletich felt like there had to be a better way. After many phone calls, discussions, and persistence, Karen helped the family receive approval from Health First Colorado to receive specialty care in Albuquerque, New Mexico, a 4-hour drive away in comparison. Hats off to Karen Maletich in San Juan Basin Public Health for her grit, ingenuity and determination to help one family access care.

-(Approved by SJBPH)

Recently, Health Affairs published a theme issue on racism and health, with an emphasis on structural racism. The racism and health issue not only focuses on the discussion of the topic with the latest scholarship, but includes forward-looking pieces to help shape the future research and policy agenda.

Community members gathered in Saguache, Colorado in the fall of 2021 to celebrate the groundbreaking on a new food bank, greenhouse and garden. The primary goal of this project is to mitigate food insecurity in the community, and the HEART of Saguache / KV resident team helped initiate this project. For more on the Community Partnerships work in Saguache and other places in Colorado, visit https://www.coloradotrust.org.

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Archived MCH Digests

The Title V Maternal and Child Health Program (MCH) works with statewide partners and local public health agency representatives to improve the health of Coloradans using population-based and infrastructure-building strategies. Our mission is to optimize the health and well-being of mothers and children by employing primary prevention and early intervention public health strategies.