Step 2: Build a Strong Multidisciplinary Planning Team

You will need to identify a team to participate in planning. Ideally, the team should include:

1. Yourself as the administrator.
2. Your mental health services or disabilities manager.
3. Representatives from your teaching staff.
4. Representatives from other direct service staff who are interested in working on mental health planning (this could include family advocates, home visitors, bus drivers, kitchen staff, etc. — remember, mental health is everybody’s job!).
5. Family representatives from your Policy Council or other interested families.
6. A community member from your Health and Mental Health Services Advisory Committee (HMHSAC).

An effective planning team usually includes no more than eight individuals. Someone who has strong facilitation skills and is familiar with strategic planning before should agree to act as the team facilitator.

You may want to include a mental health consultant in this process. However, be aware that the group may identify weaknesses in your current consultation arrangements, or even dissatisfaction with the consultant. If you have a strong relationship with a consultant who is open to feedback and input about their role in the program, you can include this person in the planning process.

Activity: Who's on Your Team?

Make a list of the people you will invite to be part of your mental health strategic planning process. This may include:

• Mental health or disabilities manager
• Teaching staff
• Family service staff
• Other direct service staff
• Family member
• Community member
• Mental health consultant
• Anyone else?

It is important that the members of the planning team understand and value a multidisciplinary approach to mental health services. Planning team members should be familiar with the best practices in MHC. We recommend that before the meeting, team members review the key ingredients of effective MHC in Tutorial 3: The Effective Mental Health Consultant on the Center for Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation (CECMHC) website. Another good resource for general early childhood mental health services in Head Start programs is What Works: A Study of Effective Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation Programs. 

You will want to spend some time at the first meeting developing a shared definition of “mental health” as it applies to your early childhood setting. The discussion should also address the importance of support for child, family, and staff mental health through a program-wide approach.

Last Updated: August 6, 2025