Southwest Human Development is holding their inaugural “Birth to Five Helpline Awareness Week”
Oct. 11, 2021
Southwest Human Development is a nonprofit focused on early childhood development, and starting today they’re hosting a “Birth to Five Helpline Awareness Week.” It’s an effort to provide resources to parents and caregivers with questions about childhood concerns. Jake Adams is the Chief Development Officer at Southwest Human Development.
“The organization I work for is Arizona and probably the nation’s largest early childhood development nonprofit focused on young kids age 0-5. So you want to think babies, toddlers, and pre-schoolers,” Adams said.
He continued that, “one of our featured programs is our “Birth to Five Helpline” and this is a program that is really universally available to any parent or caregiver in the State of Arizona who has a child between the ages of 0-5. And what parent doesn’t have a question about their young child?”
Questions that are often heard within the helpline are about potty training, challenging behaviors, and other questions.
People can speak with a specialist about these questions. These are experts that have a wide variety of backgrounds including nursing, childcare, high quality pre-school, etc.
“A lot of the staff from of the Birth to Five helpline have come from various programs that we have here at Southwest Human Development, which we have 40, so we have a lot of folks to select from but we really look for people who have a lot of experience, a varied experience, and that educational background,” Adams said.
The program is run by a doctoral-level, early childhood mental health specialist as well as a masters-level education specialist.
Adams said these people are here to really think with the parents on how to help them and their child.
The helpline has been around since 2005. If you have any questions regarding your child who is between the age of 0-5 , you can call, “1-877-705-KIDS” for help from a specialist.