Spotlight on Sunrise Children's Foundation
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Good morning Las Vegas. This is Dr. David jenis, clinical director at great minds counseling and Wellness Center in Las Vegas. And it's where I am. I'm guest hosting on behalf of Zondra poll art. And I have a great oh, what I think is a great show for all of you this morning. I have on the line with me today Brittany Lowry who is the marketing coordinator for sunrise Children's Foundation. Hi, Brittany, Good morning.
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Hello, Dr. Z. Thank you so much for having me. I'm delighted to have you on the show this morning. And to share with our listeners all about sunrise Children's Foundation, and what you do for our families and our community here in the city of Las Vegas. So Brittany, if you don't mind, I'm just gonna jump right in. And if you can just just tell our listeners, you know what sunrise Children's Foundation is and and and what you guys do?
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Absolutely. So since 1995, when rice Children's Foundation has been helping children fulfill their potential a safe, healthy and educational lives providing low cost and accessible childcare for children's ages newborn to five years old. So we've been around a long time really fostering and
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cultivating just young children of the of the area. So So sunrise Children's Foundation, though, has a warm space for me in my heart. And I share that because as part of my clinical training.
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I'm a birth to five specialists. So post doctoral education and training, I had the opportunity to complete a two year post doctorate certification and infant and family clinical practice at the Harris infant mental health agency Institute in Phoenix, Arizona.
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And so I've had the privilege of working with a lot of families supporting young children between birth to five and long the trajectory of my training and my clinical work working with this specific population, I've had the opportunity to present at the Michigan infant mental health biennial conference, and Michigan is one of the leaders and birth of five work clinically. So you know, I've trained probably about 100 clinicians at that time on the DC Zero to Three R, which is our Diagnostic Statistical Manual that clinicians use and understanding, interpreting, assessing, making sense out of presentation of little ones so that we can better
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identify how to meet the needs of birth to five age children and their families. So
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so here we are, you know, talking about and spotlighting,
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you know, on this very important topic that I think sometimes gets overlooked is, is the needs of our young ones. So, you and I got connected through a mutual colleague and friend, Tiffany Alston, who I know is the Director of Programs at sunrise. And so can you speak to a little bit more about the different programs that you offer at sunrise and how,
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you know, listeners if they identify a need and that if they maybe know a neighbor or they might have a family member themself, you know what would be the process for them to get
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connected to sunrise.
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Absolutely. So as you said, we have individuals like Sidney Olsen has been a part of the organization for a number of years, even as an individual receiving services for her family, who is now a key part of our operation. But in all, we we really offer our services through multiple child development locations, nearly 10 centers across the Clark County area, like I mentioned, offering little to no calls for childcare. But through that, we offer three main programs, the early headstart program, which offers comprehensive Child Development and Family Support Services for those underserved populations, as well as weight, which you may know is Women, Infants and Children, which really safeguards the health of low income women, infants and children, but also hippy which is our home visiting program, where these are parents that want to be their children's first educators. And we provide support and resources for those individuals. So like you're saying those pregnant those prime years of zero to five, they're able to really, you know, take tone on what their children are exposed to in their development overall. And so in all, what we allow for what we would like for people to do is not only for our website, but really just really come explore what services that we can offer. Because as you said, you know, we think that zero to five is not that big of a deal. But those are the really core years where they get really the Foundations of Education and really liked Gildan all Yeah, absolutely. So what was what was that term, Brittany, that that, for your program of the parents that are going in as educators into the homes and meeting with other parents, what's the name of that program,
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it's called the hippy program, H I P p y, and that is the home visiting early intervention program. Okay, so I love that role so much. Because you you have these parents that have or come with this lived experience and having navigated services and the system with their own children and families, being able to draw upon that practical expertise, and sharing that with other parents. But what I heard though, Brittany, I am is is that these parents can really foster hope, and get how're these other parents at and I think giving them just maybe, I don't know, if it's a sense of relief, but letting them know that it's gonna be alright, you know, think things will come together, and that your child will have the opportunity to grow development, developmentally, emotionally, cognitively. So, so I love that program so much and and so these roles that kind of fall within the peer support, role, the mentoring role,
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they come with such
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significance in regards to just the impact that they have in individuals lives. And you can tell I'm getting really excited talking about this, Brittany, because I've just over the course of 24 years working as a therapist, have seen this really good outcomes from having these team members involved within the clinical team, working with the children and their families. And so, you know, I love the fact that sunrise Children's Foundation, you know, offers this because I really feel like sometimes, you know, it's these peer support roles, where
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parents guardians
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are impacted the most, and that they build rapport faster with that role versus sometimes with a clinical team member such as myself. Because, yeah, the roles are just just different. And sometimes due to licensing boundaries, ethical stuff, you know, we present ourselves a little differently. And, you know, so So having having these peer educator roles really can help I think decreased barriers for family members to access treatment and some
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times two, I think, you know, mental health, especially, you know, when we're we're talking about these beautiful little people from birth age birth to five. And then we have all these hopes and these dreams for our children. And then somebody brings to our attention that our child developmentally is a little bit behind their, their age level. And and then it brings up these fears and concerns. And
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you know, it can it can really do a lot negative negatively in terms of impacting a parent's mental health, and how they think about their child. And that also impacts the relationship.
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Right? Absolutely. And like your, you know, we, when you're kind of working with underserved communities, like you're saying, you know, it really does deal with access to opportunities, or resources and all. And so what we try to do, as you mentioned, is break those barriers, when you know, what you need, it's been better where your kids where you can ask for what you need, right. And so from there, we really like to partner with
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organizations within the community to give those resources to individuals that may need that extra support. So they don't kind of sit down and like you say, become hermits, and not be an active citizen of their community. And once we have that peer support, as you're mentioning, you know, we can really build that village around those children so that even at a very young age, they're able to develop in such a whole way. So by the time they get to those other development years, they're not behind, or anything like that, and not just educationally but socially in any of that. So, yes, I believe that we really do offer a well rounded program that not only supports the children, but also the development of the parents. And even in our hiring processes. We really like to hire parents, because they are the first responders right to children, right? They understand more than anyone, what their children may need. And they have that empathy already built in where they're able to serve children without really any cap. So yes, I do agree with everything that you're saying, well, and I've had the privilege of touring several of your facilities, and I like all of them.
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They, they all kind of have their own personality, which may be due to, you know, the managers that are that are overseeing each one of those locations. And, and I just think that each location is distinctive, though, to
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moving children forward, and having skill building opportunities, where developmentally, cognitively and emotionally throughout the time, the day that they're there for, they're having opportunities to learn the skills that they need in order to move towards hopefully being age level.
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Absolutely. And so I love I caught a word that you said, Brittany, and you use the word emotion, emotional development. And so that's a language that I speak
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very well, because I, in my role, have supported little people in learning how to emotionally regulate. So I'll oftentimes, it's not unusual, where those little people that would be referred to me have some struggle with emotional regulation. And these little people sometimes throw their toys, they may kick be a little physically aggressive,
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they may bite
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and that, that their ability just to maintain distress is not present. And and so you know, one of the key areas that I believe at sunrise Children's Foundation due to all the resources and how you pull together, what you provide to our community lends a hand to helping these little people learn how to emotionally regulate and, and so you know, this is this is a language that you and I speak. But I am not convinced, though, that it's a language that is taught in school environments.
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And unless we work
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In the field, I'm willing to say this is not a dinner table conversation. Absolutely, I definitely agree as an etiquette professional myself, as you mentioned, these are not things that are taught every day in depending on the situation, or really the upbringing of the parents themselves, they may not be getting taught these emotional traits at home, right. And so it's kind of like the golden rules of flight, having that emotional intelligence, having them to understand and be able to filter and decide how to manage their emotions. So we think that children are not as smart as they are, but they are very much absorbing what they're being taught. And so I think, as you're saying, even the emotional part of it, you know, they're able to even teach, you know, as a child shall lead them, they're able to teach even adults are their parents on how to manage right, their emotions, and even the atmosphere they're in. So, I agree, I think that we're doing really, really good work in building that foundation, that not only affects the child, but even whoever, whomever they're around, so.
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Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, our children sometimes are our greatest teachers. Absolutely. And,
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yeah, I and, and so I continue to, as a therapist working in the field now for 24 years, you know, and as a parent, myself, my kids are now young adults,
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I really work hard at remaining open, and willing to listen and remain curious. So that I can kind of get an idea of what's going on with, with those that I'm providing clinical services to, or even with my own kids, and being able to
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be present emotionally, so, so working towards having emotional attunement. So that I can be present with with,
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you know, not just the little people, but with the parents as well, because there's, there's this kind of this, this parallel process that's happening, where maybe it's the child that, you know, the the referral came in, for, however, we're not just working with the child, though, because children don't exist in a vacuum, we're working with the whole family system. And, yeah, so really helping the parents to maybe learn something new, that they maybe haven't thought about before. And, and, you know, I know that something that I that I feel, you know, Sunrise Children's Foundation does an excellent job doing is empowering parents to feel positive, about the whole experience. And, and so, so, I don't know everything about parenting, and I'm going to infer that, you know, other parents feel the same way that they don't know everything, either. And, and so when we, when we can feel comfortable, though with each other, where we can build that trust, where we can ask questions, and not feel stupid, because we don't know the answer. And that that takes a certain level of courage, I think and strength to first ask the questions that we might think are dumb, and Right, absolutely. And then to also be open minded, though, to listen, learn, and then maybe do things differently.
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Right? Absolutely. I agree with you. I think what you're saying is that, you know, with our programs, were able to create that, you know, healthy dialogue between all those involved write about how they should foster their children or take care of their children or bring them up. And unfortunately, there is no doctor spot for the modern child or the modern parent, because there are so many economical things taking place at a time and current events. There's always things happening. And so, Mike, you're saying really building that trust, and building that bridge of vulnerability. I feel like we're like you said, I can connect to those quote unquote, dumb questions, things. I feel like I should have known as soon as I gave birth. No, of course not. Of course, you don't know. But let's have a conversation about it. So continuing that dialogue, I think it's very important,
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where they can open up and really just create that space to learn
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and learn from each other, like you're saying, I mean, even as a, as a professional on the other end of the clinical side of their things are still learning right all the time, because there's so many different types of things, you can, you know, different variations of individuals that you can learn about. And so it's an ongoing thing. But I agree that die of that providing these programs creates that dialogue in it kind of a continuum, right? Where it's really the upward mobility that we tried to create, you know, using Tiffany as an example, how she started as a parent, you know, receiving the services, and now she's the director of programs where she's able to, in all kinds of govern and fear some of the directions that a lot of these things go. And so it's really exciting to see, even the development in her process and how it's a testament to what can take place in the community at large, right, parents are given more of the autonomy to have a say, so have the voice and voice to be heard in all, so
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it is, it is going to be, you know, that is so beautiful, Brittany, and you know, clearly I think you can tell Brittany that I'm a sunrise, Children's Foundation, you know, advocate, and I'm,
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and I'm a huge advocate, though, of Tiffany Alston, and she is one of the most intelligent, articulate women in my life. And she's so passionate, though, about just just the organization and our community, and our children and our families. And,
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you know, to see her just rise, if you will, that's the word that comes to mind. Beautiful, yes. makes me believe, though, that that is symbolic, though, of the journey for all your families. And at the same attention, and love and support, you know, is how sunrise Children's Foundation provides services. And, you know, just a thought that I've been kind of holding on to,
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you know, I think, I don't know, if the word you use Britney was, you know, these services initially, are available for families that may come from
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impoverished communities. And, and, you know, how I think about that, though, is that that, that that, like the family system, the family system, though, could it could be any one of us at any time? Absolutely. And whatever level transition, it can mean a lot of things. Absolutely. Yeah, yeah. And so, you know, I share that because,
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you know, part of my story is, you know, there was a time when my oldest child who is now 26, was not making some very good decisions and his life and, you know, I needed support. And one of the most significant team members that was on my child and family team was my parent partner. And similar to your educators, your parent educators,
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you know, this, this parent partner, just understood me what I was going through, and, and listened to me and at a time when I just needed to know our hear that it was gonna be okay. She, she would say that to me, and I would walk away feeling that way. And that I had hope that, you know, right now, it's tough. It's a little stressful or a lot stressful right now, but that things are gonna get better. And absolutely, and so, you know, I want I want stakeholders, I want referral partners, I want parents involved, who are receiving services, to feel good about receiving support, and not being afraid to ask for help. And, and, and that, you know, at sunrise, Children's Foundation, you guys are a classy organization, and that you treat families with respect. And, and, you know, and anybody that I associate with, you know, that's kind of a key cornerstone and my professional relationships with community partners is how clinical services are delivered, and that people are just people. And you know, everybody
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deserves to be treated with dignity and with respect and to have a hand extended when they need a little extra help.
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Absolutely, I love what you said and how, you know, just knowing that someone got it and they were able to express to you that it's going to be okay. And I would say to anyone that is thinking or considering to refer services, or even look into services for themselves that everyone from our Executive Director Dave Sandberg all the way to one of the two news team members myself, we all get it, we all have our stories and our connecting points to the organization where we grew up in really weird or odd situations, parenting situations or became parents and we're just confused. And we're just not sure what to do. And with our standard of service, as you mentioned, we honor people we are making make sure that we are, you know, leaving people with their dignity, because it's not really a hands out, it's more of just a hand, we want to hold your hand through it. Because parenting definitely takes a village children, from the time that they're born, they are absorbing information in the world that we live in, it's very important that we are intentional, right, about how we foster and really teach them and you know, give those the foundation give them the foundation to live a very successful life. Absolutely. And, and, you know, I think this this conversation this morning is is so essential and important because I think it really highlights to the community, to our listeners, to state stakeholders,
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the significance for zero to five services, and for like early intervention, prevention, that these are key cornerstone areas throughout our state that we need to continue to advocate so that money's available so that services are available for our communities for our families to have access to.
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Absolutely so So Okay. Brittany Lowry Marketing Coordinator at sunrise Children's Foundation, how how can anybody in our community again, get in contact with your agency on arise? Children's dot org where you can become a partner where you can also explore services and enroll your children or refer anyone that may need our services. We look forward to adding you a part of our family. Edie apart are just a part of our process, sunrise children.org.
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All right. And do you have a telephone number as well to like a main, just just inquiry number that our community members can call if if needed?
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Absolutely, at any time, you can call us 70226706044 Awesome. And thank you again, Brittany so much for taking time this morning to come on as our guest today.
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This is Dr. David Janis, absolutely clinical director from great minds counseling and Wellness Center. Thank you listeners. Until next time,
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
