Behavioral Health Initiative Webinars

Find essential information about our upcoming and past webinars.

Learn how you can participate in an upcoming webinar related to OEC’s Behavioral Health Initiative — or review materials from previous sessions, including video recordings and supplementary materials.

Upcoming webinar

Please join the Office of Early Childhood, Behavioral Health Initiatives’ upcoming webinar: Showing up or showing out? How professional learning promotes self-awareness and improves how one gives to others.

Whether one supports the growth and development of children from a home, center, school, or in the community, educators are constantly giving to others in multitude of ways. In support of children’s healthy growth and development, it is important to be self-aware of how one “shows up” and gives to others. Are you showing-up positively present in the moment? Or are you showing-out because you have a multitude of distractions competing for your attention? This month’s webinar focuses on how Professional Learning is a process that promotes self-awareness and improves practices supporting children’s healthy growth and development. This webinar will highlight the value of participating in professional learning opportunities, both for the individual and program growth. Professional learning not only benefits one’s personal well-being and growth, but also benefits the early childhood profession as a whole.

The session will include:
*Opening Keynote Speaker: Louise Evans, Founder and Director of The 5 Chairs project, Behavioral Coach, Corporate Trainer and Facilitator, Speaker, and Author
*Engaging Panel Discussion

Date: Monday, January 27, 2025
Time: 1:00-2:30 PM
Register Here

Past webinars

There’s No Place Like Home: Supporting families experiencing housing insecurity and its impact on young children. (October 31, 2024)

Watch a video of OEC’s There’s No Place Like Home webinar on YouTube.

In this webinar, we explored the reality of insecure housing and homelessness and how its existence does not discriminate by age, race, creed or zip code. We shared information about available resources and supports serving Connecticut’s children and families.

This session included:

• Opening Keynote from Sarah Fox, CEO of Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness
• An important message from Anne Giordano, Early Care Specialist at EdAdvance.
• An engaging panel discussion

A Path Forward: Creating a Climate that Promotes Success for All (September 26, 2024)

Watch a video of OEC’s A Path Forward webinar on YouTube.

In this webinar, we focused on creating environments where all children and adults can reach their full potential. All children have the right to learn and be supported by a village believing in their potential to learn. This webinar included strategies for promoting positive, enriching, and culturally aware environments. We shared information about services that are available when providers and families face challenges and need support. Topics included how to:

• Create a climate for continuous learning and growth for adults and children
• Promote social and emotional wellbeing
• Encourage all children to succeed

This session included:

• Opening Keynote from Donzaleigh Abernathy, actress, author, and civil rights activist
• Special Message from the State Department of Education
• Engaging Panel Discussion

Balancing Fun with Fund$: Creating enjoyable experiences on a budget (June 27, 2024)

Watch a video of OEC’s Balancing Fun with Fund$ webinar on YouTube.

This webinar highlighted the importance of quality over quantity when creating fun activities for children. Speakers and panel members talked about how to create long-lasting, fun-filled experiences that come at no cost at all!   

This session included:

• Welcome remarks from the commissioners of OEC and the Department of Social Services
• Opening keynote speaker Judy Casperson (from Casperson Consulting)
• Engaging panel discussion
• Closing message from the Commissioner of the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, Katie Dykes

The Air We All Breathe: The Essence of Mental Health and How We All Have a Connection to It (May 30, 2024)

Watch a video of OEC’s Air We All Breathe webinar on YouTube.

In this webinar, we brought attention to the importance of mental health, as it relates to everyone — regardless of race, ethnicity, identity, socio-economic status, religion, ability, or educational background. We also focused on:

• The importance of self-care
• Modeling healthy behaviors for the children we care for
• Destigmatizing mental health and illness

 This session included:

• Opening Keynote Speaker Representative Kai Belton
• Engaging panel discussion
• Closing message from Commissioner Jodi Hill-Lilly from the CT Department of Children and Families

Do You Hear Me? Do You See Me? Do You Care? Giving Voice to Black Women’s Health and Maternal Health Care (April 23, 2024)

Watch a video of OEC’s most recent webinar on YouTube.

This webinar focused on the importance of equitable health care for women — and especially on improving access for Black and Brown women. They face greater health challenges and worse outcomes during childbirth. We wanted to highlight this issue during April, which is Minority Health Month. The session included:

• Opening Keynote Speaker: Ayesha Clarke, Executive Director of Health Equity Solutions
• Engaging panel discussion
• Closing Message Speaker: SciHonor Devotion from Earth’s Natural Touch: Birth Care and Beyond

Women in Business: A Reflection of the Past and a Look Ahead (March 19, 2024)

Watch a video of the Women in Business webinar on YouTube

This webinar hosted by OEC focused on how legislation has helped shape the women’s entrepreneurial movement. Women, and particularly women of color, are the backbone of the childcare industry and are key drivers of economic growth. In this webinar, childcare providers shared their journey as entrepreneurs and small business owners, including the lessons they learned and the resources they used along the way. Regardless of your path, this webinar will get you thinking about the ways you can be a force in your community — and remind you that you’re not alone.

The session included:

• Opening message Fran Pastore, Founder & CEO, Women’s Business Development Council
• Engaging panel discussion to discuss their journey as entrepreneurs and small business owners
• Closing message from Louise Lisboa, Women’s Business Development Council

Nurturing the Nurturer: A Guide to Parental Self-Care (February 27, 2024)

This webinar hosted by OEC focused on personal development for parents and caregivers. The session included:

• Opening remarks from Jo Modeste and Iola Adekale from Align & Elevate Co.
• Engaging panel discussions from parents and caregivers from OEC Parent Cabinet and 2Gen Parent Engagement Workgroup
• Closing remarks from Abdul-Rahmaan I. Muhammad from My People Clinical Services

Professional Learning: YES! It’s for You (January 23, 2024)

Watch the video on YouTube

This webinar hosted by OEC focused on how professional learning experiences can benefit your personal well-being and growth — and help you become the early childhood professional you wish to be, no matter what role you play. This session included:

• Opening remarks from Deborah Adams PhD, Education Consultant, OEC
• Engaging panel discussion to share strategies for finding professional learning opportunities
• Closing remarks from Janet Humphyres, MA, Dynamic Coaching Systems

A Place to Call Home: Addressing Housing Instability — Supporting Young Children and Families in Connecticut (October 31, 2023)

This webinar hosted by OEC focused on the impact housing instability has at both a national and state level. Participants were connected to resources and supports that help families experiencing housing instability.

The session included:

• Opening remarks from Barbara Duffield, Executive Director at SchoolHouse Connection
• Panel discussion
• Special message from Elena Trueworthy, Deputy Commissioner of OEC

Taking a Different Path: Supporting Positive Approaches to Addressing Challenging Behaviors in Early Childhood Programs (September 21, 2023).

OEC’s Behavioral Health Initiative hosted a webinar about reducing the use of suspension and expulsion in early childhood programs in Connecticut. The webinar addressed:

• OEC’s new policy statement on exclusionary discipline
• Disparities in populations most impacted
• Resources to help programs adopt a positive approach to supporting social and emotional development