Social/Emotional Interventions for Young Children (SecurePath) is a comprehensive mental health service for young children in Wake County that is provided at the child’s home or preschool. Staff offers mental health assessments, interventions, and therapy for children ages birth to 5 and their parents who need help with their child’s social, emotional, or developmental challenges. Services are provided in English and Spanish. SecurePath works to ensure that emotionally at-risk young children with special needs have early intervention services to better prepare them for success in school and life. Services are provided free-of-charge to children age five and younger who have not yet started kindergarten. SecurePath focuses its resources on children and families who do not have insurance coverage or are receiving Medicaid.
STORY OF IMPACT
When Behavior Shuts Down Social Outings, Lucy Daniels Empowers a Child and His Family with a Promising New Path
Imagine being the Mom of a young boy, and giving up on social outings because your son’s behavior made the experience exhausting and frustrating. Or equally hard – having your son’s child care center tell you your child is too hard to manage and they may not be able to provide his care anymore. That’s what happened to Matthew’s* Mom, who called SecurePath for help. SecurePath is a comprehensive mental health program that helps young children and their parents work through emotional, behavioral, and developmental concerns. The program offers its unique support to families with lower incomes. SecurePath worked with Matthew in his everyday settings – with his mother at home and teachers at school – to help him maintain his normal routines and interactions.
SecurePath staff worked with Matthew and his Mom on strategies to bring balance and control back into their lives. Matthew learned how to better express his feelings with less frustration and aggression. Teachers and Matthew’s Mom were given support on ways to consistently manage Matthew’s behavior so that he could stay in the classroom. And most importantly, Matthew is thriving in social settings like parks, playgroups and in class with his peers. He has learned how to cooperatively live in the world around him, giving him the important skills he needs to go further in school and in life.
*name changed for privacy purposes
MANAGING AGENCY
SecurePath is funded by Wake County Smart Start and managed by the Lucy Daniels Center for Early Childhood. The nonprofit Lucy Daniels Center helps children grow emotionally from the inside out to achieve change that lasts. The Center is the largest regional provider of mental health services for children from birth to age 12, the time of life when the most effective interventions are possible.
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