“Voices from the Field” Interview with Dawn Yazzie, an Early Childhood Mental Health Consultant on the Navajo Reservation

Dawn A. Yazzie

Dawn A. Yazzie is a part-time Early Childhood Mental Health Consultant (ECMHC) on the Navajo reservation in Arizona; and also a Technical Assistance Specialist with the Center of Excellence for Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation. Dawn has experience in providing mental health consultation to early care and education centers, and home visitors on the Navajo reservation. Dawn also provides presentations on her work as an ECMHC on the Navajo Nation. Dawn has a Master of Arts degree in Counseling Psychology from Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, AZ. She has also recently earned a certificate from the Harris Institute for Clinical Infant-Toddler Mental Health and Family Practice program.

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Early Childhood Mental Health Consultant, Navajo reservation, AZ

“Voices from the Field” Interview with Kate Roper and Eve Wilder, Massachusetts Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems Project

Eve Wilder and Kate Roper

Eve Wilder and Kate Roper

Kate Roper is the Assistant Director of Early Childhood Services in the Bureau of Family Health and Nutrition at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH). Roper oversees several state and federal grants, including Project LAUNCH and Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems (ECCS) grants, and co-leads the Massachusetts Pyramid Model State Leadership Team. Roper has been in the field of early childhood education since 1978 as an infant teacher, teen parent child care director, trainer, adjunct faculty member, and independent consultant and curriculum developer.

Eve Wilder is the ECCS Coordinator at DPH’s Bureau of Family Health and Nutrition. Wilder has managed early childhood projects at DPH through the state’s ECCS grant for over 7 years. She has worked to strengthen early childhood systems of care in a variety of capacities since 2005, from providing home-based services to young children with autism spectrum disorders, to policy and program development at the Massachusetts legislature and DPH.

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Kate Roper
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Assistant Director of Early Childhood Services, Bureau of Family Health and Nutrition, MA Department of Public Health
Eve Wilder
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Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems Coordinator, Bureau of Family Health and Nutrition, MA Department of Public Health

“Voices from the Field” Interview with Nancy Thompson and Janine Figiel

Nancy Thompson and Janine Figiel from Jolly Toddlers

Nancy Thompson and Janine Figiel from Jolly Toddlers

Nancy Thompson
Nancy is the owner and director of Jolly Toddlers, a thriving high-quality early education center. She opened this child care center in 1984 to meet the needs of local families looking for high-quality care. Nancy graduated from Fitzgerald-Mercy School of Nursing with a degree in nursing, becoming a registered nurse (RN). Later she attained an undergraduate degree in early childhood and elementary education, as well as a master’s degree in counseling from Gwynedd Mercy College. Nancy is the proud mother of four children, and grandmother to six beautiful grandchildren.
Janine Figiel
Janine is the Jolly Toddlers assistant director and the center’s facilitator of the Pyramid Model/PBIS. Janine graduated from Seton Hall University with a bachelor’s degree in psychology. After college, Janine worked as a human resource manager in her family’s business while raising her two children. Human interaction and positive reinforcement has always been one of her interests so when Nancy Thompson asked her to help facilitate the Pyramid Model/PBIS pilot program at Jolly Toddlers, she was thrilled. Janine has been at Jolly Toddlers since 2010 and has since received a Child Development Associate (CDA) certificate as well as a director’s diploma in early childhood education.

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