Upcoming Training
Protecting Your Mental Well-Being: Self-Care Leadership Training for Early Childhood Professionals
November 12, 2026, 6:30 - 9:30 pm
Join Erin Gasim, KCHD Early Childhood Mental Health Consultant, for a free, virtual and interactive trainings on how healthy boundaries and clear communication strengthen leadership and support self-care.
Leadership is not defined by a title, it is demonstrated through our actions, choices, and the way we show up every day. Every employee is a leader, regardless of position/title, and recognizing this requires us to move beyond traditional societal hierarchies and embrace our ability to positively interact with others.
Did you know that setting boundaries and communicating clear expectations are critical to building trust, fostering accountability, and creating sustainable success? These essential leadership practices not only strengthen teams and relationships but also serve as powerful forms of self-care.
This training is designed to motivate and empower participants to develop these foundational leadership skills while recognizing that protecting their time, energy, and well-being is essential for long-term effectiveness. Participants will gain practical strategies to lead with confidence, communicate with clarity, establish healthy boundaries, and build stronger and healthier relationships in every area of their lives.
This session is open to all early childhood professionals, including those who work in home-based childcare / daycare programs and childcare centers. You do not need to hold a specific title or position to attend. Everyone working in early childhood is welcome.
Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation Training Menu
The Kane County Health Department provides training at no charge to child care providers who have Gateway numbers and are based in Kane, DuPage County, or Lake Counties. Gateways CEUs for child care providers are available. Contact our early childhood mental health consultants to schedule a training:
- Susan Mrazek, PhD, I/ECMH-C: 630-426-9113 (Kane and DuPage)
- Shannon Keating, MS: 224-363-1515 (Kane and DuPage)
- Erin Gasim, MAAT, 630-538-2117 (Lake)
SE Skill Building
Critical Steps to Address Challenging Behaviors in Your Classroom: Be Calm, Be Confident, Be Okay With Feelings
This training will provide information about what typical social-emotional development looks like as well as how you can more effectively build social – emotional skills in the children you care for.
Social Emotional Skill Development Post COVID: Are Children Behind
In this training, we will discuss what participants have been noticing about children's social emotional development and health since returning to care post COVID19 and review research that supports a delay in these areas.
Letting Go of the Sticker Chart: Why Reward Systems Don't Work in Teaching Social-Emotional Skills
Decades of research has revealed the ineffectiveness of reward systems in teaching social emotional skills as well as the detriment they do to intrinsic motivation. Participants will learn why this perspective has become so culturally ingrained as well as explore the fears around letting go of these systems.
Child Development and Realistic Expectations
This training dives into understanding typical and atypical development for children at each stage between 0-5 years old and how to create realistic expectations for each child and ourselves.
Relationship Building & Communication
Building Perspective: Exploring Your Team's Values and Whys
This training aims to engage educators in a discussion about their professional passions and meaningfulness of their work. By locating our “why" and sharing it with colleagues, stronger relationships and compassion for one another can be built.
Having Hard Conversations: Rely on Relationships, Be Uncomfortable, and Do It Anyway
This training discusses the strengths and challenges of having hard conversations. Administrators, educators, and parents are all critical adults in the early childhood environment who need to be able to confidently address challenging topics together.
Positive Interacts; How Connection can Help Behavior Management
This training looks at the impact of positive to negative interactions on children's development and how that impacts their daily behaviors. It offers techniques to teachers for managing behaviors in the classroom.
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB)
Talking to Young Children About Race: Being “Colorblind" Is Not the Answer
This training addresses the common misconceptions around talking with young children about race. Studies have shown that White parents often communicate to their children that “race doesn't matter." However, children of color learn very early on that race does matter in life.
Bridging the Culture Gap: Understanding the Diversity of Children, Families, and Staff
This training focuses on the diversity of perspectives, worldviews, and communication styles that exist in unique cultures. Come ready to learn about the diverse ways that people understand, interact, and behave with one another.
Special Needs
Including Everyone: Providing Supports for Children with Special Needs
In this training participants will learn and discuss the myths around classroom inclusion and explore some ways to better connect and learn alongside young children with unique needs.
Is it Sensory or Behavior? Understanding and Building Supports for Sensory Processing Needs in Your Learning Environment
We all have sensory needs and can feel uncomfortable when we are overwhelmed in our senses, as well as feel lethargic when there is not enough stimulation. This training can help to identify your own sensory needs as well as those of children in your care.
