Essex County works to reach troubled children earlier

ELIZABETHTOWN | Using a set of data points, social workers can usually tell which 6-year-olds will be in trouble by age 12. But if the help doesn't arrive until trouble begins, it's often too late and the child's chances of leading a happy productive life are greatly diminished. So Essex County wants the help to arrive at a younger age, before behavioral and mental problems have taken root. "Before, we couldn't give them any services until the wheels had fallen off the bus," said Terri Morse, director of the Essex County mental health agency, who teamed up with Linda Beers at the county health department and Sue Ann Caron at social services, along with more than 40 other service and educational providers interested in charting a new course. "This coalition came out of the fact that mental health and child-serving systems have historically been reactive in their response," Morse said. "We came together and said, we can do better, so we created a proactive system that addresses family needs earlier." The program, known as BRIEF, for Building Resilience in Essex Families, has caught the eye of the New York Office of Mental Health, which has given a What's Great in Our State System of Care award to the county. Emotional trauma at a young age, from infancy to the beginning of school — known as Adverse Child Experience (ACE) — can leave a deep and lasting imprint. Children growing up with toxic stress may have difficulty forming healthy and stable relationships, according to the Center for Disease Control. They may also have unstable work histories as adults and struggle with finances, jobs, and depression throughout life. Many of these issues can be tied to poverty or generational behavior, a cycle that can be particularly stubborn to break. Among other things, ACEs include a parent suffering from addiction, experiencing violence, abuse or neglect, and an unstable home due to parents separating or being sent to jail. Most Americans, 61%, have at least one of these events in their past, but when there's an accumulation of four or more it is a clear warning sign of future trouble, according to the CDC. "This is a major health crisis, but people don't know about it," Morse said. The effect of ACEs can begin showing up as the child ages through tantrums or other anti-social behavior. Often these meltdowns are a harbinger of depression from children who have no other way to express themselves. So beginning with OBGYNs and pediatricians, Essex County is forming a framework that identifies children at risk in their early years and gets them, and their families, help. "We want to do this in an engaging sort of way, and not blame the parent," Morse said. That's important because in the past, families have been suspicious of any sort of government intervention. Instead of confronting parents, BRIEF seeks to empower them so that they play a meaningful role in theory children's wellbeing. BRIEF continues to offer help as the child progresses through school and enters adulthood. That will hopefully lead to a healthy, productive life with a job and career that pays into the tax base instead of depleting it by the way of jails, public assistance and the social and economic costs of addiction. "It's all of us in this together," Morse said. "If there's a county that can do it, it's Essex."

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Essex County works to reach troubled children earlier

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