Devereux Center for Resilient Children’s DECA Program celebrates 20 years of promoting resilience in young children

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Special webinar tackles “20 Years and 20 Questions in Under 20 Minutes” on August 15

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Villanova, PA – July 17, 2019 – The Devereux Center for Resilient Children (DCRC) today announced the celebration of the 20^th anniversary of the Devereux Early Childhood Assessment (DECA) Program – a strength-based assessment and planning system designed to promote resilience in young children. To mark the milestone occasion, throughout 2019, DCRC has created a variety of signature events, initiatives and free resources, all designed to promote and share resilience-building tools in our communities.

As a highlight of this year’s anniversary activities, DCRC will host a special webinar, open to the public, designed to impart the teams’ top 20 insights built over the last two decades around the topic of resilience.

DCRC is part of Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health, one of the nation’s oldest and largest nonprofit providers of behavioral healthcare.

“I am tremendously proud of the positive impact the DECA Program has had on children, families and communities over the past 20 years. As Devereux commemorates this milestone anniversary, we celebrate our role in shining a light on the importance of young children’s social and emotional health,” said DCRC Director Susan Damico. “The beauty of this program is that it takes the best of what research says young children need, and puts it into a practical framework that reflects an understanding of the day-to-day realities and challenges parents and teachers face every day.”

About the 20-minute resilience webinar on August 15

On August 15, DCRC will host a webinar titled, “The DECA Program and Resilience: 20 Years,
20 Questions, 20 Minutes.” During this event, Damico will answer 20 popular and impactful resilience-related questions – in just 20 minutes! These questions and answers are reflective of the most popular questions and meaningful takeaways the DCRC team has unpacked over the past 20 years.

When: Thursday, Aug., 15, 2019

Time: 2-2:20 p.m. (ET)

How to register: https://dcrc.adobeconnect.com/e7xe4w5uils8/event/event_info.html

Free resilience-building resources

As part of the yearlong celebration, DCRC also created its “Top 5 Favorite Resilience-Building Strategies” goodies and giveaways, developed new/helpful website tools, and more.

“Research has shown that resilience is ‘ordinary magic’ and can be learned, which means that each and every one of us can nurture our own resilience,” added Damico. “Becoming more resilient does not take a lot of time or money, but rather, a shift in our priorities, thinking and behaviors.”

About the DECA Program: 7 million assessed; 100,000+ trained

The DECA Program is a strength-based, resilience-building assessment and strategy solution that provides professionals and parents with research-based tools to reinforce young children’s (ages 4 weeks through 5-years-old) social and emotional skills that are critical for lifelong success and happiness. A nationally standardized assessment tool, the DECA has been adopted by Head Start and Early Head Start programs, Community Action Partnership programs, infant and early childhood mental health consultation programs, as well as individual schools and school districts across the United States.

Since 1999, the DECA Program has been used by teachers, childcare providers and, by extension, parents and families of children enrolled in the aforementioned programs, to assess the social and emotional skills of approximately 7 million infants, toddlers and preschoolers. In addition, DCRC has held more than 2,000 DECA training events, leading to more than 100,000 professionals educated in the science of promoting resilience in young children. Learn more: Visit www.centerforresilientchildren.org, and select Assessments.

About the Devereux Center for Resilient Children

The Devereux Center for Resilient Children’s (DCRC) mission is to promote social and emotional development, foster resilience, and build skills for school and life success in children birth through school-age, as well as to promote the resilience of the adults who care for them. DCRC accomplishes this by conducting research, producing resources and delivering professional development opportunities to individuals working in child-serving settings. www.centerforresilientchildren.org

About Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health

Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health is one of the nation’s largest nonprofit organizations providing services, insight and leadership in the evolving field of behavioral healthcare. Founded in 1912 by special education pioneer Helena Devereux, the organization operates a comprehensive national network of clinical, therapeutic, educational, and employment programs and services that positively impact the lives of tens of thousands of children, adults – and their families – every year. Focused on clinical advances emerging from a new understanding of the brain, its unique approach combines evidence-based interventions with compassionate family engagement.

With more than 7,500 employees working in programs across the nation, Devereux is a recognized partner for families, schools and communities, serving many of our country’s most vulnerable populations in the areas of autism, intellectual and developmental disabilities, specialty mental health, and child welfare. Programs are offered in hospital, residential, community and school-based settings. They include: assessments; interventions and support; transition and independent life services; family and professional training; research and innovation; and advocacy and public education. For more than a century, Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health has been guided by a simple and enduring mission: To change lives by unlocking and nurturing human potential for people living with emotional, behavioral or cognitive differences. www.devereux.org.

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