Mental Health

Tell Me a Story Series

Reading stories with social-emotional themes is one of the ways parents and early care and education staff can support children's healthy development. Tell Me a Story will help build parent and staff capacity to use books and stories to help young children learn. Books can be used to explore important topics such as managing strong emotions, dealing with feelings of grief, or working on social skills. Head Start, Early Head Start, and early care and education staff can use the Tell Me a Story book guides, workshop materials, and additional resources to help children learn these skills that are crucial for school readiness.

Tell Me a Story was developed to support early childhood learning programs and their mental health outreach to families and children, with a focus on adversity and parental depression. Tell Me a Story is part of the Family Connections program at Boston Children's Hospital. For more resources, explore Family Connections: A Systemic Mental Health Consultation and Professional Development Model.

Grandfather reading to his grandchild.Introduction

Use the following resources to guide effective use of Tell Me a Story in your early care and education program. Learn more about Tell Me a Story, including the origin of the evidence-based materials, supporting research, and best practices for using the materials with families and children in your community.

Child looking for a book in a library.Book Guides

Share developmentally appropriate books with children to help them learn to define and communicate difficult emotions. Use the Tell Me a Story Book Guides to find strategies for sharing books in classrooms and in other early care and education settings. Each Book Guide includes helpful tips for program staff and families, suggested questions to spark thoughtful discussions with children, and follow-up activities.

Man speaking at a staff meeting.Workshop for Teachers

Early care and education staff can use Tell Me a Story workshops to support professional development. Staff will learn how to use the Tell Me a Story book guides and find strategies for sharing books with social-emotional themes and talking with children about difficult topics.

Each workshop includes sections for workshop leader preparation, step-by-step directions to facilitate workshops, and follow-up activities. We recommend starting with the introduction and completing the workshops in order.

Leader presenting results at a meeting.Workshop for Families

Tell Me a Story may be used to enhance parent and family engagement. The following workshops are designed for program leaders to use with staff to reflect on, plan, and implement Tell Me a Story practices to support family engagement and early literacy. Each workshop includes preparation instructions, step-by-step directions to facilitate workshops, and follow-up activities.

Additional Resources

Explore resources to support Tell Me a Story in your early care and education program. Read related short papers that supplement the Tell Me a Story workshops. Topics include building resilience, communicating difficult issues and across cultures, and coping with parental depression and other adversities. Use them as professional training materials or as handouts for staff and parents.