This Thursday, the Massachusetts Head Start Association (MHSA) will launch its virtual fall conference, “Adapting to Change: Head Start in 2020 and Beyond.”

“2020 is a time for change and adaptation for early educators,” Michelle Haimowitz, MHSA’s executive director, says. “Our conference offers short professional development opportunities throughout October to help address our changing environment.”

The conference features eight virtual workshops that will take place from October 1, 2020, to Tuesday, October 20, 2020, and touch on the challenging issues of the day.

Kristin Tenney-Blackwell, a psychologist will kick things off with a workshop called, “Wellness: Taking Care of Yourself.” This workshop will “focus on understanding the importance of health and wellness of adults in a child’s life. Educators and program leaders will explore strategies and approaches to enhancing adult resilience,” the conference website explains.

Another workshop, “Supporting Children to Embrace Race: How we can & why we must,” led by Melissa Giraud and Andrew Grant-Thomas, two parents who co-founded the organization Embrace Race, will feature a “presentation and Q & A that considers some of the evidence for racial bias and steps we can take to push back against it – in our children and ourselves.”

There’s even a workshop for families called, “Parenting through COVID,” lead by Tiedra Marshall of Parents as Teachers National Center, that will “explore different types of stress and how stress can influence parent-child interactions.” Parents will learn about strategies to overcome the negative impacts of stress. “We will explore both child and parenting development concepts and how the two relate to one another. This will be an interactive session that will lead you to discover your best self.”

The other workshops cover:

• trauma informed management

• reflective practices for early educators

• resilient leadership

• developing a culture of behavior support, and

• applying COVID lessons to program planning

There is a charge for each session of $15 for MHSA members, and $20 for nonmembers. Head Start parents are admitted for free.

Please check out the conference and sign up for workshops!