75.1 A Relational Mindfulness Intervention Delivered to Parents and Caregivers in an Early Learning Center: Strategies to Enhance Community Engagement in Community Mental Health Services

Abstract

A growing national mental health crisis, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, has disproportionately impacted Black and Brown communities. This crisis is deepened by the shortage of mental health clinicians of color and of clinicians using culturally responsive, healing-centered approaches to care. There is a pressing need for innovative approaches to providing mental health support in community-based settings to populations of color. This presentation describes how a relational mindfulness program serving primarily Black caregivers in an early learning center in Washington, DC, uses a healing-centered engagement (HCE) framework, equity-centered community design (ECCD), and community-based participatory research (CBPR) principles to promote well-being, build authentic relationships with families, and design equitable, community-centered interventions in a virtual environment.