Who's Involved:
SCU Faculty/Staff:
- Dr. Barabara Burns: Child Studies Department
- Adriana Meza-Gutierrez: Thriving Neighbors Program Director
Community Members and Co-authors:
- Maria Gallardo: Education Manager at Sacred Heart Community Service
- Robert Gil: Director of Self-Sufficiency at Sacred Heart Community Service
- Maria Soledad
- Tellez Gutierrez
- Juanita Escamilla
SCU Student Contributor:
- Jasmine Jimenez
Hours of Engagement:
674.5 hours (2018-2019)
Resilient Families
The Resilient Families Program, now known as Safe Secure and Loved (SSL), was designed by former Child Studies Chair Barbara Burns to help enhance cognitive development and parent-child attachment for babies to six-year-old children. SSL brings SCU students together with community agencies and neighborhood residents to engage in a six-part course that improves family wellbeing while helping both college students and community parents to better understand the psychology of early childhood development.
Safe, Secure, & Loved
Parents testify to the advances made through participation in Safe, Secure, and Loved.
Resilient Families Community Movement
Student Researchers for the Resilient Families Program (RFP) educate a broader audience about the science of resilience.
Healthy parenting and family resilience in early childhood has been shown to be an important factor in promoting school readiness, school achievement, and preventing adolescents from participating in high-risk behaviors. The Resilient Families Program (RFP) through the Thriving Neighbors is a parent education program in the Greater Washington Neighborhood designed and implemented by faculty and students of the Child Studies Department to promote healthy parenting and psychological strengths that buffer the impact of high risk community environments. RFP focuses on increasing young children’s resilience by supporting parents’ ability to provide their children with sensitive and responsive caregiving. To accomplish this, 6-week RFP workshops were designed to develop parents’ knowledge about family activities that are centered on the three building blocks of resilience (strengthening parent-child attachment, promoting self-regulation skills important for children’s school readiness and school success, and supporting better management of parenting stress). In addition, each week parents complete diaries of weekly hassles and family game-playing at home.