Escúchanos, “We do have emotions and we do have feelings”: Exploring how reflective consultation supports early childhood educators

Despite the promise of reflective consultation and the beneficial impacts it may have on enhancing early childhood educator social-emotional well-being and competence, there is limited research on reflective consultation with early childhood educators. The current project, Escúchanos, examined how English-speaking and bilingual Spanish-English early childhood educators (n = 16, 6 White, 9 Latina, 1 Asian/Pacific Islander) in the United States experienced reflective consultation at their child care centers. Semi-structured interviews were conducted in the participant's preferred language to provide a better understanding of the perceived benefits and suggested improvements for delivering reflective consultation in early childhood and education settings. Early childhood educators in the study were provided with reflective consultation sessions over 7 months offered by trained mental health consultants in a linguistically responsive manner. Given the cultural and linguistic diversity of the early childhood workforce, this study contributes to the practice of providing culturally and linguistically responsive reflective consultation. Findings from this study suggest that reflective consultation offered early childhood educators with the: space to express feelings; time to take a pause; opportunities to work as a team; and an enhanced awareness of self and others.