Our Mission 

Building Blocks is connecting families with individualized services and supports to promote social emotional health for children under six in Southeastern Connecticut

Our Vision

Building Blocks will transform the mental health system of care for our youngest children and their families

Our History

In 2005, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration (SAMHSA) awarded the Southeast Mental Health System of Care the Building Blocks grant to develop and implement an early childhood system of care program in Southeastern Connecticut.  

Our Values

Building Blocks, as a system of care, is a coordinated network of comprehensive services that meet the mental health needs of children and families.

• We are child-centered with the needs of the child and the family dictating the types of services provided.

• We are community-based, with the services as well as management and decision-making responsibility resting at the community level.

• We strive to provide culturally competent programs and services that are responsive to the cultural, racial and ethnic difference of the families we serve.

The Four Main Components of Building Blocks are:

• Service Delivery: Teams of early childhood mental health partners and family partners working in the child's natural setting in a family-driven, youth-guided and culturally competent way.

• Evaluation: Working locally to gather data on this population and collaborating with national efforts to expand our knowledge about early childhood mental health.

• Training: coordinating resources regionally and nationally to enhance the capacity of parents, community members and providers to best address issues of early childhood mental health.

• Community Development: Connecting with the community in a family-driven, youth-guided, culturally and linguistically competent manner to inform and educate, and also promote programs that will most beneficially impact the lives of children and families.