Early Relational Health

This is an emerging area of our work and the many disciplines that contribute to a healthy early childhood system. Led by Junlei Li and Thelma Ramirez, we join in the national effort to define and build a healthy relational system for children, families, and communities.

About the Project:

Our two-year effort resulted in two research and action papers that help define the concept for the field.

• A Review of the Science, Program, and Concept of Early Relational Health
• A Synthesis of Principles in Action

We continue this work through publications and partnerships:

• Junlei Li delivered a keynote presentation titled, “Universality without uniformity: Appreciating high-quality practices in low-resource settings.”  at the PEDAL (Play in Education Development and Learning) conference in Cambridge University, UK on September 11th. This is an ongoing theme of the work about developmental interactions. See an article here. 

• Perspectives on Early Relational Health (ERH) Series Session 3—The Foundations of Emotional Connection. David Willis, MD, Senior Fellow at the Center for the Study of Social Policy, speaks with Dr. Junlei Li, Co-Chair, Human Development and Education Program and Saul Zaentz Senior Lecturer in Early Childhood Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, about the foundations of emotional connection. They discuss the mutuality, or bi-directionality, of early relationships and what these healthy early relationships can look like across cultures and contexts. Dr. Li discusses the idea of promoting the universality of early relationships, rather than uniformity in what these healthy relationships look like. Finally, they re-imagine what systems could look like if we centered and promoted Early Relational Health.