Mother embracing her child

NEAR@Home

Neuroscience. Epigenetics. Adverse Childhood Experiences. Resilience.
A practical approach to a trauma-informed, hope-filled practice. NEAR@Home Toolkit now available in English and Spanish.

Father kissing child while mother is holding themThinking and talking about childhood trauma has always been hard. And in recent years, as community-wide trauma has accelerated across the country, new pain has been layered onto people’s past experiences. Families, and the people who support them, are overwhelmed.

But there is hope in the learnings of neuroscience, and families deserve to know they are not alone.

NEAR@Home® combines the insights of neuroscience with the art of trusting relationships to offer a unique path forward for families and home visitors. Through a free toolkit and a limited availability facilitated learning program, NEAR@Home helps teams build a trauma-informed and hope-filled practice so home visitors can compassionately and collaboratively encourage their communities toward healthy, positive futures.

NEAR@Home Toolkit cover

A Step-by-Step Approach to Building a Trauma-Informed, Hope-Focused Practice

The science-based NEAR@Home toolkit walks home visitors and supervisors through the core elements of a NEAR home visit – a five-step approach to safely, respectfully, and effectively create a trauma-informed and hope-filled home visit.

  • Step One: Preparing
  • Step Two: Asking
  • Step Three: Listening
  • Step Four: Accepting & Affirming
  • Step Five: Remembering

NEAR@Home’s protocols and strategies help families make sense out of their past experiences so they can begin to re-shape outcomes for their loved ones across generations.

download toolkit

My respect for the clients I’ve had (NEAR) conversations with has increased. I feel validated, like the work I’m doing is helpful and worthwhile.

Home Visitor, Excerpt from the NEAR@Home Toolkit
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NEAR@Home®, Skills for Trauma-informed Home Visiting

The Details

What does NEAR@Home include?

NEAR@Home is a practical approach designed by home visitors for home visitors for use in any family engagement setting. Here’s what’s included:

The Free Toolkit

The NEAR@Home Toolkit, available in English and Spanish, includes:

  • An introduction to the relationship between trauma and social justice, ACEs, the NEAR@Home theory of change, trauma-informed practice, strategies for home visitor self-care, and NEAR home visits
  • Detailed guidance about the six steps of a NEAR home visit, including sample home visitor scripts for different scenarios
  • True stories from home visitors about implementing NEAR home visits
  • Resources on the science of NEAR, including the Adverse Childhood Experiences Questionnaire

download toolkit

Facilitated Learning

Facilitated Learning is an 8-12 month skill-building and reflective program for entire home visiting teams. It includes:

  • A Readiness & Exploration phase to set goals and ensure fit
  • Virtual or in-person sessions that provide foundational knowledge on the NEAR sciences and trauma-informed practices
  • Monthly virtual reflective sessions that offer staff open-ended time to address questions and concerns
  • For Supervisors
    • A copy of the NEAR@Home Supervisor’s Guide
    • Six 90-minute virtual reflective consultation sessions

Available in select markets; send inquiries to ProfessionalDevelopment@StartEarly.org.

NEAR@Home Pathway of Resilience to Increased Health and Hope

The Pathway of Resilience

NEAR@Home provides tools and resources to help families shift from a pathway of trauma to a pathway of resilience and increased health and hope.

This graphic is NEAR@Home’s re-interpretation of the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Pathway of Trauma to Increased Risk pyramid into a Pathway of Resilience to Increased Health & Hope. It showcases the power of families to adapt and survive when they are supported in acknowledging systemic and generational trauma and begin to understand their unique life stories.

explore our free toolkit

Resources & News

Explore resources from our home visiting experts and learn how NEAR@Home can help your team.