Starling Minds Mental Fitness is a self-guided digital program that is available 24/7. It’s immediate, private, and tailored for Head Start staff (and their families) through NHSA membership. In three simple steps a day, you can proactively build daily habits that will help you better manage stress, anxiety, burnout, or depression and take control of your life and wellbeing—on a phone, tablet, or computer.
"With Starling’s innovative technology and deep understanding of educators, we hope this program will deliver the support and training to the Head Start people so they can care for themselves and their families, and in turn, provide the stabilizing services and care to communities across the country.” - Yasmina Vinci, Executive Director, NHSA
How it works
The program adapts support and training to your unique personality and learning style while integrating educator-specific content, stories, tools, and peer community forums into your experience.
- Check-Up: Uncover insights on how you're doing.
- Build Skills: Your training sessions adapt to you—providing you with the skills and tools to improve your mental fitness.
- Connect: Share your story and find support from peers in our anonymous community.
Features:
Homepage to guide you through daily steps to improve your mental fitness
Check-up to provide you with a complete assessment of your stress, anxiety, depression,
Self-guided sessions to deliver personalized mental health training and support based on your needs
Exercises to guide you through easy, bite-sized versions of our training sessions when you only have a few minutes
Live interactive sessions to supply expert-guided support, relaxation techniques, mindfulness exercises, and workshops
Video library to learn key cognitive behavioral therapy concepts through easy-to-follow educational videos
Skills toolbox to help you set realistic goals, track your progress, balance negative thoughts, and regulate your moods
Peer-supported community to empower you to share your experiences, connect with your peers, and find empathy and support throughout your mental health journey
Now available in Spanish! Starling is dedicated to bringing the best, most inclusive experience to our members.
Live Mental Fitness Training
Bi-Weekly Drop-In Sessions
Support your mental fitness with live bi-weekly drop-in sessions. It’s in our nature to look after each other, but we tend to be not as good as prioritizing ourselves. Take 30 minutes just for you.
Wellness Wednesdays with Starling Minds
This 30-minute wellness program will provide a deeper understanding of how breathwork and meditation can be used as a powerful tool.
Special Events
Attend special yearly events such as Starling's Mental Fitness Challenge, a six-week interactive webinar series hosted by Dr. Andrew Miki to guide members through structured, in-depth training sessions to help them build the awareness, tools, and strategies to improve their mental fitness.
Mental Fitness Course
Mental Fitness Course: Unwinding Anxiety with CBT and Mindfulness Anxiety is one of the most misunderstood emotions, but it can be our greatest teacher if we know how to harness its power. Join our 6-week workshop to learn the signs, symptoms, and manifestations of anxiety in your life and how to break the cycles of worry…
Building Mental Fitness
We know that Head Start staff face a unique set of difficult and challenging stressors. That’s why we’re proud to partner with Starling Minds to help you care for yourself and your family. Join to learn how Head Start Staff can overcome feelings of stress, anxiety, and burnout to lead a happier, healthier work-life balance….
Introducing Starling’s Mental Fitness Program
This highly interactive presentation will focus on stress, worry, and anxiety and how these can be challenged in achieving or maintaining a work-life balance.
Supporting Your Staff’s Mental Fitness with Starling Minds
Discover the power of digital mental health and how like physical health, we improve our mental health by strengthening our minds through short training and exercises.
Mental Fitness Challenge: Depression and Burnout
Join our 6-week interactive Mental Fitness challenge with our Chief Science Officer, Dr. Andrew Miki to learn how to better manage depression and burnout.
Mental Health 101: Paving Way to Better Self Care for Head Start Staff
According to recent studies, 86% of ECEs reported feeling depressed with 10% reporting being severely depressed. It is higher than any other professions within education, and yet more than 60% do not seek help. Join this interactive 45-min webinar session to demystify mental health and overcome feelings of self-doubt, isolation, and fear to pave the…
Wellness Wednesdays with Starling Minds
This 30-minute wellness program will provide a deeper understanding of how breathwork and meditation can be used as a powerful tool.
Mental Fitness Mondays by Starling Minds
Learn how to identify and recognize key patterns impacting your mental health and how to better manage it.
Sleep Workshop Series by Starling Minds
Restore your healthy, natural sleep, and feel more rested and energized for the day with this four-week interactive Sleep Workshop.
Introducing Starling’s Mental Fitness Program
Learn more about NHSA's partnership to support members and their families with free access to a mental health program.
Related Content
Mental Health Toolkit for Head Start Staff
In addition to providing the complete Starling Minds Mental Fitness Program to NHSA Members, our partners at Starling Minds have developed a variety of resources to help you build a compassionate, safe culture for your staff and increase individual resilience.
What users are saying…
“Thank you for this program! I really needed help with balancing some extremely unhealthy thoughts. With all the challenges that come with being an educator, to say that I'm scared and anxious is an understatement.”
– Starling Minds User
“Starling has been such an amazing tool for me. I have learned some behavioral strategies, tools, and greater self-awareness. I really appreciate being part of a community where I feel accepted and understood.”
– Starling Minds User
“These sessions in Starling have helped me realize that I am not alone in my experiences. It has also allowed me to put my feelings into words and give logical reasons for why I have been feeling the way that I have.”
– Starling Minds User
“My scores on the mental health continuum improved because I started this program last spring; I've had a year to work on my mental health, anxiety, and stress. I’m also more aware of my battery levels and how to charge it, which has helped greatly!”
– Starling Minds User