About
Program Overview
Family Spirit Thrive is an adaptation and supplement to the Family Spirit Core Curriculum.
The Family Spirit Program is an evidence-based and culturally grounded home visiting intervention delivered by Native American paraprofessionals as an Indigenous solution to supporting caregivers during pregnancy and early childhood. The Family Spirit Core Curriculum consists of 65 lessons taught from pregnancy to age 3. Family Spirit is disseminated to Indigenous communities across the nation, and recently across the globe, with training, implementation support, and curriculum management through the Family Spirit National Office at Johns Hopkins Center for Indigenous Health.
Family Spirit Thrive expands and supplements the Family Spirit Core Curriculum with 20 lessons for children ages 3 to 5 and their caregivers. The Family Spirit Thrive curriculum targets three priority aims: (1) support connections for children and their caregivers to family and cultural traditions; (2) support school readiness for children; and (3) support and promote caregiver efficacy.
Disparities in services available for rural, Indigenous communities and gaps in school readiness for Indigenous pre-school children persist. Prior to the development of Family Spirit Thrive there was an absence of structured services and curricula in home visitation for Indigenous families with children ages 3–5, which is widely recognized as a critical period for child development. Family Spirit Thrive aims to fill this gap by providing content, structure, and support to promote educational success, and generational healing for Indigenous children and their families. Family Spirit Thrive incorporates culturally grounded content that facilitates connections and highlights interconnectedness, celebrates Indigenous cultural strengths, and places critical focus and attention on the inherent strengths of cultural lifeways.
Family Spirit Thrive is currently being implemented by trained Family Spirit Affiliates from across the country.
Research Phase: Family Spirit Thrive is in the process of undergoing a formal pilot study to assess the feasibility and acceptability of the Family Spirit Thrive intervention with our Fort Defiance, Arizona (Navajo Nation) partners.
Principal Investigator: Lisa Martin, labram11@jhu.edu
