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ENGAGING READERS THROUGH STORYTELLING — SERVING FAMILIES IN THE REGION
MENTAL AND BEHAVIORAL HEALTH SERVICES —WORKFORCE RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION
Conversation
INNOVATION IN CHILDREN’S SERVICES A CONVERSATION WITH PHILIP TAVILL, PRESIDENT & CEO OF CHILDREN FIRST PHILIP TAVILL has been President & CEO of Children First, Sarasota County’s exclusive Head Start provider, since 1996. He obtained a baccalaureate degree in psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 1989. He returned to Sarasota and was appointed Executive Director of the Loveland Center in 1991. Subsequently, at Case Western Reserve University, he earned a Master of Nonprofit Organizations from the Weatherhead School of Management and a Master of Science in Social Administration from the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences. Mr. Tavill has worked in the human services field both in direct service and management capacities for the last 36 years. In 2022, Mr. Tavill received the Mandel School Alumni Association Nonprofit Leadership Award. Most recently, he was recognized with the Billy J. McCain, Sr. Excellence in Community Service Award from the National Head Start Association and the Sargent Shriver Community Service Award from the Florida Head Start Association for his impact in elevating excellence across the Head Start community.
WITH ALL THE IMPACTFUL EVENTS OVER THE PAST 5 YEARS, WHAT SPECIAL NEEDS ARE YOU SEEING IN THE CHILDREN AND FAMILIES YOU SERVE AND HOW ARE YOU ADDRESSING THEM? PHILIP TAVILL What we have seen is a surge in needs regarding behavioral health and mental health in children, families and staff. Think about a three-year-old who has experienced a hurricane.
How does she process the fear that she felt from the adults around her? Think about how she processes that her home may have been without power like mine was for a week. How does that three-year-old process the disruption in routine, not coming to school and seeing her bestie and her loving teachers? Think about the teacher, the educator who works for us, who, as we went into COVID said,
“What’s going to happen to my job?” That staff member was dealing with, and you can multiply this by close to 200 staff, isolation, maybe getting this virus, the loss of a daily structure and the fear and anxiety about the well-being of her children from her classroom and their families. So, these are some examples around the behavioral and mental health impact. We realized actually, going back to
a strategic board planning retreat in November of 2014, that while there are some really excellent agencies out there doing mental health work, behavioral health work, we needed to develop our own infrastructure. Our mental health specialists who work with our children, families and staff members have been just one of the ways that we have responded to this discord that has come from so many different areas.
SRQ MAGAZINE BRANDED CONTENT PROGRAM | MAY/JUNE 2025 | INTERVIEWED AND COMPILED BY BARBIE HEIT
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