An Early Childhood Development Podcast
Host: Mark Gardner, LCSW
Nurture provides early childhood professionals and parents of young children a regular dialogue with thought leaders, practitioners, and family members about the most relevant topics in early childhood development.
Emphasizing social emotional development, Mark Gardner, LCSW, an early childhood mental health clinician and consultant, discusses important questions and topics with his guests that lie at the intersection of a diverse range of early-childhood fields, including infant and early childhood mental health, early care and education/early-childhood education (ECE), special education, early intervention, pediatric psychiatry, pediatric medicine, and developmental psychology, as well as parenting and family life.
Benefits of listening
- Best practices in early childhood for the care, treatment and education of infants, toddlers, preschoolers, and elementary school age children
- Multidisciplinary perspectives on social-emotional functioning
- Conceptual frameworks for common early childhood issues
- Practical strategies for home, school & child-care settings
- Parent- and family-friendly content
Recommended for
- Mental health practitioners in early childhood: clinical social workers, clinical psychologists, professional counselors, marriage and family therapists; neuropsychologists; psychiatrists
- Early care and education or early childhood education professionals (ECE) professionals: directors, preschool teachers, child-care providers, & mentors
- Preschool special-education teachers
- Early-intervention specialists
- Pediatricians
- Occupational and speech therapists
- Parents
About Mark Gardner, LCSW, host of Nurture
Mark Gardner lives and works in Northern Virginia. As a licensed clinical social worker, he has specialized in early-childhood mental health for the last 15 years.
Collaborating and working in early care and education (ECE) settings has been a passion of his for many years. He currently consults with a number of programs, including Main Street Child Development Center, the Virginia Preschool Initiative, and Early Head Start.
Additionally, he has been providing a number of professional development workshops for a range of early childhood professionals. Recent clientele include Fairfax County government’s Institute for Early Learning and Virginia Star Quality Initiative (VSQI), the latter in conjunction with a regional team of EC professionals.
He also provides psychotherapy to young children and their families at his practice, Nurture Child and Family, PLLC, in McLean, VA and at Family Compass in Reston, VA.
And for the parenting (and co-parenting with his wife) of his young son, he is continually trying to practice what he preaches and learn from all the wonderful parents and colleagues he meets and works with.