Mental health text messaging service for parents of young children wins award

New “Greatest 8” initiative helps prepare children for “life of mental wellness”

The Hassenfeld Child Health Innovation Institute has awarded one of its two 2021 Child Health Innovation Awards to The Greatest Eight (thegreatest8.org), a new, statewide child mental health text messaging service pioneered by the Washington County Coalition for Children (Coalition), the University of Rhode Island, Brown University, and other partners. The award includes $10,000, active collaboration from the Institute, and Brown University student internships.

The second awardee was Project Goal (https://www.projectgoal.org) which, since 2004, has provided a combination academic enrichment/soccer training program to more than 1,000 middle schoolers free of charge. Previous Innovation Award winners have been Progreso Latino, the Rhode Island Food Bank, and Providence’s Office of Healthy Communities, among others.

The awards are made possible through the generous support of the Hassenfeld family.

“We’re very grateful for the award, as well as early recognition from the distinguished Hassenfeld Child Health Innovation Institute,” said Coalition Coordinator Susan Orban.

Orban explained that the Coalition asked for the Institute’s support to tell parents and other caregivers about the new and important service.

Orban said The Greatest Eight is modeled after the successful “Text4Baby” service, which texts good advice to expecting parents to promote maternal and child health.

“Similarly, our text messages help parents build mental wellness skills in their children. Key skills like communication, resilience, problem solving, and conflict management.

“We tailor the once-a-week texts to the child’s age, from newborn to 8.”

“The need is huge,” Orban explained. “Children in psychiatric crises are flooding emergency departments in Rhode Island and nationwide. The need for positive, preventive child health mental health development could not be greater.”

After a year in “beta” testing, The Greatest Eight was opened to all Rhode Island parents and caregivers last November.  Now nearly 450 families are enrolled, Orban reported.

“We invite all Rhode Island parents of young children to take advantage of the free service. The Innovation Award will be a big help,” she said.

“The Hassenfeld Child Health Innovation Institute has approved our proposal to use the grant dollars and student involvement for an ambitious public awareness campaign. We want parents to sign up, of course,” Orban continued, “but we also want to make available an online library of videos when they want more information and advice.

The Greatest Eight is a statewide program of the Washington County Coalition for Children in collaboration with the University of Rhode Island, Brown University, South County Hospital, and Healthy Bodies, Healthy Minds Washington County.

Its work is made possible through generous grants from The Rhode Island Foundation, the van Beuren Charitable Foundation, and the Hassenfeld Child Health Innovation Institute.