S2 E2 - Dana Winters

MentorChat's first guest of Season 2 is Dana Winters from the Fred Rogers Center! In this episode, we're talking with Dana about how the simplest interactions with young people can make a huge mentoring difference. Everyday Mentors - the "helpers" - who support kids can be anyone from teachers, to coaches, to crossing guards, and the work that they're already doing to make sure that young people feel seen and heard is worth recognizing! Listen in for some great and uplifting discussion about how - to quote the great Mr. Rogers - "the deep and simple is far more essential than the shallow and complex" when impacting the lives of youth! Additional Resources: Fred Rogers Center | https://www.fredrogerscenter.org Simple Interactions | https://www.fredrogerscenter.org/what-we-do/simple-interactions/ Thank you to Dana Winters: Dana Winters, Ph.D., is the Rita McGinley Executive Director of the Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning and Children’s Media at Saint Vincent College. Her extensive field research from interviewing prisoners to shadowing crossing guards, from observing Head Start teachers and developing coaches in early childhood systems has informed the co-development of the Simple Interactions approach to support children, families, and their helpers. Dr. Winters describes and affirms the essential and relational practices of professionals across early education and intervention, out of school time learning, healthcare, family engagement, and more. She is an experienced applied researcher who has served as co-principal investigator and program evaluator for consecutive NSF-funded early childhood research and intervention projects in the areas of early literacy, social emotional development, and early mathematical learning. She leads numerous foundation and government project grants to improve early childhood systems and family engagement practices. Dr. Winters serves as a UNESCO Faculty Fellow in Children and Youth Studies, collaborating with faculty around the world in the advancement of empathy development and adult-child relationships across developmental settings. She received her Ph.D. in administrative and policy studies from the University of Pittsburgh. Credits: Hosted, written, and produced by Michelle Thomas & Ashley Wineland with The Mentoring Partnership of SWPA | www.mentoringpittsburgh.org Music is "Cheery Monday" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) | Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/