Translating Trauma’s Harsh Legacy into Healing
In her personal memoir, Holly Elissa Bruno shares her childhood experience of trauma and abuse with you to offer a beacon of hope and a tangible example of how you can make a positive difference in the world and most of all, in the lives of children.
“Happiness Is Running Through the Streets to Find You is a remarkable book, written by a remarkable woman. When I think of how easily Holly Elissa laughs and loves, given everything she’s endured, I am in awe. To say that her story is a testament to the human spirit is to use a cliché, but there’s simply no other way to put it. Because of Holly Elissa’s courage in writing this book, readers will have a much greater understanding of and empathy for children who have experienced trauma.”
– Rae Pica, Author, What If Everybody Understood Child Development?
The Comfort of Little Things: An Educator’s Guide to Second Chances
The silver medal winner in the 2015 Living Now Book Awards.
Educators are among the most loving and nurturing people on earth. Yet those same caring adults are too often very hard on themselves. The Comfort of Little Things provides strategies and tips on how to give yourself a second chance. Drawing on the growing body of brain research along with personal experience and stories from educators, Holly Elissa Bruno fills her book with ideas that will help you see the world with the wonder of a child. You can learn to open yourself to the moment, to look at yourself anew, and to let go of negativity. As she writes, “Second chances come from letting go of what holds us back. These second chances take more work. The work is always rewarded. Fear not.”
2015 silver medal recepient in the personal growth and motivation category of the Living Now book awards
What You Need To Lead an Early Childhood Program: Emotional Intelligence in Practice
As an early childhood director, you manage through relationships. What You Need to Lead an Early Childhood Program guides you through the steps to build respectful, dynamic, and welcoming relationships with families and staff. This important book covers all traditional early childhood administration topics, from financial management to marketing to development, while also recognizing and exploring the human side of management and the critical role of emotional intelligence in effective leadership.
Managing Legal Risks in Early Childhood Programs: How to Prevent Flare-Ups from Becoming Lawsuits
Written by two lawyers with extensive experience working in the child care field, this easy-to-use guide includes:
- Vignettes of everyday dilemmas, such as what to say to a parent or caregiver who may be under the influence or what to do if no one picks up a child.
- Proven solutions and innovative approaches for each dilemma.
- ”Think About It” sidebars to assist in the decision-making process.
- Sample parental consent and waiver forms.
Can my child care program be sued? If you have ever asked yourself this question, you are not alone. This guide will help you prevent and manage problems with potential legal consequences, reduce the risk of a lawsuit, and assist you in preparing a strong defense should your program be sued. This practical book covers a wide range of topics, including privacy issues, accusations of discrimination, employee hiring/firing practices, and insurance coverage. The authors offer clear advice and examples of specific policies and procedures that will help you keep children safe while improving communication with parents, regulators, insurance agents, and lawyers.
Learning from the Bumps in the Road: Insights from Early Childhood Leaders
The journey to professional and personal growth takes time, and the road isn’t always smooth, but it is a learning-filled adventure
Holly Elissa Bruno, Janet Gonzalez-Mena, Luis Antonio Hernandez, and Debra Ren-Etta Sullivan are accomplished professionals and respected leaders in the early childhood field. After a decade of speaking together at national professional development conferences, they now give you twelve of their most important presentation topics as essays. Each chapter presents a dialogue among the authors about a particular topic and the lessons gleaned from facing and overcoming uncertainty and obstacles.
Merging each author’s distinct voice, expertise, and life experiences, this collection unveils the authors’ personal and meaningful histories, insecurities, and insights. You will be encouraged and challenged to think more deeply and openly about your own practices and philosophies. You will gain a renewed sense of purpose as you help children reach their full potentials. And you will discover—as the authors did—that every bump in the road is an invitation to grow and opportunity to learn.
Holly Elissa Bruno, MA, JD; Janet Gonzalez-Mena, MA; Luis Antonio Hernandez, MA; and Debra Ren-Etta Sullivan, EdD, are acclaimed keynote speakers, authors, and experts on a variety of topics in early childhood.
Leading on Purpose: Emotionally Intelligent Early Childhood Administration
Even if a student learns all the facts and figures about early childhood administration, he or she cannot hope to lead without understanding how to build dynamic relationships with staff, families, and community. Leading on Purpose: Emotionally Intelligent Early Childhood Administration is the first textbook based in fascinating hot-off-the-presses relational Emotional Intelligence theory. Bruno skillfully uses neuroscience (brain research on relationships) to breathe life into previously dry topics like regulatory legislation, facilities management and budgeting. Laying substantive EQ groundwork in the first two chapters, the author infuses every chapter that follows, from “Creating a community of problem solvers: winners not whiners” to “Quest for quality: licensing, accreditation and codes of ethics” with vibrantly engaging authentic case studies. Leading on Purpose is a text students will WANT to read. Are you ready?