Tackling the Tough Stuff: A Home Visitor's Guide to Supporting Families at Risk

Now more than ever, today’s at-risk families need home visitors who can address their complex challenges with skill and sensitivity. This timely second edition will help home visitors manage even the toughest situations they encounter on the job―and support and empower vulnerable families of children birth to 3.

The authors present their highly effective PAUSE framework (Perceive, Ask, Understand, Strategize, and Evaluate), a blend of relationship-based practice, reflective skills, and recommended strategies for supporting at-risk families. Readers will learn how to develop positive partnerships with parents and caregivers, address specific challenges in skillful and culturally sensitive ways, and give families the tools and knowledge they need to generate their own solutions. Vignettes, sample dialogues, and fillable PDF forms help home visitors translate evidence-based strategies into everyday action.

What's New

• Coverage of contemporary topics such as virtual home visiting, reflective supervision, and diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice (DEIJ)
• Expanded content on setting boundaries and avoiding professional burnout
• Updated research on child-based issues like self-regulation, aggression, and separation anxiety, as well as parent issues like substance abuse, domestic violence, and mental illness
• Updates to reflect the ongoing impact of COVID-19 on families and children
• More on the PAUSE framework’s compatibility with home visiting programs such as Parents as Teachers, Early Head Start, and Healthy Families America
• New downloadable, fillable PDFs for easier use

Dr. Angela Tomlin is Professor of Clinical Pediatrics and Co‐Chief of the Division of Developmental Medicine at Indiana University School of Medicine (IUSM). She is also the Director of the Indiana LEND Program, a nationally recognized interdisciplinary leadership training program supported by the Maternal and Child Health Bureau at IUSM. Her credentials include endorsement as an infant mental health mentor in both clinical and research scopes. She is also a certified perinatal mental health specialist. Dr. Tomlin provides clinical services to very young children and their families, supports the training of interdisciplinary learners within the LEND, advances knowledge and skill of medical learners rotating in her clinics, and promotes the professional development of the infant and early childhood workforce as a provider of reflective supervision and consultation. She is passionate about supporting and growing a diverse infant and early childhood workforce through scholarship and mentorship.

Dr. Tomlin is the author or co‐author of 30 publications on topics that include infant mental health, autism spectrum disorder, and workforce development. Dr. Tomlin has served the university and the infant and early childhood field, and her community by serving on boards including leadership roles in Infancy Onward, Indiana’s infant mental health association, committees and workgroups of the Alliance for the Advancement of Infant Mental Health, and other state and local groups. She was the 2022 recipient of the Alliance's Deborah J. Weatherston Award for leadership in infant mental health. With her husband of over 40 years, Dr. Tomlin is the proud parent of two adult daughters and two wonderful grandchildren.

Dr. Viehweg is Assistant Research Professor of Pediatrics and Associate Director of the Indiana LEND Program, a nationally recognized interdisciplinary leadership training program supported by the Maternal and Child Health Bureau at the IU School of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Division of Developmental Medicine. He is also the Associate Director of the Center for Translating Research Into Practice at Indiana University–Indianapolis. He currently serves as the CDC's Learn the Signs. Act Early. Ambassador to Indiana. Steve is author or co‐author of publications, book chapters, and webinars on reflective practice, interdisciplinary education and service delivery, early childhood mental health, early detection, translational research and open access. He is founding chair of Infancy Onward, Indiana's infant/toddler mental health association, and founding president of Family Voices Indiana (now Indiana Family to Family). Steve is passionate about children and families and is a fierce advocate for policies and programs that support family‐centered, community‐engaged best practices. He volunteers on various boards and committees that focus on children and families at the local, state and national levels. With his wife of over 35 years, he is the proud parent of an adult son and daughter, and Papaw to four amazing grandchildren.