Joyful Together Goes to Harvard
The Institute of Family and Community Impact’s Joyful Together© team was selected to participate in Harvard University’s Center on the Developing Child’s Innovation in Action Workshop in Cambridge, Mass. The selection process was competitive, but the selection of Joyful Together© is high praise of the research and development work we have accomplished, and an affirmation that OhioGuidestone’s efforts are among the strongest in the nation.
“Our teams are constantly presenting OhioGuidestone’s expert knowledge and research around the nation,” said Dr. Ben Kearney, Chief Clinical Officer. “However, this opportunity with the Center on the Developing Mind’s Innovation in Action Workshop goes to show that other experts recognize our work, and that we are on the correct path toward helping the individuals, families and children in our community.”
The workshop invitation demonstrated the strengths of Joyful Together© as the team was one of only seven from across the country and around the world who collaborated with leading scholars from Harvard’s Center on the Developing Child, learning how to apply the IDEAS Impact Framework™. This approach, much like that of Joyful Together©, is designed to achieve significantly better outcomes for children and families by increasing understanding of how interventions work, for whom and in what contexts.
The future of OhioGuidestone’s research and development initiatives are promising and underway. Next to be published is Joyful Together© – Early Care (Joyful Together© EC), a program focusing on child care and pre-K development. The approach learned at the Innovation in Action Workshop will help to fully define Joyful Together© EC.
Learn more about Joyful Together© and purchase our manual by clicking on the link below.

Joyful Together
Joyful Together: Using Everyday Moments to Build Resilience in Children
Joyful Together™ is a research-based model that builds childhood resiliency and reduces toxic stress in children by enhancing parent/caregiver relationships with joyful play. Joyful Together™ provides easy-to-do activities to coach parents/caregivers on play with their children to create stronger bonds, an…