ABOUT US
Fostering Resilience
The Greater Child is a system developed to aid schools and families in understanding and addressing a child’s behavior at its core through the utilization of holistic behavioral therapy and trauma-informed teaching. Trauma-informed teaching is identifying and analyzing the source behind “why” someone exhibits a certain behavior. We use a comprehensive approach that incorporates real-world experience to prepare your child for life beyond our care.
Our Story
In 2021, The Greater Child was founded by Social Worker and Early Childhood Specialist Yesenia Stewart. From a young age, she observed the community around her and developed a strong curiosity in human psychology. This fascination with human psychology led to further reflecting on the stage of origin where our behavioral patterns begin, early childhood.
After working within many organizations in the community, it became clear that many children struggling with behavioral issues and/or cognitive disorders were being overlooked, underserviced, and misunderstood. Nearly 1 in every 5 children has a mental, emotional, or behavioral disorder but only 20% of those children are likely to receive the needed specialized care. For the children who do receive a diagnosis their parents and child supervisors are left with new labels to attach to the child but no sustainable solutions to address the behaviors, outside of medication.
Identifying this issue and aiming to provide a solution led to the development of The Greater Child. The Greater Child is a system developed to aid schools and families in understanding and addressing a child’s behavior at its core through the utilization of holistic behavioral therapy and trauma-informed teaching. Trauma-informed teaching is identifying and analyzing the source behind “why” someone exhibits a certain behavior. TGC uses a comprehensive approach that incorporates real-world experience to prepare children for life beyond our care.
The Greater Child method uses trauma-informed teaching to assist parents, teachers, and prominent adult supervisors while engaging the child in the process as well. The Greater Child method implements an effective holistic 3-step method to achieve optimal outcomes for every child.
Our Mission and Values
At The Greater Child, our mission is to empower children to grow and develop in a healthy way through guidance and holistic support.
TGC values the holistic approach toward improving child behavior. We achieve this by giving support to the child, the parents, the educators, and the institutions that influence our children.
TGC is a safe place for children and their adult supervisors to receive the care, understanding, and support needed for the child to thrive. We operate under four sets of values, regardless of what services are being provided, to make sure that everyone receives the same level of prestigious care.
Integrity and Honesty
We uphold the highest standard of ethics providing transparency about the goals of our services and the treatment plans being implemented.
Respect and Understanding
We treat everyone with dignity fostering a culture of inclusivity. We build
strong relationships through empathy and understanding, pursuing the goal
of helping children become the greatest version of themselves.
Community and Inclusion
We actively contribute to the betterment of our local and global
communities. We create an environment where everyone feels valued,
respected, and included regardless of background.
Growth and Gratitude
We foster a culture of continuous learning and personal development for all
parties involved in the betterment of the child’s development. We express
appreciation for every new step towards progress from the children,
parents, teachers, adult supervisors, and staff who take part in the growth
process.
Integrity
and
Honesty
We uphold the highest
standard of ethics providing
transparency about the goals
of our services and the
treatment plans being
implemented.
Respect
and
Understanding
We treat everyone with dignity
fostering a culture of
inclusivity. We build strong
relationships through empathy
and understanding, pursuing
the goal of helping children
become the greatest version of
themselves.
Growth
and
Gratitude
We foster a culture of
continuous learning and
personal development for all
parties involved in the
betterment of the child’s
development. We express
appreciation for every new
step towards progress from
the children, parents, teachers,
adult supervisors, and staff
who take part in the growth
process.
Community
and
Inclusion
We actively contribute to the
betterment of our local and
global communities. We
create an environment where
everyone feels valued,
respected, and included
regardless of background.
Our Founder
Yesenia Stewart fell in love with the practice of psychology and early childhood development at a young age. She became licensed as a teacher upon graduating high school, and then attained an Associate in Early Childhood Education. During her time as a licensed educator, she continued to see the visible disparity in the children who were being labeled and diagnosed with behavioral or psychological disorders. As her interest in the individual mind continued to grow, Yesenia was inspired to create a system that would empower the youth, regardless of their family social status, economic background, race, trauma background, or any other barrier that would limit their access to a fair opportunity to succeed.
To pursue this goal, Yesenia decided to double major in Psychology and Sociology for her Bachelor’s degree. While studying for her undergraduate degree, Yesenia came in contact with a psychology professor who advised her to consider social work in order to effectively prepare for the clinical practice she was in pursuit of. This guided her to obtaining a Master’s in Clinical Social Work with a Macro subspecialization.
Yesenia Stewart
CEO and Founder
In addition to pursuing higher education, Yesenia made it a priority to be involved in community-level work since her high school years. She developed community programs and supported the development of other city-wide programs within her community. Yesenia also worked as a clinician providing Child-Parent Psychotherapy for children and their guardians.
Yesenia’s passion for psychology and early childhood led to her gaining
over a decade of combined experience as a clinician and classroom teacher. Her classrooms were instructed from a clinical lens which is how she developed and tested her methodology for The Greater Child model. The TGC model is the result of testing many different clinical methods to combine both practices from the perspective of an educator and a clinician. Sharing her experience in a variety of settings ranging, from non-profit organizations to federally funded programs to private organizations and public education institutions, has helped Yesenia to develop The Greater Child model.
This child-centered model is a clinical framework developed to assist in
guiding the socio-emotional development of young children through a process focused on a holistic approach. Yesenia’s extensive experience led her to develop an effective 3-step method for helping both the child and their supervisors to develop effective tools that support the child in their self-regulation skills.
Our Vision
The Greater Child strives to structure the influential systems impacting our children in a way that better supports all children no matter their race, gender, economic background, cognitive ability, trauma history, or any other barrier that would prevent them from having a fair chance at developing the necessary skills to succeed in life. We believe in creating environments that do not restrict children from succeeding based on their unique traits and/or backgrounds but empower children to become the greatest version of themselves.
