Starting Early Starting Smart (SESS) is an early childhood public/private initiative designed to identify new, empirical knowledge about the effectiveness of integrating substance abuse prevention, addictions treatment, and mental health services with primary health care and childcare service settings (e.g., Head Start, day care, preschool) to reach very young children (ages 0-7) and their families at risk for or experiencing substance abuse and/or mental illness. Knowledge from these projects is designed not only to establish best practices but also to inform future policy decisions about such integrated approaches to prevention. This publication documents some of the most promising practices and early lessons learned in SESS programs. Contains two appendixes detailing mission statements of the SESS national collaborators and SESS grant sites. (GCP)