Supporting Students’ Social Emotional Learning in Bridgeport
Building Long-Lasting Relationships & Helping Students Achieve Future Success
The SEL Community Schools program works with students, faculty, school staff members, and parents to support students’ emotional and mental health needs by expanding the use of Restorative Practices (RP). We support students’ emotional and mental health needs by providing extra interventions and engagements. Restorative Practices offer schools an alternative to traditional disciplinary actions centering on punishment for misbehavior and breaking the rules. It aims to repair harm and relationships, build healthy communities, increase social capital, and decrease crime and antisocial behavior.
Social Emotional Learning (SEL) is the process through which all young people and adults acquire and apply the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to develop healthy identities, manage emotions and achieve personal and collective goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain supportive relationships, and make responsible and caring decisions.
Goals include reducing chronic absenteeism, lower out-of-school suspensions, and improving the school climate. Students, staff, and parents work together to improve school culture, focusing on restorative practices, mediation, and conflict resolution.
Together, we build long-lasting relationships, helping students achieve success in their futures. Restorative Practice Facilitators (RPFs) and Student Support Advocates (SSAs) build the SEL/RP capacity at the school level. They support students struggling in school, community, or at home. This holistic approach is crucial as everyone navigates the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on education, health, and well-being.
Trainings Offered
This 2-day training provides necessary information for establishing the conditions for developing and nurturing a positive school climate and school culture. It is the science of relationships and community. When applied in schools, home, work, and community, Restorative Practices proactively improve climate and culture. Restorative Practices also provide responses to wrongdoing that focuses on repairing harm and how strengthening and/or building relationships between individuals as well as social connections within the community.
RULER is a systemic approach to Social Emotional Learning (SEL), developed at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence. RULER aims to infuse the principles of emotional intelligence into the immune system of preK-12 schools, informing how leaders lead, teachers teach, students learn, and families support students. RULER, is an acronym for the 5 skills of emotional intelligence:
- Recognize
- Understanding
- Labeling
- Expressing
- Regulating
Adverse childhood experiences, or ACEs, are potentially traumatic events that occur in childhood (0-17 years). For example: experiencing violence, abuse or neglect, or witnessing violence in the home or community.
The 10 Adverse Childhood Experiences are:
- Physical Abuse
- Sexual Abuse
- Emotional Abuse
- Physical Neglect
- Emotional Neglect
- Mental Illness
- Incarcerated Relative
- Mother Treated Violently
- Substance/Alcohol Abuse
- Divorce
What School Climate is (definition and scope), the difference between School Climate and School Culture and the role of adults in school to foster a positive school climate. Training consists of: the conflict cycle and adults’ professional responsibilities as it pertains to School Climate improvement. Participants will be introduced to the School Climate Development Model, the School Climate/Culture Model, four strength-based models that are at the core of School Climate and School Climate improvement (School Connectedness, Resiliency, The Circle of Courage and Youth as Resources). These strength-based models support creating adverse-free environments that support student and school success for all students, but especially those who experience trauma in their lives.
We train our students to be SEL Ambassadors in our Social Emotional Initiatives, including RULER, Restorative Practices, and School Climate. SEL Ambassadors spread the message of social-emotional learning, run school-wide events and activities, work with classroom teachers and peers on emotional regulation strategies, model the use of affective language, build positive relationships through circle keeping, and repair harm using restorative questioning and impromptu conversations. SEL Ambassadors are student leaders within their school communities, they support the SEL team in building positive relationships in order to create and maintain a positive school climate where students feel a sense of belonging and safety and want to come to school.
Presentations Offered
This is a presentation for elementary students. Students will learn how to make healthy choices regarding food and lifestyle. Students will also learn how to build solid and healthy relationships with their peers.
This is a presentation for students and/or parents. Both will learn about the potential dangers of vaping, the chemicals in vaping pens, and the potential risk one is putting him or herself in.
This is a presentation for parents and students. Both will learn about the most popular social media apps and platforms youth are using and the potential positive and negative aspects of those social media apps and platforms.
SEL Community Schools Program
CONTACT
Shaaron Sinvilcin
Program Director
shaaron@ryasap.org
Mory Hernandez
Community Organizer & Healthcare Advocate
mhernandez@ryasap.org