Social Emotional Learning
Social health reflects a child’s developing ability to form close, secure relationships with other familiar people in their lives such as parents, relatives and other nurturing caregivers. This trusting bond helps children to feel safe in exploring their world.
Emotional development is closely tied to social development. It refers to the expression of a child’s feelings about their self, others, and the situations they will face in the world around them as well as gaining control of their bodily functions, learning to focus, and pay attention in the context of nurturing support by familiar caregivers (Mackrain, Golani & Kairone, 2008).
CATCH SEL
CATCH is a program that was selected by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention as part of the “Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child” model. CATCH has been proven effective in increasing physical activity, knowledge of nutrition, and social emotional development. The Social Emotional Learning Curriculum was added to the CATCH program to improve mental health and increase emotional development in both students and the entire classroom dynamic. This curriculum provides age-differentiated lessons aligned to the CASEL Framework for Systemic Social and Emotional Learning. This K-12 program uses literature, movement, fine motor activities, gross motor activities, and cultural learning to teach and reinforce social emotional learning concepts.
Examples of Curriculum
Social Emotional Learning Lessons: Goal Setting, Controlling Emotions, Processing Anger, Developing a Positive Mindset, Coping and Managing Stress, Relationship Building, and more.
Curriculum Offerings
- Youth Mental Health First Aid
- Youth Mental Health First Aid is designed to teach parents, family members, caregivers, teachers, school staff, peers, neighbors, health and human services workers, and other caring citizens how to help an adolescent (age 12-18) who is experiencing a mental health or addictions challenge or is in crisis.
The course introduces common mental health challenges for youth, reviews typical adolescent development, and teaches a 5-step action plan for how to help young people in both crisis and non-crisis situations. Topics covered include anxiety, depression, substance use, disorders in which psychosis may occur, disruptive behavior disorders (including AD/HD), and eating disorders.
- Youth Mental Health First Aid is designed to teach parents, family members, caregivers, teachers, school staff, peers, neighbors, health and human services workers, and other caring citizens how to help an adolescent (age 12-18) who is experiencing a mental health or addictions challenge or is in crisis.
- Signs of Suicide
- The SOS Signs of Suicide Prevention Program is the only youth suicide prevention program that has demonstrated an improvement in students’ knowledge and adaptive attitudes about suicide risk and depression, as well as a reduction in actual suicide attempts.
SOS is unique among school-based suicide prevention programs as it incorporates two prominent suicide prevention strategies into a single program: an educational curriculum that raises awareness about suicide and depression, and a brief screening for depression.
- The SOS Signs of Suicide Prevention Program is the only youth suicide prevention program that has demonstrated an improvement in students’ knowledge and adaptive attitudes about suicide risk and depression, as well as a reduction in actual suicide attempts.