Acknowledge Alliance is honored to start the new school year back on school campuses. During these first days back to school, we are helping school communities and youth development organizations establish a welcoming environment for students to feel fully engaged and reconnected. With the disruptions from COVID-19, schools are seeing a high level of stress and anxiety among many students. Some students will be eager to reconnect and others will need more time to settle in. Returning teachers and students need additional support to build connections to school, to each other, and to the learning process. After experiencing more than a year of isolation, it is especially important to create a sense of belonging and center relationships at the heart of learning.
Most educators feel the pressure to attend to “learning loss” from the pandemic year. Acknowledge Alliance Resilience Consultants are meeting with teachers in K-8 schools to provide any support they need, while also helping them prioritize reconnection in their classrooms. When teachers become better attuned to their own needs, they can meet their students’ needs with more empathy and understanding. We created a resource for teachers with ideas that encourage them to practice self-reflection, focus on the social connection before academic content, make time for regular social emotional learning opportunities, and ask for help. Click here to read this teacher resource.
Beyond the classroom, many students need help processing trauma and grief from the pandemic that has cost lives and livelihoods in families that were already vulnerable. Acknowledge Alliance Psychotherapists are meeting with youth to provide on-site mental health counseling at Sequoia Union High School District high schools, Peninsula Bridge, and Boys & Girls Clubs. To engage students, we continue to show up consistently and dedicate as much time as needed to build trusting relationships. We connect with students through open hearts and open minds without judgment, in order to get to know who they really are as individuals. Only then can the therapeutic process begin to help students manage trauma and create lasting change in their lives.
The transition back to school will bring new challenges, but Acknowledge Alliance will be here to strengthen the resilience of students and educators every step of the way, starting with what matters most: human connection.