Announcing Our First Founding Member of the Cleo Eulau Legacy Society

We were deeply touched when community member Linda Keegan informed us that Acknowledge Alliance is in her estate plans. Linda has been an Acknowledge Alliance board member for the past 8 years, and now she will forever be a member of our Cleo Eulau Legacy Society. We are moved by the legacy Linda wants to leave with us. As an Executive Fellow for the Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship, a Leadership Coach for the Center for Excellence in Nonprofits (CEN), as well as through her services to a variety of organizations as a leadership consultant, Linda is committed to making the world a better place. We recently sat down with her to learn more about her charitable activities and motivations for giving.

1. How did you first become involved in Acknowledge Alliance and what attracted you to the cause?
I was introduced to Acknowledge Alliance in 2013 by my colleague, George Clark, and his wife, Susan Williams-Clark, who was the Executive Director at the time. My whole career has been dedicated to teaching leaders how to lead in corporate and nonprofit environments. A huge part of my job involves teaching communication skills to adults. That’s why I was especially fascinated by Acknowledge Alliance’s mission and your social emotional learning curriculum for young students.

2. Why do you think that the organization’s work is important?
I can clearly see the value of students learning social emotional skills, like how to communicate, how to manage feelings, how to work with others, and how to problem-solve. If kids can develop them early on, they can use these resilience tools to navigate life, establish positive relationships, overcome challenges, and make good choices. I also think Acknowledge Alliance is unique in its mental health services to support entire school communities, including teachers and principals.

3. Why did you choose to provide a legacy gift to Acknowledge Alliance?
As a board member, Acknowledge Alliance is the organization I’m most closely affiliated with. I really believe that the work the agency does will make the world a better place. It makes me feel good that I’m making a lasting impact.

4. Would you encourage others to include Acknowledge Alliance in their estate plans?
Absolutely! It is something every responsible adult, regardless of age or means, can attend to now. There are many ways to give that can fulfill one’s charitable wishes and honor loved ones at the same time. A legacy gift will grow indefinitely and help shape our community for years to come. I fully trust that Acknowledge Alliance will thoughtfully carry through the intention of each gift with the highest standards.

5. What do you hope your legacy gift will accomplish?
I would hope that Acknowledge Alliance be replicated in every state in the U.S. and other places in the world...if not in my lifetime, then the next! The students today will be our future leaders. If we can work with more educators and counselors to support their social emotional well-being now and help them build lifelong resilience, they are better equipped for a brighter tomorrow.

Please join community leaders like Linda and become one of the Founding Members of the Cleo Eulau Legacy Society. You’ll receive a certificate of recognition, the opportunity to honor a loved one, and be a part of a shared vision with others who want to invest in the youth of our community. To learn more about planned giving options, please click here or contact Sharon Navarro, Executive Director, at sharon@acknowledgealliance.org.

COVID-19: One Year Later Reflection Questions

Now that we're a year into the coronavirus pandemic, Acknowledge Alliance has put together some reflection questions to help explore feelings about loss, growth, transformation, and hope.

In Solidarity With the Asian American and Pacific Islander Community

Dear Acknowledge Alliance Family,

We are saddened and outraged by the rise in anti-Asian hate crimes that have affected the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community, both locally and nationwide. Since COVID-19 began to spread, many in the AAPI community have been victims of racist comments, bullying, and violent attacks. Acknowledge Alliance stands with the victims of these crimes and their families against anti-Asian violence and racism. We are committed to racial equity in all of our services.

Anti-Asian hate crimes have increased 1900% in New York City in the last year. More than 2,808 anti-Asian violence incidents have been reported across the United States since March 2020, and over 700 of these occurred in the Bay Area. In recent weeks, there have been a slew of violent attacks targeting elderly individuals in our local community. In San Francisco, an 84-year-old Thai man, Vicha Ratanapakdee, was attacked while walking around his neighborhood and died from his injuries. In San Jose, a 64-year-old Vietnamese woman was robbed in broad daylight ahead of Lunar New Year celebrations. Many of the violent crimes towards Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders go unreported and do not make headlines.

Because our values include building healthy school communities, we recognize that systemic racism is the root of many unsafe environments for the students and educators we serve. Close to 82% of Asian youth reported being bullied or harassed in 2020. One way to condemn anti-Asian racism and violence is to amplify the voices of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, and provide room for them to share their experiences. We understand the importance of acknowledging and listening to those who have been marginalized and silenced. We will continue creating safe places for our community’s youth and educators to receive this crucial support through access to our mental health services, social emotional learning, resilience groups, and trauma-informed psychotherapy.

As the author Coshandra Dillard noted in the article, Speaking Up Against Racism Around the New Coronavirus, “The spread of the coronavirus has become racialized, so it’s critical that educators understand the historical context and confront racist tropes and xenophobia from students and colleagues.” Resources to help educators and students have conversations about bias and stereotypes in a welcoming and hate-free environment are included here.

For ways to help the AAPI community fight anti-Asian racism, report hate crimes, and advance justice, please visit: Stop AAPI Hate, Asian Americans Advancing Justice, Asian Law Caucus, API Equality NorCal.

Thank you for your support of Acknowledge Alliance’s work and for your dedication to standing in unity.

Together in community,
Sharon Navarro
Executive Director

Celebrate the Value of Friendships

With Valentine’s Day and Random Acts of Kindness Day around the corner, we’d like to take some time to celebrate and honor the value of friendships. Friendships are important at almost every age, but making friends doesn’t come naturally for everyone. Some children and youth struggle socially and have trouble making and keeping friends. At Acknowledge Alliance, we help students learn how to make friends and be a good friend through our social emotional learning lessons. Learning these skills is a vital part of a student’s social and emotional development that will endure throughout their lives.

Being a good friend is connected to many other social emotional skills, such as communicating effectively, understanding strengths, being able to resolve conflicts, and showing empathy toward others. Students shared:

“Before I participated in social emotional learning, I used to fight with my sister. I used to not like solving with teamwork. I used to barely make any friends.”

“I learned what empathy means. I learned how to be a better friend, and that my friend and I are great friends by being empathetic.”

Empathy is the ability to understand how someone else is feeling and allows others to feel understood and cared for. Empathy helps deepen connections and build lasting relationships. Friends who understand each other are able to give more support during tough times, remind each other of their strengths, and are more equipped to resolve conflicts when they arise.

Friends also help each other build resilience. Healthy friendships can increase our sense of belonging, boost our happiness, reduce stress, gain more confidence, motivate us to achieve our goals, and help us cope with our struggles. Being connected with friends is a way we feel closer to others, which in turn can inspire us to be more kind and help other people outside of our inner circle. Can you think of how your friendships impacted you?

Here are some creative ideas to show appreciation to your friends while being physically distanced, but socially connected:

1. Send someone a handwritten letter or homemade card in the mail. This could turn into a fun pen-pal exchange.
   
   

2. Put artwork in the window so that friends, families, or neighbors can see when they walk or drive by.
   
   

3. Create online hangouts like organized movie nights, virtual sleepovers, trivia games, scavenger hunts, and book clubs.
   
   

4. Host a virtual dinner party and eat “together” by cooking the same dish or having a themed cuisine night.
   
   

5. Write a chain letter story with friends through text, email, or Google Docs - each takes a turn writing one sentence at a time until you have an entire story written.
   
   

6. Draw an encouraging message or something you’re thankful for. Take a picture of it (or a selfie with you and the note) and send it to your friend. Continue the conversation with a call.
   
   

Whichever way you choose to connect and celebrate with your friends, we hope you cherish the quality time together with lots of love and kindness!

Embrace Yourself With Self-Compassion and Kindness

The start of a new year is typically an opportunity to set goals and commit to new resolutions with optimism. Yet last week’s violence at the U.S. Capitol building left many of us feeling uncertain, angry, and sad. We are outraged by the racial disparities and hate symbols that were on display. And at the same time, our work has never been more important. At Acknowledge Alliance, we’re dedicated to lifelong resilience and are committed to meeting the new year with renewal and hope for change. We can all help restore our collective sense of community and our social fabric so that the disturbing events we witnessed last week never happen again. 

We believe that self-reflection is one of the many tools and actions within our control. With all that's going on right now, we want to validate that it’s normal to feel overwhelmed at times, and if you feel unsure about the future, you’re not alone. We’d like to encourage everyone to practice self-compassion - to treat yourself with kindness, the way you would a good friend, when facing a setback or disappointment.

Self-compassion is the ability to respond to and support yourself with understanding, acceptance, and love. Mindfulness can help turn compassion inwards by acknowledging your thoughts and feelings without trying to suppress or deny them. Instead of beating yourself up and engaging in negative self-talk, be gentle and refrain from harsh criticism. The recognition of our shared common humanity, the fact that all people are imperfect and experience pain, serves as a reminder that we’re not alone in this and that life’s challenges are all a part of being human.

When people treat themselves with compassion rather than criticism, they are more likely to experience greater physical and mental health. Research shows that people who are more self-compassionate are happier, less stressed, more confident, and more resilient. Self-compassion has been connected with helping people experience less anxiety, shame, and depression. Practicing self-compassion also leads to more gratitude and better relationships with others.

Self-compassion is an important part of having a strengths-based outlook, which is a core value here at Acknowledge Alliance. Recently we had the opportunity to lead a self-compassion session for Sunnyvale School District educators. We also create a safe space to focus on self-compassion in our Teacher and Principal Resilience Groups. A teacher shared how this helped her grow professionally: “I learned how to be more self-compassionate at work. This has helped me let go and reflect more effectively without getting down on myself. I have noticed myself having more self-confidence, which has allowed me to support my students and my colleagues better.”

What self-compassion practices can you add into regular routines? One self-compassion exercise we ask students to do in Project Resilience, our social emotional learning lessons, is to create a gratitude journal. In addition to writing 3 things you’re grateful for, can you also name a bonus thing you are grateful for about yourself? You can also take a self-compassion break or simply ask yourself, “What do I need right now?” Then, do something simple but nice for yourself like listen to your favorite song, video chat with friends, or go for a walk. Remember that we get stronger when we’re kinder to ourselves, and every day is a new chance to have a fresh start.

Reasons to Smile This Holiday Season

Your compassion and care brought hope to many students and educators in 2020, and helped us find new ways to connect with entire school communities. Some bright spots this year include:

• Teachers and principals had overwhelmingly positive experiences in Resilience Groups. They reported feeling less isolated, and found the groups to be a safe place to process their emotions, share challenges and gain strategies for supporting themselves and students.
  
  

• 91% of teachers reported that Project Resilience, our social emotional learning lessons, helped increase their awareness of students' social and emotional needs.
  
  

• 95% of Collaborative Counseling Program students we served are currently still enrolled in high school, graduated in June, or began college.
  
  

• 100% of youth working with an Acknowledge Alliance Counselor reported that their counselor was someone they could trust to listen to them without judgment.
  
  

Soon after the stay-at-home order was imposed in the spring, our staff created a care package, complete with mindfulness tips and uplifting messages, that continues to be a widely used resource.

The resilience we built together as a community will help us emerge stronger and make the New Year shine brighter.

We'd like to especially thank everyone who made a gift and reached out to us with encouraging messages, too! As a reminder, there is still time to donate before the year ends.

Thank you for supporting Acknowledge Alliance. We wish you good health and happiness, always.

Thank You for Putting Relationships First

This Giving Tuesday, we'd like to give you our heartfelt thanks and gratitude. Your support has made a meaningful difference for the thousands of educators and students we serve. Beechwood School is a shining example of how your generosity has helped create resilient school communities.
 
Mayrin Bunyagidj, First Grade Teacher at Beechwood, has been an educator for the past 18 years. She enjoys being part of a student's learning journey by inspiring and providing life skills that will help children feel successful moving forward in school. At our recent virtual Sweet Appreciation Event, Mayrin shared how Acknowledge Alliance has supported her and the Beechwood students.

“Having the presence of Acknowledge Alliance is not only just a separate counseling room on our campus or weekly sessions with students — the staff are integrated into our school culture and family,“ described Mayrin. Life outside of school affects her six-year-old students, especially when they have to navigate life with dad away in the Navy, or deal with anxiety that comes in the form of tics (sudden, involuntary movements or sounds). She was not equipped to handle these challenges alone. Through Acknowledge Alliance, her students received counseling that brought them joy. Mayrin also received guidance from our Resilience Consultant, who was always there to listen to her and help reframe her thinking in a positive way. She is thankful that our staff gave her the space to be heard and the room to grow professionally, which in turn deepened her experiences with her students.

The school culture of Beechwood embodies the mission of Acknowledge Alliance, and we are incredibly proud that our strong partnership upholds the same foundation together. Mayrin captured it beautifully: “The students can count on many teachers and adults at Beechwood, each day, who care about them. We put relationships first before teaching.” Her hope for the future is to “have an even more loving, empathetic, resilient and resourceful community to teach our future leaders and readers.”
 
Thank you for making it possible to support school communities like Beechwood. Because of your care and encouragement, teachers like Mayrin feel inspired to do more, and connect with their students in life-changing ways. Watch the video below to hear directly from Mayrin on appreciation. We hope you know how grateful we are for you!

A Heartbeat of Connection

Dear Acknowledge Alliance Family,

As the President of Acknowledge Alliance’s Board of Directors, I extend our gratitude to the community that has donated, celebrated, inspired, and advocated for us throughout the years. Like you, I value the importance of meaningful relationships and human connection, especially in these current times. Our founder, Cleo Eulau, believed that relationships are the heart of teaching and learning. She felt they are central to the well-being of both students and teachers. This foundation fuels our mission every day, to promote lifelong resilience in children and youth, and strengthen the caring capacity of the adults who influence their lives.

I want to assure you that, during the pandemic, Acknowledge Alliance remains fully committed to supporting the students and educators who count on us most. The sudden shift to distance learning brought new stressors for teachers, who are now experiencing heightened feelings of isolation and burnout. Many students’ families struggle with job loss and increased stresses associated with financial strain. Family members sheltering in place together, in often cramped housing situations, add to raised concerns about systemic inequities, student anxiety and depression.

As we continue to navigate these challenges together, we consistently reach out to students and educators to remind them that our telehealth communication services are available and we are here to provide support in any way needed. Our team describes it as “a heartbeat of connection: letting students and educators know that our staff is thinking of them, and if and when they are ready, we are available.”

We rely on donations to meet our mission. Your gift today will serve as a vital lifeline to local educators, and students like “Joe,” who benefit from your support. After receiving our counseling services, Joe shared how life has changed for the better: “Before counseling, I was a loose cannon. Now I feel calmer and I know that things are going to be okay for me.” Joe increased his school attendance, significantly improved his ability to manage his anger, and left a history of probation violations in his past. He gained confidence in himself and got a job permit from his school to work part-time. He started feeling hope for his future.

Please join us in our efforts to build positive school communities where students and educators feel safe, seen, understood, valued, and hopeful. All students deserve to have caring adults in their schools who are intentional about building positive relationships that motivate them to succeed in life. All educators deserve the ultimate respect for their commitment to teaching, as their connections and impact on students have the potential to last a lifetime. Thank you.

With deepest gratitude,
Steve Hope
Board President

We hope you will consider making a year-end gift to help us create more resilient
school communities where students and educators feel connected to each other,
to their peers, to their mental health counselors, and to teaching and learning.

If you have already made a contribution, we would like to reiterate:
We appreciate your generosity and the difference you are making.

Here are more ways to show support:

• Tell a friend about your involvement with Acknowledge Alliance and/or introduce us to any grant opportunities. They can sign up to receive our newsletters on our website.
  
  

• Shop through Amazon Smile - Amazon will donate a portion of the purchase price to your favorite charitable organization.
  
  

• "Like" us on Facebook and LinkedIn, post a comment, share and stay updated.

Mindfulness Helps Students Cope With Stress

Acknowledge Alliance is committed to creating more resilient school communities. We support teachers and students by fostering healthy relationships and educating on the direct connection between emotions and learning. Our social emotional learning lessons and professional development for educators recognize the importance of managing emotions, demonstrating care for others, making responsible decisions, and building positive relationships. 

One practice that can help with strengthening resilience is mindfulness: paying close attention to one thing at a time in the present moment in a nonjudgmental way. By tuning into the here and now, we can notice and become aware of our thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, and surrounding environment through a kind, nurturing lens of acceptance.

As the pandemic continues to unfold, the uncertainty of the future and the disruption to stability, routine, and interaction with others bring many stressors and emotions. It is normal to feel anxious, sad, angry, fearful, and frustrated during this abnormal time. Practicing mindfulness can help students, teachers, families, and each of us cope with these changes and the stress we are experiencing. Not only does mindfulness make us more resilient, it also enhances interconnectedness and increases positive emotions, empathy, compassion, and self-esteem.

The elementary and middle school students we serve echo the value of mindfulness and report that mindfulness is the most useful social emotional learning topic from our Project Resilience curriculum:

"When I feel stressed, mindfulness helps calm me down.”

"Mindfulness helps me get in a positive mindset."

"Mindfulness helps me think about myself and center myself.”

"Mindfulness is useful because it gets me prepared and ready for class.”

When students become aware of the connection between their thoughts, feelings, and bodily sensations, they are better able to manage their emotions, control their impulses, and make good choices. This in turn impacts their behavior, relationships, stress level, communication skills, and ability to focus. Although we have moved our social emotional learning curriculum online, our team of mental health professionals continues to virtually guide students and their teachers through a mindfulness practice in each lesson.

An essential component to understanding how and why mindfulness helps us, is to understand how our brains work. The amygdala is described as the “alarm system,” the part of the brain that gets triggered by emotions such as fear, anxiety, and anger. When the amygdala perceives threats as danger, it takes charge of our emotional reactions and prompts an immediate fight-flight-freeze response without thinking. In these impulsive moments of emotional distress, it is easy to say or do something irrational that we may regret later. Mindfulness makes a huge impact because it gives us an awareness of our emotional reaction and builds in a momentary pause, which can help calm the amygdala and reconnect us to the prefrontal cortex. We can then make thoughtful decisions for how to respond.

Our staff encourages students to use S.T.O.P. as a calming technique to resolve conflict in challenging situations. Anyone can benefit from using this mindfulness practice:

Stop what you’re doing and pause after an initial reaction
Take a few deep breaths and be aware that you’re breathing
Observe your thoughts, feelings, what’s happening in your body, what’s going on around you, and others’ facial expressions or body language
Proceed with responding after taking time to reflect

There are many different ways to practice mindfulness – from focusing on deep breaths, to paying attention to each of your five senses, to repeating a loving and gentle phrase to yourself. One of the keys to mindfulness is to be kind to yourself. As a thank you to our wonderful community of supporters, Tracy Lyons, our Resilience Consultation Program Director, shared a mindfulness practice emphasizing gratitude at our virtual “Sweet Appreciation Break” event last week. May this boost your day with feel-good energy.

Teacher Resilience Groups Build School Community

“Acknowledge Alliance does a wonderful job in creating a safe, loving, and compassionate space where all teachers are invited to openly share any experience. Their teacher resilience groups provide the space for me to reflect on my professional and personal conflicts, events, and successes. I learn so much from my peers and definitely feel more invested in my school community.”  -Teacher

Schools are back in session, and so are Acknowledge Alliance Resilience Consultants. As mental health practitioners, Consultants are busy meeting with teachers, virtually, to strengthen their professional and personal resilience. In addition to supporting teachers with one-on-one therapeutic conversations, professional development, and social emotional learning curriculum, our team is facilitating monthly resilience groups online to provide a safe space for teachers to connect with other teachers. 

According to Edutopia, “remote learning brought new stressors for teachers. Used to working on their feet, educators got a crash course in working at a computer all day, and also struggled with setting up a schedule working from home and managing parent communications. Many teachers are left wondering how they'll avoid burning out, especially without the face-to-face interactions with students that keep them passionate about the job.”

Teachers report that Acknowledge Alliance’s resilience groups are helping immensely. The groups allow them to process their emotions, share challenges, and gain strategies for supporting themselves and others. The groups also help teachers feel less isolated, and have been a vital lifeline during distance learning and the school closures earlier this year.

With the sudden shift to virtual teaching during the pandemic, one of our teacher participants noted: “It’s been great to have support from the teacher resilience groups and our Resilience Consultant during an extra stressful time of year. We were all launched into new territory with no warning or training. Knowing I have them and my colleagues to reach out to, makes it more manageable.“

Tracy Lyons, Acknowledge Alliance Resilience Consultation Program Director, agrees, “This is a high-need situation to ensure teachers feel connected and not isolated, which in turn also helps students feel more connected and engaged.”

Teachers focus on student learning and student well-being every day, which oftentimes results in putting other people’s needs ahead of their own. Acknowledge Alliance understands that it is just as important to prioritize teacher well-being as it is to prioritize student well-being. After all, how students learn and process their feelings in school depends on how well their teachers are mentally and emotionally present in the classroom. When teachers are supported to take care of themselves, they're better able to meet their students with empathy and engage with enthusiasm. 

Acknowledge Alliance is committed to teacher engagement, strengths-based reflection, and empowering conversations through resilience groups and daily interactions. With our support, teachers become more resilient, with an increased understanding of the value they bring to the classroom. Ultimately, teachers feel more connected with their students and peers, which all contributes to the positive climate of the whole school community.

Focus on What Is Strong, Not What Is Wrong

“When you’re able to focus on strengths, you’re able to find in yourself ways to get through a challenging situation,” explains Sarah Kremer, Acknowledge Alliance Research & Education Manager. “You’re able to identify the strengths that you have that will move you forward. Focus on what is strong, not what is wrong.”

This summer, Acknowledge Alliance partnered with Palo Alto Unified School District and Palo Alto PTA Council to present a three-part webinar series for PAUSD parents. Sarah led the discussion and shared strategies each week to help build resilience in children, families, and our communities. One of the sessions was dedicated to strengths and challenges.

Character strengths allow us to successfully handle challenges and build our resilience. Strengths are especially important when we’re dealing with anxiety and stressful outcomes that we feel in our body. The VIA Institute on Character created 24 universal character strengths that provide the framework for our social emotional learning lessons on strengths. The character strengths fall under six broad virtue categories: wisdom, courage, humanity, justice, temperance and transcendence. Each of us has signature strengths that are most essential to who we are, what we’re good at, and what we like doing. Discovering and channeling our strengths can boost our resilience, mental health, relationships, and happiness. 

If students can focus on what they’re doing well, they can use their strengths to bounce back from challenges. As part of Project Resilience, our social emotional learning curriculum for elementary and middle school classrooms, we ask students to identify their own strengths, reflect on ones that are already strong, and build on the strengths that they would like to grow.

Our Collaborative Counseling Program also helps at-risk youth and high school students recognize their strengths, which is especially crucial during this time. These youth face many challenges in their day-to-day lives that can be particularly exacerbated by the current global pandemic, such as: unsolved trauma, a lack of integrated, holistic systems that make it difficult for parental involvement, academic frustrations, and limitations to age-appropriate independence. Additional challenges brought on by the pandemic include: navigating remote learning, crowded homes and a lack of privacy, an economy that is faltering with skyrocketing unemployment, and expenses like rent and food that force many families into food and housing insecurity. 

Gladys Gudino, Acknowledge Alliance Transition Therapist, reflects on how telehealth sessions have given her a better understanding of students’ experiences, “I am meeting them in their space. I am welcomed into their home and I experience their home life in some way.” She shares one way she helps them cope,
 
 “ I remind them of their strengths and help them find their own voice in the chaos
  that exists. Often, we just need to take a moment to be reminded of who we are.”

As we remind students, educators, and families of their strengths, we’d like to remind you to draw on your strengths too. Take a free test at viacharacter.org to learn more about your strengths. Remember to also remind your loved ones of their strengths. We all have the innate capacity to be resilient, and our strengths can help us overcome challenges, better connect with others, and move forward despite uncertainty.

Building Resilience in Children, Families, and Our Communities

Acknowledge Alliance partnered with Palo Alto Unified School District and Palo Alto PTA Council to present a three-part webinar series this summer. We connected with PAUSD parents and shared strategies to help them build resilience in children, families and our communities. We invite you to view our presentations and discussions led by Sarah Kremer.

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Raising Mental Health Awareness During Pride Month

During Pride Month and always, Acknowledge Alliance joins the LGBTQIA+ community—lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex, agender, asexual, and others—in celebrating and affirming all identities. This year, when Pride is coinciding with the increased visibility of police violence against people of color, as well as a pandemic that most profoundly affects poor communities of color, we would like to specifically acknowledge some of the most marginalized and often forgotten of the queer community—transgender people of color. Although our agency does not focus our services specifically on this community, this year we want to speak out to say that we believe not only that Black Lives Matter, but that Black Trans Lives Matter too.

On June 28, 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, an establishment known to cater to the queer community, including those most likely to be arrested and attacked by police for existing—transgender women of color. It was common for gay bars and other establishments to be raided and their patrons to be arrested; but that night, they fought back with the biggest support behind them yet. On the 51st anniversary of this uprising, we honor those women and all the other queer individuals who catalyzed what we came to know as the Gay Rights Movement.

We acknowledge that the progress made in this country towards queer liberation is thanks in large part to Black, Brown, and Indigenous transgender women who were on the forefront of the uprising. They paved the way for queer people to be able to live authentic lives, and taught us that when we elevate the most marginalized voices, the safety of all will follow. Pride means we consciously remember that our work is not done until Black trans lives matter. We must not forget Tony McDade, a Black trans man who was killed by police two days after George Floyd. 

Acknowledge Alliance has always focused on helping youth build resilience and strength in the face of adversity. When LGBTQIA+ students and educators need our support in the toughest times, we provide a safe place to listen and empower them without judgment. While not everyone in the LGBTQIA+ community has the same experiences with mental health, common experiences that create and/or exacerbate mental health issues include harassment, family rejection, denial of rights, violence, and discrimination. Due to these negative impacts, queer youth are particularly vulnerable to struggling with mental health. Research shows that queer people are more likely than their heterosexual peers to experience anxiety, depression, lowered self-esteem, and suicidal thoughts. When someone is both queer and a person of color, they experience an even higher rate of discrimination and adversity. 

As mental health professionals, we know the importance of intersectionality; people are multidimensional and we must understand how their different identities—their race, gender, sexuality, class, and so many others—form their lived experience. We strive to do our clinical work with this knowledge in mind and to view the students and educators we serve holistically. As an agency, we are committed to our own progress in providing more effective treatment for our most oppressed communities. We will:

• Implement trainings to ensure all our clinicians gain competence in working with LGBTQIA+ folks and can approach treatment from an anti-racist lens.
  

• Examine our own biases and the ways in which we may be upholding white supremacy, and work tirelessly and consciously against them.
  

• Remain open to criticism and suggestions as to how we can better serve our most vulnerable clients.
  

We work towards a safer, more accepting, and more equal world, specifically within the school communities we serve. Additionally, we support the creation of many departments of true public safety, and envision a world where more is invested in programs to provide mental health services, to house people who are homeless, to reduce substance use problems, to improve education, and to meet community emergencies with nonviolent experts in these areas. It is our hope that these creations and changes will help our queer students and educators of color, as well as everyone we serve, create lasting resilience and sustainable improvements in mental health. 

Forget-Me-Not: Honoring & Celebrating Changemakers

Dear Acknowledge Alliance Family,

On behalf of the students and educators we serve, thank you for your unwavering support during these challenging times. Even before COVID-19, we were hard at work, throughout the year, helping students and educators build resilience. These last few months have shown us how resilient they really are. Teachers moved their classrooms online overnight and found creative ways to stay engaged with each student. Students persevered and adapted to remote learning despite missing in-person relationships and major events like graduation. School communities, as well as our community, came together and lifted one another with supportive messages of hope, care and love. These emotional connections pushed us forward, and together we finished this school year strong.

Let’s take a moment to celebrate! Although this year’s Forget-Me-Not event could not take place due to shelter-in-place orders, we have not forgotten its essence: to recognize our community’s educators and partners for their significant impact on the lives of young people. Please join us in honoring the following individuals who inspire us with their commitment to student well-being:

Our honorees are extraordinary examples of educators and mental health professionals who pour their hearts into nurturing students’ strengths, resilience and growth. The caring relationships that they build contribute to inclusive school cultures that promote equity, social emotional learning, and improved student outcomes. This gives us hope.

Once school resumes, Acknowledge Alliance will continue to be there to help students and educators process the trauma and loss they may have experienced during the pandemic. (Read more about how we have been supporting youth in the midst of shelter-in-place.) We know that the transition back to school, along with the range of emotions that come with it, will take time to unpack and heal.

Will you please help us fund the hope?
Please join us and our board members in enriching the lives of students and teachers by making a gift that is personally meaningful to you. Your contribution will go towards our programs to support educators and ultimately shape our youth. In the future, our youth will go on to become leaders. Many of the students we serve are passionate about giving back to our community. They are the hope and positive changemakers of tomorrow. They have the ability to learn, the willingness to achieve their goals, the resilience to overcome any hurdle, the potential to change the world for the better...but it all starts with someone believing in them.

Thank you for believing in our mission, for believing in our teachers, and for believing in our youth.

With hope,
Sharon Navarro
Executive Director

Supporting Students Through the Pandemic

Our dedicated team of mental health professionals have found ways to keep providing counseling and crucial support to students in the midst of shelter-in-place and school closures. In this interview with the Tim Griffith Foundation, Gladys Gudino, one of our Transition Program Therapists, shares her experience of working with students and speaks about how they are navigating through challenges during this time.

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1. How long have you been with Acknowledge Alliance?

I have been working with Acknowledge Alliance since starting my graduate school practicum in 2014. I was eager to work with the agency for some years. My first contact with their amazing work was in 2008 when I was working at the Boys and Girls Club as the College Bound Program Site Director. I recall the clinical supervisor and therapists coming in to work with the students one-on-one. I was always intrigued and yearned for the same connection with the teenagers which I knew to be loving teens that welcome genuine and supportive relationships with adults.

2. What does your role as Transition Program Therapist entail?

As a Transition Program Therapist, my work focuses on working with adolescents. I work with teens who are considered at “high risk” of dropping out of and/or being expelled from school, or they are reintegrating into comprehensive high schools. These are often students who have had behavior, attendance, or substance challenges. School staff are looking to support them so that they can graduate and stay out of juvenile hall or youth camps.

I also work with academically-inclined students who want to excel academically, but face many challenges as they transition to new schools with different environments that are bigger or smaller, less diverse, and usually more rigorous. Often, they struggle with anxiety, depression, and their sense of identity.

All of these students have a common need and desire to form bonds with caring adults – people who hold no agenda and listen to them in order to understand and accept them. They yearn for a non-judgemental relationship where their fears, frustrations, and trains of thought can be laid out to be heard and respected; they want their stories to be honored. Many, if not all, of these young people come from families where there is immense love, but often a lack of knowing how to connect with one another, how to amend hard experiences, or how to make decisions that would break unhealthy family cycles.

3. How have you had to change to accommodate shelter-in-place?

As a clinician and essential worker, shelter-in-place has forced me to transition to a different platform for my therapy sessions. This means having tele sessions or video sessions, and phone calls with the majority of students. For students in crisis or families living in very small spaces that do not permit for the privacy or internet connection needed for a remote session, I safely follow strict social distancing, cleaning and health protocol to make any necessary arrangements upon meeting. Despite “zoom fatigue” from remote learning, my student clients have shown over and over their commitment to their mental health. They attend their weekly therapy sessions and their interpersonal work continues seamlessly.

Personally, video sessions have required adjusting as a clinician. Tracking body language, tone, and emotion through a small screen is different. While this can be a challenge, there are benefits. In a small way, the playing field is leveled: I am meeting them in their space. I am welcomed into their home and I experience their home life in some way. This gives for a better understanding of the experience of my clients.

4. How are your students adjusting to shelter-in-place?

Students are adjusting in incredible ways. Shelter-in-place has uprooted students from their normal lives and from their school experience which is a large part of their life. From one day to another, students were asked to pick up their belongings and prepare to not return to their schools. They did not have a chance to say goodbye to friends and/or teachers. At home, they were faced with additional challenges: learning how to learn remotely, crowded homes, laid off parents, and piling bills with no end date in sight. Many graduates felt robbed of a spring of celebration, minimal work, and lifelong memories. Despite all of this, they continue to navigate the day-to-day. In my case, they show up for our sessions ready to share genuinely and willing to listen to what little I have to say that may offer encouragement or gentle reminders of their strengths.

5. What kinds of difficulties are they facing at the moment?

Students are having an array of difficulties. Many things are uncertain and students are processing all of this. Some are the same ones as before: unsolved trauma, absent parents, academic frustrations, and limitations to age-appropriate independence. In many cases, students who were well on their way to separating from their families, literally and figuratively, feel trapped. Now with this indefinite shelter-in-place, those who anticipated leaving home for college after getting through high school no longer know what summer and college may look like anymore. For others, their plans of getting a summer job are suspended. Students are being pulled back into family systems that may not be conducive to individuation: they are asked to take care of siblings, they are considering staying local to save money, and some are feeling guilty about leaving their families during dire times. The futures they imagined and worked hard to achieve are now clouded with uncertainty and financial struggles.

6. How are you advising them to cope with those difficulties?

It is a lot of reassurance and validating. I reassure them that as a community and state, we are doing what we know is best to ensure the safety and health of our population. We understand that anxiety under these unusual circumstances is normal. I validate all of their feelings because any reaction to this abnormal situation is valid. We can feel any way we want and that is okay. We strive to practice mindfulness and acceptance of all our feelings. We look at the facts to help make plans one step at a time.

We also deal with anticipatory grief. This means addressing this “living loss”: we know things have changed, but we also know there are still more that will change. We will continue to lose things and this can feel powerless. So we name our feelings, we own them, and we let them pass. There is power, and empowerment, in naming them. All of this falls under the umbrella of self-care which is of utter importance right now. I talk with my clients and with youth groups about this, and remind them about setting boundaries. When they learn to take care of themselves, they can act and speak in accordance with their own values during this time of crisis. I also remind them of their strengths and help them find their own voice in the chaos that exists. Often, we just need to take a moment to be reminded of who we are.

An Open Letter to Our Community

Dear Acknowledge Alliance Family,
 
We at Acknowledge Alliance see and hear the outcry across the nation and world for change due to systemic inequities. We’d like to take a moment to acknowledge the pain of the families of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and too many others in the Black community who have lost loved ones in similar unjust brutalities across generations.

We stand together with Black students, Black teachers, Black families, and Black communities for racial equity and justice. While we may not have all the answers, we want to be part of the change. Resilience requires acknowledging pain and trauma. It requires looking inward at our participation in other’s pain. It requires authentic connection with others. It requires action.

In order for us to promote lifelong resilience and serve the students and educators who need our support, we have to see, hear, and value them. And to really do that, we need to look deeper and understand the systems of privilege and oppression, systemic injustice, and the underlying issues in society that have directly and/or indirectly affected each individual, including ourselves.

Our team at Acknowledge Alliance made it a priority to talk about race, power and privilege as a group over the last five years. We participated in agency workshops that helped us learn about and engage with cultures and communities that are different from our own. We particularly spent this week listening, reflecting, unlearning, learning, sharing resources, and having uncomfortable but necessary conversations to educate and better ourselves – as therapists, as mentors, as leaders, as community members. Our agency’s core values include cultural humility and diversity. We strive to acknowledge, understand and respond to a diversity of cultures. We believe it’s important to provide culturally appropriate and culturally responsive services. We share, support, and challenge each other to maintain the most reflective practices.

Schools and teachers have the capacity to shape the knowledge, mindsets, and skills of our youth. As mental health professionals serving school communities, we work to be inclusive, curious and open to all perspectives and dialogues. We have the best interest of students and teachers in the forefront of our work at all times, even when that means confronting the trauma of discriminatory practices that many of our youth face. The relationships that we build are strengthened by our foundation of humanity, love, care, trust, dignity, and resilience. Just like we focus on long-term outcomes in our therapeutic work, we will focus on creating long-term change in our community by helping our youth envision new possibilities for their future without being held back by systems of discrimination.

Together in community,
Acknowledge Alliance 

Click here for some resources to help with learning, action and dialogue.

Staying Connected through the School Year Ending (COVID-19 Edition)

At the end of every school year, teachers respond in many ways, including looking forward to the last day, feeling sad about the tremendous loss, or maybe a combination of both. This year, with the stay-at-home orders for the last three months and figuring out not only how to do distance learning but also how to stay connected to students, the end of this year may be particularly challenging.


The pandemic has led to a series of losses on a global scale that seem too big to really understand, though we have all felt losses related to our sense of safety, our social connections, personal freedoms, and financial security. Everyone is impacted, including people who haven’t lost anything like a job or a loved one: a sense of communal grief or “ambiguous loss” has been felt as we witnessed many systems in our society become unstable, including the education system. Most of us have felt losses in areas that we previously felt were stable, including predictability, control, justice, and the belief that we can protect our children. 


For your students, they have been managing losses related to these same areas, and, because of their developmental stage, their responses have likely looked different. Many have had dysregulated nervous systems, making them antsy, volatile, hyper-vigilant, and easily triggered into extreme reactions. Others may have withdrawn, appearing dazed or tuned out. Regardless of the specific responses, most children who have felt the impacts of school closures the most may not have been able to settle their emotional brains sufficiently to engage with their thinking brains. And for some students, if their families are even more vulnerable, there are even more risks related to isolation, poverty, homelessness, and domestic violence. 


The good news is that grief is a natural part of the process of being human. For most of us, we are resilient and we will emerge with a sense of normalcy, even if we can’t predict what that might look like now. Make sure now, in the last several weeks, that you continue to help students “name and claim” their feelings of loss, as identifying feelings helps them move through the body, and re-regulate our systems. Pay attention to students whose lives may be chronically disrupted and need extra support. 


More good news: the potential of schools to heal traumatized children and prevent an escalation of need is huge. It does not take transforming classrooms into mental health clinics or teachers into counselors: the treatment is the school community. By prioritizing your relationships with your students during this ending process, you are creating a transformative classroom that is healing. There’s a bonus with this response: what you are doing now will not only help your students, it will also help you. 


While acknowledging the reality of the present is critical in supporting your students, focusing on the good at the end of the school year can help them have a more positive closure, which in turn helps them maintain some emotional regulation and stability as they move into the summer, and face potential new losses that we cannot yet predict. Endings are a time for reflection, integration, and looking forward, and as the final weeks of school approach, it is important to think about the kind of endings we want for ourselves and our students, now more than ever. 

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Questions to Encourage Reflection and Growth

As you plan for the last several weeks, consider bringing the following suggestions into your virtual classroom and interactions. Recommended questions can be used for class discussion, small groups, or personal reflection activities. Remember, your job is to listen and help students articulate their thoughts, not to “fix” or solve what is expressed. Responding with empathy and kindness comes naturally to teachers, so share your heart as you hear what they have to say.

Reflection: Review and Celebrate
Think about times when your students showed initiative or how they have changed over the school year. Your reflection and detailed description will help your students also feel like you cared enough about them to remember the small stuff.

• How does it feel to be ending the school year?

• Where did we, as a class, begin and how far have we come, in terms of academics, problem solving, and personal and classroom growth?

• What will they miss about this year?

• What will they never forget about this year? / What is one nice memory that they have from this year?
  
  

Integration: Growth and Change
Help your students think about how their new skills and growth affect who they are now and what they are capable of doing. 

• What did they learn about themselves this year?

• What have they discovered are their strengths?

• In what ways did they surprise themselves with what they accomplished?

• What is one think they feel proud about?

• One obstacle or barrier that they were able to remove?
  

Looking Forward: New Challenges and Opportunities
Help your students become excited about what comes next. Empower them to feel they have some choice and control over what they want to have happen, based on what they have learned this year. 

• What do they want to learn next year?

• What friendships will they take with them?

• What do they wish for each other in the future?
  

This is an important time of the year for most of your students, this year especially. Take the time to stay engaged and reflect, integrate, and look forward with your class so they leave on a positive and inspiring note. The more you can help them understand how they are currently applying what they have learned, the more they can believe in that change and growth themselves.


Your school’s Resilience Consultant is here to support you as you create healthy closure for you and your students at the end of this year.

Resources
American Psychological Association, Grief and COVID-19: Mourning our bygone lives

Tes for Schools (international student counseling organization), Five ways to help children heal after the pandemic

Ready to Change the Future?

Dear Acknowledge Alliance Family,

May is an important month for us. Not only is it Mental Health Awareness Month, but today is also the first day of Teacher Appreciation Week! Usually, we would be celebrating with many of you at our Forget-Me-Not event. Although our spring fundraiser cannot go on as planned, we’d like to invite you to fund the hope and make a gift to support our programs at this critical time and honor the special teachers who are essential workers during this global health crisis.

The coronavirus pandemic will continue to change the lives of youth and educators long after the crisis is over. On top of their typical workload and stressors, teachers will now spend the rest of the year and beyond supporting students exposed to traumatic events, while at the same time, dealing with trauma themselves.

In order for teachers and students to fully resume learning and have the capacity to focus on academics, we need to help them heal and cope with the difficult emotions they are experiencing during these challenging months.

Resilience is the heart of Acknowledge Alliance, and one of the ways we strengthen resilience is by building relationships. Right now, keeping our connections and communication open with our school communities matters most. Our priority is to ensure that teachers and students have a safe space to feel heard, understood, and valued.

Our dedicated team of staff are counseling students through telehealth services, providing educator support via virtual meetings, and even creating new activities with videos to continue social emotional learning lessons. I’m proud to say that this is working well despite unusual circumstances. More teachers are reaching out than ever before, and we are hearing that students miss us.

Will you please join us to help create a resilient future for our youth and educators? Teachers and students deserve all the support we can give, and we count on your support, too, to serve them. Our Board of Directors will generously match up to $20,000 in donations today! Any amount helps to reach our goal.

Together, let’s give hope. The more emotional support we can provide now, the more hope we will have for tomorrow and the future. Thank you for your kindness and generosity!

With gratitude,
Sharon Navarro
Executive Director
 

P.S. #GivingTuesdayNow—a global day of unity to give back and support nonprofits—is taking place tomorrow too! Whether you give now or tomorrow, your support will uplift our school communities in the most meaningful ways. Thank you again.

A Care Package for You

Dear Acknowledge Alliance Family,

In light of the current issues facing the world, I know how easy it is to become discouraged. Yet, it is encouraging to see our communities come together to take care of those in need.

I want you to know that all of us at Acknowledge Alliance are still here, still working, and still fully committed to supporting the youth and educators who count on us most.

And, I want you to know that we are here for you, too.

Please enjoy this special care package that my team created for you! It includes uplifting messages, reminders for self-care, and ways to build resilience during COVID-19. May this inspire, encourage and uplift you today and every day.

Our hearts are with you and our community, and I am hopeful that by staying resilient together, we will get through this stronger. We are beyond grateful to have your support. Thank you.

With gratitude and appreciation,

Sharon Navarro
Executive Director

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Gallery of Hope

We made these messages with lots of love and care to brighten your day!

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Resilience & Self-Care Check-In

Our staff were so resourceful and came up with the idea of recording videos at home to connect and communicate with students and teachers online. We created a collective short video to show you some of our work and remind you that you also have the power to be resilient during this difficult time.

Self-care questions to ask yourself daily:

What strengths am I using today?
How am I feeling today?
How have I practiced kindness today?
What am I grateful for today?
How have I practiced mindfulness today?

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10 Tips for Building Resilience

Here are ten ways to help you strengthen your resilience!
Click here to read our full list with more details and examples.

10 Tips for Building Resilience During COVID-19

1. Acknowledge feelings
Identify and recognize any feelings that are arising. This action does not mean that you are trying to change the feeling or wrestle with it; it simply means that you say to yourself, “I feel anxious” when you feel anxiety. When you name it, you can tame it by feeling it and encouraging movement through your awareness.

2. Ground yourself
Bring your awareness to your physical body, noticing where your entire body is in the space around you, and do a mental scan from your toes up to your head. Notice the quality of your breath and see if you can focus on taking three slow, gentle breaths. By getting out of the mind and back into the body, responses to ourselves and others have more awareness.

3. Normalize your feelings and reactions
You are having a normal reaction if the stress of this pandemic is aggravating or triggering past trauma. Everyone carries a “backpack” of trauma, whether it’s big or small; sudden, big changes and uncertainty can cause more awareness of the weight of old hurts more than before the world changed. Communal traumatic experiences affect strong, “normal,” healthy people, too. Be patient with yourself and others. Take breaks. Taking a moment for a deep breath is powerful. Unpack your stress backpack by talking about how you are reacting to the pandemic with someone supportive, who will keep your conversation confidential.

4. Acknowledge the losses
What we are experiencing globally is a radical change, and aspects of our lives have changed dramatically. Much of the adaptation involves some kind of loss - of graduations, of birthday and holiday parties, of even simple activities like going to the movies or hanging out with friends. Collectively, we are grieving for these losses and are also dealing with anticipatory grief because the future is uncertain. Our emotional brains are reacting to this uncertainty, feeling like we’re unsafe even if we are doing everything we can to be safe and our thinking brains are trying hard to stay in control. Thinking about letting go of what you can’t control can be helpful.

5. Break tasks into manageable pieces
One day at a time is more than just a saying, it’s a proven stress management tool. When handling ongoing change amidst a crisis, it’s natural to feel like you can’t keep up with it all. Taking things day by day, or even hour by hour, can make an uncertain time feel more manageable. Set small, attainable goals and celebrate those goals when you reach them.  Acknowledging that once-easy tasks can feel overwhelming in times of stress. Be realistic with your expectations of yourself, practice setting boundaries and saying “no” to other’s requests, and let yourself feel satisfaction and a sense of accomplishment for small victories like sending an email you’ve been avoiding or making yourself a healthy lunch.

6. Engage in regular gratitude and strengths-based reflection
A regular gratitude practice can soothe the nervous system by training our brain to “look for what’s strong instead of what’s wrong.” They are most effective when regularly cultivated. Take time at the end of each day to name three good things from your day. Intentionally check in with a friend or colleague and reflect together on what is going well, coping methods that are working for you, or how you can be proud of your response to current events.

7. Engage in regular creative expression
Any activities that involve the flow of your creative juices inspire innovation, reflection, inspiration, and creativity. A regular time to write, make art, dance, sing, brainstorm new projects, or pretend play with your kids. Engaging in the creative arts can be a way to communicate thoughts and feelings that might otherwise be difficult to articulate. Artistic practices can also cultivate mindful and meditative states, helping to move into flow and out of the emotional brain that could be stuck in anxiety.

8. Stay socially connected
Staying connected with people we love and care for is critical. “Social distancing” is the extremely important way to fight the spread of the coronavirus; however, it’s the “physical” distancing that we need to follow, not the “social.” Talking with others can make feelings less intense, give a sense of control, help reduce isolation, find meaning in what’s happening, and re-engage with life.

9. Be intentional with your media consumption
Take breaks from following the COVID-19 spread and statistics from its global impact, especially fearful images. Being on the receiving end of bad news on a consistent basis is unhealthy, and can impact our “thinking” brain response, too. Turn off the news (including social media news feeds) and seek other sources of inspiration and engage in sharing uplifting, solution-based news.

10. Increase compassion practices
Everyone has different levels of fear and grief, as well as different sizes of their trauma backpacks. Responses to the stress and anxiety are coming out in different ways that may not be what you would normally expect, and this includes you! Be patient. If you have an interaction with a family member, work colleague, or neighbor that is unpleasant or upsetting, think about who that person usually is and not who they seem to be in this moment.