In this session, participants will explore the essential components for establishing and maintaining effective, sustainable school-based wellness programs that support both students and staff. Using the Appreciative Inquiry framework, attendees will engage in a collaborative process to envision a wellness program implementation model, along with actionable best practices that can be tailored to any school community. This interactive session will guide participants through strategies for embedding wellness into the school culture, ensuring that mental health, well-being, and long-term support are prioritized for both educators and students. Participants will leave with a clear vision and concrete steps for fostering a school environment that promotes lasting wellness for all.
Learning Goals and Takeaways: 1. Attendees will actively participate in using the Appreciative Inquiry framework to design a customized wellness program model for their school or district. 2. Participants will learn the essential elements needed to create effective, long-lasting wellness programs that support both students and staff. 3. Participants will leave with actionable best practices and strategies for embedding wellness into the fabric of their school culture, making it adaptable to their specific educational environment. 4. Attendees will be guided through creating a sustainable vision for wellness in their schools, with a focus on fostering mental health and well-being over the long term for both educators and students.
Employees in community behavioral health and education settings are regularly exposed to traumatic material. Students and clients carry trauma exposure ranging from difficult school transitions, immigration traumas, and intrafamilial violence. This manifests in school and treatment settings in increased mental health struggles and often problematic behaviors including but not limited to violence. Holding space for students and clients amidst their trauma response undoubtedly affects the good people working with them. Witnessing matriculated struggles, managing to keep milieus safe, and witnessing treatment and/or education “failures” can be a heavy weight for professionals to carry. Many training courses in trauma exposure focus on defining compassion fatigue, secondary and vicarious trauma, and exploring elements of self-care. This interactive presentation will focus on building a community of care and developing intention in navigating trauma affected systems to a place of post traumatic growth.
Presentation objectives: • Understand what makes a trauma affected system • Understand the difference between sustained trauma exposure in systems and single incident trauma • Understand how trauma exposure effects professionals in trauma affected systems • Understand meaning making and post traumatic growth • Discuss and explore intentional strategies of self-care, and to build communities of care
This presentation will focus on strategically building and sustaining effective school-based wellness programs prioritizing mental health, racial equity, and youth empowerment. By bringing together best practices from school-based clinicians and administrators, we will explore innovative strategies that schools can use to address both the emotional and social needs of their students, especially in marginalized communities affected by trauma. Attendees will also learn how to actively engage youth voices and tackle the mental health stigma among students of color while leveraging new methods to expand services that address the social determinants of health. Presenting bold, innovative strategies will inspire schools to re-imagine how they support the mental well-being of all students, creating more inclusive, resilient, and sustainable communities.
