Name: Crystal Garcia
Position: Clinical Intervention Specialist @ Rosemary Elementary in Campbell/San Jose, CA
What led you to your current position? I interned at an elementary and middle school as a school social worker/counselor during my final year in my MSW program last school year, and it was really my first time being in position that focused on mental health/social emotional behavioral health in a school setting. While it was definitely very challenging for me, I really enjoyed being able to work with so many kiddos and support them in further identifying strengths and developing further skills. After the internship, I felt that I barely even grazed the surface of what this type of work actually looks like. I was seeking an opportunity to continue with that line of work while also continuing to have the support of a team and supervisor. When I interviewed at Seneca, I was excited about the idea of working as part of a UE team, while also still working directly with a clinical supervisor. I also felt that the UE model was in line with my own beliefs as a person and professional. 
Fun Fact/Quote? I love tea! I have it pretty much every morning. I also love making the tea into lattes (sometimes). A few years ago, while on a trip to San Luis Obispo, I had my first “bowl of soul” —which is I believe just is a combination of steamed soy milk along with an herbal tea (usually chamomile), honey, and some spices—and now I love those too!
What does your average day look like? It's different each day, but this week I’ve been trying to start off my mornings with a “mindfulness while driving” exercise I found on YouTube in order to be in a better headspace before getting to work. After that, I get to my site, log on to my computer, get scheduling and other things settled. Then meet with different students throughout the day, sometimes connect with teachers or parents about their students, and try to finish up my day with mental health notes. 
Why do you do this work? I highly believe in the power of education and how positively it can impact someone’s life... unfortunately, I don’t believe our school system is set up to really be able to adequately serve all students and their varying needs. I do this work in hope that one day all students will feel supported and as though they truly have a place and sense of belonging within the education system because I think everyone deserves that.

Name: Lidia Sebhat
Position: Student Support Assistant (SSA) at Learning Without Limits
What led you to your current position? I would say Seneca found me. I was really interested in entering the mental health sphere, and specifically, I wanted to work with kids and learn more about how a non-profit organization functions. Seneca's unconditional care model really struck me and I was sold from there. 
Fun Fact/Quote?  PLAY! I love getting to incorporate movement, games, and laughter into all the work I do. Helping a kid who struggles transitioning out of recess could look like races to line, bear crawls down the hall or being a secret agent who has to sneak into class "without anyone seeing them." Being creative is 90% of the job and I love turning games into learning opportunities. Joy is one of Seneca's core values that I really align with and work hard to keep at the forefront of all my work. 
What does your average day look like?  I tend to work with students who need all day supports, helping them both in the classroom and in social settings, like lunch and recess. My work has a high emphasis on social-emotional learning and growth in order for students to access education. This encompasses teaching social skills, self-regulatory skills, as well as providing academic scaffolding and support to help students feel successful academically and have students feel good in their bodies throughout the day.
Why do you do this work? I've worked with kids heavily in past jobs in summer camps and after school programs but it wasn't until working at Seneca that I felt like I had the tools to support ALL kids. Seneca's really works to meet students wherever they're at and create individualized goals and plans to ensure that the child is able to grow not just academically but really give them tools to help them navigate themselves and the world around them with more ease and joy. There are so many incredible trainings offered at Seneca that have really helped me become a better service provider and build up my skills and capacity to support kids with extensive trauma histories and/or differently abled students. Seneca also does a great job of providing career advancement opportunities. Anytime I've been interested in a different position, role or program, I've been able to talk to my supervisor and feel supported in any and all career exploration. 

The mission of Seneca’s Oakland Alameda Public Schools (SOAPS) program is to provide each student with the best individualized academic, behavioral, social, and emotional support possible in the least restrictive environment. The I-CECs include a multidisciplinary team of the district teacher, district teacher’s aide, Seneca Mental Health Counselors, Seneca Classroom Therapist, and a Seneca UE Coach. Through team collaboration, each student’s unique needs and goals are addressed through a personalized treatment plan that includes individual, group, and often family therapy, supported by intensive case management and crisis intervention services. Program services are designed and tailored to enable each individual student the best possible behavioral, therapeutic, and educational support.
 
The classroom at Think College Now (TCN) is new to SOAPS this year. TCN is a college-focused elementary school in Oakland’s Fruitvale district who’s mission is that all students will have the tools to choose their life’s path and desired occupation with an equitable opportunity to attend college and pursue their dreams. There are currently four 4th – 6th grade students enrolled in the classroom, all of whom are working on specialized behavioral and academic plans. Students receive individual therapy every week as well participate in group social skills, and the classroom therapist is available for check-ins with students as needed. With the support of the classroom team, three students who are partially mainstreaming in general education classes, and the remaining student will be joining their peers very soon. 

Every Friday morning, the students, teachers, administrators and staff gather in the yard before school starts and recite in unison the school’s vision statement. The fourth and fifth grade voices roar loud and proud and lead the voices of the kindergarten and first grade voices, as everyone makes hand signals along with the words they recite. Rain or shine, this tradition repeats itself weekly, and it is a warm way to start the morning, seeing hundreds of children of all colors, ages, sizes and backgrounds coming together and passionately reciting words of encouragement in unison.

“We stand on the shoulders of those who came before us. As we grow into leaders who are passionate and care about making the world better, we are equipped with skills and knowledge, filled with curiosity. And we know that even when we face challenges we will achieve.”

Many of the young bright faces that recite this statement do so out of habit and memorization. But when we really dissect the meaning behind these words, we can see how much meaning they truly hold.

This year our Mental Health team at Lighthouse expanded significantly and it’s been an exciting collaboration to watch unfold.   After years of providing therapy services through a county contract for just one Clinical Intervention Specialist (CIS) on the high school side, this year the Seneca team found itself with a new, expanded contract. Our team suddenly went from one to three CIS plus a graduate student intern, as well as two School Psychology interns!!  

We now provide therapy services for students from Kindergarten through 12th grade.  Our expanded Seneca team joins Lighthouse’s own Lead Clinician, Lighthouse’s Clinical Psychologist and 5 Clinical Psychology interns.  I think this is the largest combined counseling support team of any of our All In programs--11 people sharing three therapy spaces, fanning out to support a myriad of students, families and needs in a -dare I say- beautifully coordinated manner. This doesn’t even factor in our Speech and Occupational Therapy providers, who round out our Seneca therapeutic team (between the Lighthouse and Lodestar school campuses) to create quite a crowded office when we all show up at the same time!
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Coordinating this many people takes planning, patience and understanding from everyone involved.  To start, our teams had to get real about how many rooms the school has available for confidential therapy space.  Once this was established, teams set about creating color-coded, individualized calendars that show who will use what room, and when.  Even with this organizational feat completed, I have witnessed team members graciously offering to step out of a shared space to allow for another confidential meeting to occur.  I am consistently charmed by the positive energy and willingness to compromise that each person seems to manifest as these teams get to know each other and we head into the second quarter of the school year.  
 
There is no doubt the students at Lighthouse can feel this level of collaboration and kindness.  When teams work to build trust and show grace to each other, team members are more equipped to meet the needs of the students with a grounded, even presence.  It’s like that airplane-age-old proverb of putting your oxygen mask on first before helping others: the Lighthouse team is bringing so much oxygen!!!  

If you happen to be visiting Seneca Family of Agencies' Center for Training and Education (aka: “The Rock”) and poke your head into classroom #2 (the All-in! hub), you will likely find a number of amazing staff working tirelessly to ensure that students in the Bay and beyond experience Unconditional Education. While many of these staff members are visiting Rock to participate in a professional learning community, supervision, or a collaborative meeting, there are a handful of staff who call classroom #2 their home, including the Unconditional Education Strategic Initiatives Team.

 What is the Unconditional Education Strategic Initiatives Team?

​This team works centrally to support the vision and values of Unconditional Education through efforts to sustain high-quality programs and support growth and scale of the work within California and beyond. Together, the team supports our Unconditional Education program’s implementation, assessment, and story-telling efforts by focusing on three core practices:

Implementation and Adaptive Integration
Articulating what it means and looks like to “do UE” while allowing for the adjustments that will ensure we are responsive to each unique school community.
 
Evaluation and Assessment
Collecting the data and stories we need to improve practice and demonstrate growth and success.
 
Dissemination
Telling our story to all stakeholders including families and partner staff, school leaders, county partners, funders, and policy makers.

Sonya Benavides Assistant Director of Model Implementation
Sonya supports program initiatives focused on articulating the “what” and the “how” of Unconditional Education and partners with program leadership to build capacity for adaptive integration so that our programs are responsive to the individual school context. Sonya is currently leading the ION pilot, in hopes that we can develop and implement a database that is more responsive to the needs of our program. She supports capacity building by training schools in the foundations of UE and supporting them to adapt our practices to their school needs. Sonya is also honored to be participating in the Leading for Equity Fellowship with the National Equity Project to ensure our work continues to be grounded in the value of equity.
 
Jordan Ullman Assistant Director of Assessment and Evaluation
Jordan collaborates with program leadership to design tools and processes that help staff use data to drive their decisions about student services and to tell the stories of the schools, youth, and families they serve. He works behind the scenes with data from across schools, compiling, analyzing, and creating reports that communicate program outcomes and model fidelity on a broader scale.
 
Jenny Ventura- Director of Model Implementation and Assessment
Jenny works to provide leadership and support to the Strategic Initiatives Team and partners with the Executive Director and program directors to ensure that we sustain high-quality programs and strategically scale the Unconditional Education model. She supports the process of securing funding for the work, partnering with external evaluators to formally assess its impact (and hopefully get UE qualified as an evidence-based practice!), and sharing the story of UE with external audiences via conferences, tours, social media, and press opportunities.
 
William Chiang- Unconditional Education Project Manager
William supports all our strategic initiative efforts. From the organization, planning and preparation of strategic tours and events, to supporting project management for our evaluation and assessment practices, William is intricately involved in supporting the smooth functions of the SI team. William also partners with the agency’s Digital Communications Manager to ensure that we have an impactful presence on social media. 

​In our roles and through our focus on implementation, assessment, and story-telling we offer support to the rest of the Unconditional Education family in our collective efforts to meet this year’s program goals:

​#Together : Embedding Ourselves in The School Communities We Support
Focusing on adaptive integration to ensure coherent service delivery for students and efficient processes for staff.
 
#DataTellsAStory : Using Data to Drive Our Decisions and Celebrate Our Successes
Using data in driving our decisions to mitigate unconscious bias and highlight successes that might otherwise be overlooked.
 
#Twofer: Articulating How Our Interventions Can Maximize Our Secondary Impact
Exploring and implementing how we can simultaneously promote prevention/early intervention and build the capacity of others while providing Unconditional Education interventions. 

​Our team is honored to support the work happening every day in our partnership schools. If you have ideas on how we can continue to improve implementation, assessment, and story-telling practices, please feel free to shoot us an email or stop by classroom #2 to share your ideas!

Name: Victoria Eastman
Position: Behavioral Intervention Specialist
 
What led you to your current position? I have the typical Senecan experiences that is solely unique to work we do. Starting as a Student Support Counselor at a charter school in Tacoma Washington lead to Crisis support Counselor working in partner with all of the charter schools in Washington. It was a whirlwind of learning from great educators and seeing systems that either supported students completely or were barriers to their access to education.  A few months later and change of partnerships, I began my work with Seattle Public Schools to advocate for kids and be a systems changer.
 
Fun fact/Quote: "We must remember that one determined person can make a significant difference, and that a small group of determined individuals can change the course of history" - Sonia Johnson
 
What does your average day looks like: Average? What’s average? The key aspects of my day that I truly enjoy is creating a positive space for students to enter where they are loved and belong. I work with students to promote regulations and have greater access to their instruction. I support teachers in giving feedback and validating the work they are doing. I am included in the COST team and PBIS and am successful at being the voice of Unconditional Education.
 
Why you do this work? I have always wanted to work with youth. As a child with my own IEP, I felt compelled to support kids in a way I needed as a student. I aim to be an advocate and safe, trusted person who can empower youth because they are the future. 

​Since the 2017-2018 school year, Seneca Washington has cultivated an impactful relationship with Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary (pK-5th) in Seattle’s Othello neighborhood. As part of Seneca’s expanding partnership with Seattle Public Schools, a Student Support Counselor was placed at the school in Fall of 2017. Starting in the Fall of 2019, Seneca proudly expanded MLK Jr.’s partnership to include a full-time Unconditional Education Coach.

​With an enrollment of about 350 students, MLK Jr. takes seriously it’s responsibility to provide every student with an excellent, holistic education. Martin Luther King Jr. is known a Seattle Public School’s most diverse student body, with students coming from over 20 unique languages and cultures. Over 98% of MLK Jr.’s students are students of color and about 40% are English Language Learners. Martin Luther King Jr. is a school where joy is always in the air, families and community members are active and engaged, and staff care deeply about the students they serve. 

​Seneca’s partnership with MLK Jr. Elementary began with a full-time Student Support Counselor focused on carrying out the reset procedure- helping students who are experiencing behavioral challenges, in the moment, to regulate emotions, reflect, restore relationships, and reintegrate into classrooms. With support from Seneca staff, these Tier II and Tier III behaviors become less frequent and shorter in duration. The reduction in reactive interventions at MLK Jr. provided a powerful opportunity for Seneca- to shift the focus of the partnership to a proactive PBIS-informed approaches (check-in/check-outs, reward systems, behavior plans, etc.) for individual students.

​As the partnership with MLK Jr. continued to grow, Seneca staff became more integral resources in systems-wide changes at the classroom and school-wide level. This shift resulted in Seneca placing MLK Jr.’s first Unconditional Education Coach at the school in August 2019. Martin Luther King Jr.’s UE Coach works in-step with the principal to lead multi-disciplinary, multi-agency teams to identify key areas of growth within the school. In a few short months, the UE Coach has made incredible progress in implementing core parts of the Unconditional Education model; she’s kick-started the school’s Multi-Tiered Systems of Support team, coordinated MLK Jr.’s PBIS implementation, established a Coordination of Services Team referral system, and began coaching individual staff members. Seneca’s partnership with MLK Jr. Elementary is a powerful example of the impact of multi-year partnerships. Through building trust, integrating into MLK’s school community, and developing closely aligned values, Seneca’s partnership continues to increase the achievement of MLK Jr. students by building a climate and culture that is engaging and responsive to all.

Name:  ​Jeraniqua Martin 
Position: Unconditional Education Coach
 
What led you to your current position?
When I saw the Unconditional Education Coach position listed, I was really intrigued with the focus on culture and climate and the Unconditional Education model. I have worked in education for at least 8 years and in my 8 years of experiences, I have yet to come across a model similar to Unconditional Education that truly works for all students. Additionally, I wanted to be apart of an organization that believes in and supports every child.
 
Fun Fact/Quote?
I love traveling and have traveled to 10+ countries.  
 
What does your average day look like?
Typically, I start my day off by greeting students at the front gate with the 6th grade Assistant Principal. From there, I’m checking emails, checking in with students, attending meetings on various topics, supporting during lunch and spending intentional time implementing the Student Support Progress Team (SSPT)  with the support of the 6th grade Counselor and 6th grade School Psychologist, 6th grade Assistant Principal and our School Partnership Director.
 
Why do you do this work?
 I do this work because I care about the current state of education, I care about students and families and I also believe every child has the potential to succeed when giving the right support and structure.