Category: Program Highlights - UNCONDITIONAL EDUCATION

UNCONDITIONAL EDUCATION

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Presentations: HEART Program

5/22/2023

One of the HEART program goals was to increase awareness of components of DEI and be able to engage in discussions related to gender, race, sexual identity, and equity issues, that will directly impact how our students and staff feel supported. Each month a classroom team developed a presentation about their chosen DEI topic and presented it to the entire program during our all-staff meetings. Some of the topics included Religion, Immigration Status, and Disability. The teams created power point presentations that included videos, interviews, graphs, quizzes and resources for staff and students. Below are several of the DEI presentations - check them out:

Blog Post Written By: Stacey Buenavista, Director of School Partnerships

Program Highlight: Pathways Counseling Center

2/28/2023

Pathways Counseling Center (Pathways) will soon be marking its second year at Seneca Family of Agencies (SFA). Pathways was integrated into SFA, after a long history as a mental health program component of Girls Incorporated of Alameda County. Pathways provides outpatient mental health services at our counseling center at Seneca’s Golf Links Road Campus, as well as at community locations accessible to our youth and families. Currently, Pathways is Seneca’s only center-based outpatient counseling center in Alameda County.

Through its varied and flexible funding streams, Pathways is able to serve children and families both with and without Medi-Cal. Youth who are at-risk for involvement with the juvenile justice system receive counseling and case management through a contract with the Alameda County Probation Department. A Child Abuse Treatment grant allows us to provide for youth with a history of victimization.

When Pathways merged with the Mosaic team in July 2022, we were asked to generate a list of values that guided our work. When given the opportunity to write this blog post we wanted it to reflect this co-created list. Each of our clinical staff chose a value and shared how they express that value in their work. Below are descriptions of how we put our values into practice, beside photos of us in either our Golf Links or home office. We hope these photos capture the essence of the therapeutic spaces that we strive to cultivate in all aspects of our work.

Sarah Hall // Outpatient Therapist
Connection and Learning from One Another
The value of Connection and Learning from One Another is meaningful to me because I tend to structure my clinical thinking and approach to therapeutic work on this value. I lead with this value in the therapy room with children and families and with my team members. The "work" and therapeutic growth only happens once the willingness to learn and grow from one another is engaged (no matter how young or old, verbal language, body language or anything in-between. Every voice has a story to tell and be heard). The most beautiful moments of healing occur when we meet one another in our humanness. Recognizing how to show up and support one other becomes clear when we hold a curious space for understanding. This space is where the deepest connection and learning from one another takes place. The future of mental health is in supporting the healing of communities through fostering continued mutual learning and connection!

Julie Jacobs // Outpatient Therapist
Commitment to Work Against Systems of Oppression
Pathways clinicians typically meet remotely or in our offices, but this year I’ve been able to meet in schools and in the community with families. This allows me to not give up on those who may have been told that outpatient “wasn’t a good fit” because of barriers to access such as not having a car or not having space at home to meet privately. My team members have encouraged me to recognize that when problems seem binary (access services or end services), there is always a third way through (make services more accessible).

Justin Leonti // Outpatient Therapist
Multi-Dimensionality
As Pathways clinicians we have a value of multidimensionality, which I’m imagining you’d get a different definition for with each clinician you ask to define it! This value, to me, really emphasizes the whole humanness of each clinician, person, and human being on our team. Our unique identities, positionalities, life experiences, and orientations not only have a place here, but are valued and celebrated. It’s truly a joy to be a part of this team as my whole self and feel welcomed as such.

Monica Medor // Bilingual Outpatient Therapist
Self Care/Preservation of the Self
At Pathways, we prioritize caring for ourselves as individuals in the different ways we each find healing. With the encouragement of team members and supervisors I have felt grounded and balanced by starting my own therapy and by taking time off to nourish myself when needed.

Selene Fabiano // Assistant Director Mosaic Outpatient & Pathways Counseling
Connection and Learning from One Another
When I started at Seneca in April 2021, I was impressed by the organization’s commitment to building strong relationships, not just with clients and families, but also between staff. Building relationships and lifelong learning are key values for Pathways. At work I put this value into practice by seeking opportunities in which our team can learn and share ideas together. Last year I shared a list of offerings by the Ackerman Institute for the Family as possible trainings our clinical team could view and discuss together. The team selected two excellent talks which we then viewed and discussed together. We found it so valuable that we have chosen another two trainings to watch and discuss this year.

Mayra Reyes Barahona // Senior Health Information Specialist

Blog Post Written By: Selene Fabiano, Assistant Director of School Partnerships

Creating Our Futures, 2023 Student Art Show… An annual exhibit uplifting and highlighting our amazing student artists!

2/21/2023

The HEART & Constellation programs are gearing up for our 5th Annual Student Art Show!
Creating our Futures, A Student Art Show, was created back in 2019 in collaboration with the Hayward Arts Council. It was inspired by an incredibly talented group of students whose passion for art was contagious. Since our first show, it has become one of the highlights of our school year, and an exciting opportunity for our schools, families, district partners, and communities to celebrate our student’s talent, hard work, and bright futures.

This year our students' artwork will be displayed in the Hayward Public Library on the 2nd floor from March 29th - April 28th. Student’s have the ability to price their own artwork, and any sales that occur go directly back to those student artists. Over the years we have had students of all ages creating artwork to have displayed in this exhibit, using all types of mediums including paint, pastels, charcoal, photography, poetry, music, spoken word, and more.

Our opening event will be on Wednesday, March 29th from 4-6pm at the Hayward Public Library, where students and families can come celebrate the opening of this incredible art exhibit. Light refreshments will be served, and all are welcome to join!

If you would like to check out this exhibit, the Hayward Public Library is open Monday-Wednesday (10am-7pm), Thursday (11am-6pm), and Friday-Saturday (10am-5pm), closed on Sundays.

Join us in celebrating these incredible students, and their talent and love for art!

Blog Post Written By: Sara Harvey, Manager of Operations

Co-Treatment: A Beneficial Approach to Student Services

1/30/2023

Team work makes the dream work, right? This statement rings true when multi-disciplinary teams work together to support the needs and goals of our students. In Seneca Washington, we have a team of 14 specialists – School Psychologists, Speech and Language Pathologists (SLP), Speech and Language Pathologist Assistants (SLPA) and Occupational Therapists (OT) who work collaboratively together along with school teams to provide special education services and consultation to our partner schools.
If a student receives speech or occupational therapy services on their IEP (Individualized Education Plan), you may see students pulled out of class to work with providers individually or the provider may push in to support the student in the classroom. However, another approach to providing services to students that our team embraces is co-treatment. The American Speech Language Hearing Association (ASHA) states co-treatment is “when practitioners from different professional disciplines can effectively address their treatment goals while the patient is engaged in a single therapy session.” In schools, this could look like the OT and SLP working together simultaneously to target skill building in their respective discipline during a session for an individual or group of students. For example, while working with a student whose IEP goal is increasing their social emotional skills, the session may include a turn taking game. During this activity, the OT is supporting the student with turn-taking, emotional regulation and fine motor skills, while the SLP is supporting the student with peer engagement, sportsmanship, attention to the activity and following directions.
The co-treatment approach may not only benefit the student, but also positively impacts the classroom, school environment and the providers themselves. After asking the Specialists team, here are some of the benefits they experience when co-treating:
Student Benefits

Allows for a student to practice skills working as a team, conversation skills, turn-taking, practicing skills in a social group
Maximizes therapy time (could prevent fatigue or withdrawal, allows student to stay in class more)
More functional for students – in co-treatment sessions students are working on many skills which may increase a higher chance of carryover into other settings
Increased engagement – two professionals allows for more fun and involved therapy sessions (i.e. cooking, crafts, games, community outings, etc.)

Provider Benefits

More opportunities to learn from other professionals – tips, strategies, activity ideas, etc.
Supports in learning flexibility in how to target goals (being able to adapt any activity to work on skill building)
Supports with behavior management
Fun and involved therapy sessions bring joy to providers!

School Benefits

Promotes collaboration and a student-centered approach
Learning from other providers can increase information sharing with other school staff

While the term co-treatment is used with specific disciplines, the idea could also be used with clinicians, behavior specialists, School Psychs, special education teachers and other staff that support student learning and goals. Keep in mind co-treatment may not be appropriate for all students, so check with your school team and asha.org (or your professional organization) for guidance. We have found overwhelming positive feedback on co-treatment, and encourage other teams and professionals to keep this approach in mind when providing services to students.
A big shout out to Kelsey Kircher (SLP), Danielle Farrand (SLP), Devon McNeeley (Lead SLP), Nic Huang (OT) and Nicole Matichuk (Lead OT) for sharing their thoughts on co-treatment and how it can be a beneficial approach for all.

Blog Post Written By: Gini Sanders, Director of Specialized Services

Practicing Radical Self-Care During the Busy Season

12/12/2022

“The tree is only as healthy as the root.” - @decolonizingtherapy

As we step into December, we get ready to end the Gregorian New Year, wrap up work with our clients and their families, and prepare for the holidays. We keep in mind ways to hold our clients and their families through the winter break. We often put ourselves on the back burner as we tend to others. We play multiple roles in our families (chosen or biological and sometimes both). We are the nurturers. We are the “listening ear.” We are the ones who hold compassion. We are the “understanding ones.” We are the givers. We can be challenged to give to ourselves what we generously offer to others – compassion, love, kindness and grace.

In Audre Lorde’s collection of essays, “A Burst of Light,” she reclaims self-care as self-preservation and “an act of political warfare.” She invites us to tend to our hearts and soul – as means to heal. That is the essence of radical self-care. Inviting us to say “no” and re-prioritizing ourselves, which is crucial in order to continue doing our work. We’ve all been bombarded with “self-care activities” such as getting our “me time.” While that is a start, we must step further into the act of radical self-care in order to heal ourselves, those who were unable to heal in past generations and our seeds, so they carry a little less than we do in this lifetime. For example, for many first generation folx like myself, we tend to over-work and often hear family members telling us “Not be lazy” and not to take time off when we are really “not that sick.” Value is placed on working and taking a day off is considered a luxury. I invite folx to reclaim their time and deconstruct how this has shown up in their personal lives. As Audre Lorde reminds us, “it’s self-preservation.” I invite readers to deconstruct and challenge the narratives that have been passed down through generations and become societal norms.

Here are some tips to consider as we get ready to take some needed rest:

Be intentional – what does your heart and soul need?
Practice self-compassion – don't measure your “productivity” on “how much” you get done. Be gentle with yourself. Maybe your body needed to just binge watch and not necessarily get “anything” done.
Tap into your joy. What makes you laugh? What makes you smile? Find one thing that taps into your joy and do it. Then do more of it.
Play music that makes your soul smile.
Tap into your creativity whether it’s drawing, painting, coloring mandalas, writing, acting etc.
Move. Stretch. Dance. Spend time connecting with your body.
Set time aside to unplug to tend to your soul.
Connect with nature. Walk barefoot on grass, sit outside and let the sun kiss your face. Feel the breeze. Breathe.
Eat food that helps bring balance. Remember that foods like hummus, grapes, nuts and oranges help when feeling stressed.
Increase serotonin by practicing gratitude at the beginning and end of your day.

Helpful tips on “how boundaries can sound like during the holidays” from @selfloverainbow:

“I’m not able to attend this year.”
“I appreciate the invite but this year, I'm going to be staying home.”
“I would love to bring that dish, but my schedule is full. Maybe next time?”
“I’m not discussing politics.”
“I’m focusing on my mental health and doing xyz...”
“I can come, but I need to leave by...”

Things To Stop Apologizing For (source: LinkedIN - Anonymous)

Asking questions
Not being available at all times.
Feelings
Vocalizing your needs
Outgrowing a place or situation.
Your accomplishments
Not looking “presentable”
Doing things that make you happy.
Having boundaries.

Resources to consider:

@selfloverainbow – will give you reminders on how to take care of your body, soul and heart.
@thetappingsolution – it's a great resource on using tapping for anxiety and helping you sleep.
Set up a monthly calendar of acts of self-care. Check out the calendar on Light the Change’s (LTC) monthly newsletter, “In the Kitchen."

When all else seems too hard, maybe you just need a pep talk. Call (707) 873-7862 for a pep talk from some of our youngest teachers from K-6th grades from West Side Elementary School. AND above all, be kind to yourself and show yourselves some grace.

“It can be scary to rest. To slow down can feel terrifying. Also liberating. Be in your body. Intuit more. Breathe more. Tap on your energy centers more. Consciously & constantly clear your space. You are building a Growth map. One that leads to your best Self. This is magic too.” - @DrJennyJennM (Decolonizing Therapy)

Blog Post Written By: Karina Gonzalez, Clinical Supervisor

Our Native American Communities and Resources to Continue the Conversation

11/28/2022

As November comes to an end and some of us get more into the holiday spirit, I want us to continue to have conversations about our Native American and Native Alaskan communities. For years November is a month many of our classrooms learn about the first Thanksgiving and review some brief facts about Native Americans. Here are some helpful resources and topics that we can use in our classrooms to increase awareness of Native American and Native Alaskan communities. There are over 500 tribes in the U.S that fall into the Native American and Native Alaskan categories. Each tribe is unique and has contributed to the foundation of the land that we currently live in. We constantly see Native Americans represented as one large group of people in our textbooks without acknowledging the impact that each tribe had on the land. Bringing alternative resources into our classroom can help us educate others about the different tribes, customs, rituals, and power dynamics that those before us had. It allows us to present a different point of view from the one most of us found in our textbooks. I hope you use this information to continue to have conversations and celebrate the richness of our Native American community. I also want to acknowledge some of the challenges our Native American communities have and continue to experience due to the ongoing trauma that they have experienced in their own land. I have added some information to spread awareness of some of the challenges that Native American communities face.

This poster that describes the meaning of the first Thanksgiving to the different tribes and their contributions to our agriculture system.

The Smithsonian's feature on the National Museum of American Indians provides videos and topics to continue the conversations in our classrooms.

And finally. the non-profit, Native Hope, works to address the injustices done to Native Americans, in part by promoting healing through sharing their stories.

Blog Post by Mariana Aranda, Assistant Director of School Partnerships

SCHOOL HIGHLIGHT: Oakland Academy of Knowledge (OAK)

11/7/2022

Kaycee Hasan supports Oakland Academy of Knowledge (OAK) as one of Seneca’s Unconditional Education Coaches, focused on promoting inclusion and wellness for all community members. At the beginning of the 2021-2022 school year, the principal expressed a desire for Kaycee to support staff wellness, acknowledging that educators at OAK were experiencing the challenging transition back to in-person learning after the pandemic, at the same time the school was experiencing a significant redesign. Since that time Kaycee has consistently shared weekly Wellness Wednesday Emails, that address topics such as self care, self nurturing, gratitude, boundaries and joy, while providing practical tips and tricks and activities for staff to engage in. Below is one example of an email focused on gratitude:

Today we want to express our gratitude to you all for showing up everyday, putting your best foot forward, and embracing change. This year has brought many changes for each of us in different ways but each of you continue to show perseverance and fortitude. The consistency in how you show up each day, in your classrooms or amongst your students, is what we are most grateful for. We know that it is not always easy.

We want to invite you all to take a few moments to reflect on what you may be grateful for - specific to your role or the work that you do. If you feel brave, we would like for you to email us back, and let us know the 2-4 things you are grateful for. We would like to put them all together and share them (anonymously) with the campus team.

Fostering a culture of gratitude is something that we are actively working towards. We hope that with time, as a community we can learn more ways to practice gratitude with each other and with the community we serve.

The mind-body connection is strong and as such there are physical and emotional benefits of expressing and practicing gratitude. Gratitude can help to alleviate pain, help improve our health, help us to sleep better, help us to be more mindful of our choices, and help to create long lasting change psychologically (ease depression/anxiety, enhance empathy, enhance relationships).

Please take a few minutes and share what you may be grateful for.

Over time, staff have reached out in appreciation, sharing the ways in which the emails have supported them in the work (see a few examples below!). This practice has also served as an invitation for deeper connection with Kaycee (pictured right), helping staff to feel comfortable seeking out her support in addressing challenges that arise in their work with students. Thank you Kaycee Hasan for serving as an example just what is possible when we create space for staff to feel consistently seen, supported, and valued!

“I just want to take the opportunity to say that I really appreciate getting your wellness emails every Wednesday. For me it is a weekly reminder of how important it is to take care of ourselves in order to serve our students and their families. I have shared with my colleagues how I enjoy reading your messages and how I like implementing some of your self-care activities in my daily life. Once again GRACIAS for making sure that we feel appreciated, that we matter, and that it is essential to take care of ourselves.”

“I really appreciate the Wellness Wednesday emails. The weekly encouragements, affirmations, and reminders always feel like they come at the right time in the week. I appreciate that they are usually brief enough to read when I first see them in my inbox. The reminders to take care of myself come right when I need them, in the middle of the week when I'm so focused on students that I'm often starting to forget to take care of myself. They also remind me that the people I work with are experiencing similar challenges or may also need the same reminders and encouragement that I do. It's fun when there's a reply-all prompts and many people engage.”

“Your Wednesday wellness emails have personally made me feel seen in this work that I sometimes feel overlooked and could become taxing at times. It provides essential reminders to be gentle with myself and to take care of myself so that I am better able to care for others. The consistent reminders are helpful in creating a toolbox for myself and students in self-care. I really do appreciate the wellness Wednesday emails.”

Blog Post Written By: Jenny Ventura, Senior Director of Education Innovation

A Year for Deepening Connections

10/19/2022

Welcome to October – the new school year is officially in full swing! Through the start of the year our education teams have been hard at work building and deepening their connections with students and each other as the foundation for the year ahead. There has been incredible joy in the new school year as we settle into what a year of learning that looks more “normal” than anything in recent memory. We have also witnessed deep grief alongside our school partners as gun violence has continued to wrack our school communities both on and off campus including the devastating shootings at the King Estate Campus and the loss of two incredible young people from the Berkeley High community. It is absolutely unacceptable that gun violence incidents like these have become nearly common place. Since 2020 guns have surpassed car crashes as the leading cause of death for children and teenagers and gun related homicides have shown a dramatic uptick during the pandemic.

At the center of our education work at Seneca is creating schools where students are safe and cared for so that they can learn and thrive. We will continue to work to be part of the solution and promote policies and practices that reduce the prevalence of firearms in our communities, address the extensive mental health impacts of the pandemic, and increase safety and wellness in and out of school. We have been pleased by the investments put forth by Governor Newsom and the attention being given to the mental health needs young people deserve including:

We have also been proud to work with our partners at the California Alliance of Child and Family Services to support legislation that promotes mental health access and support at school, including most recently the passage of AB 58 which requires LEAs to review and update their policy on pupil suicide prevention, encourages LEAs to provide suicide awareness and prevention training to teachers, and requires the California Department of Education (CDE) to develop and issue resources and guidance to LEAs on how to conduct suicide awareness and prevention training remotely.

Sisters Katy Noeli (left) and Heymer Johana Domingo Godinez stand outside their new school, Elmhurst United Middle School, in Oakland on Aug. 30, 2022. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)

We know that even small investments can have a big impact. Our school partnership team was able to be a part of telling the story of California’s investments in mental health as KQED shared what this looked liked in one Oakland School. The piece highlights Seneca clinician Yesi Inga at Bridges Academy in this short radio segment and a longer article. As exemplified at Bridges, as we continue through this year we hope that it can be one where we foster safety, authentic connection, and community healing so that schools can be places where all students are welcomed and can thrive.

Blog Post Written By: Robin Detterman, Chief Program Officer, Education Services

Rising Into the New School Year in Stride

9/10/2021

Welcome back to the new school year! I couldn’t be more thrilled to launch into a year of in-person learning after our year of separation. While I know that this transition will be anything but predictable as we implement strict procedures for quarantine in order maintain the health and safety of our communities, it still comes with a great deal of relief that we have entered this year together. Our journey over the past eighteen months has been a tremendous one. I first and foremost want to give a big THANK YOU to all our staff, school partners and families. I want to acknowledge all that we have collectively endured and know that we all have experienced varying levels of loss that, for some of us, was quite profound. I have been humbled to witness the tremendous levels of ingenuity and perseverance across our community. So often, we have needed to call upon one of the most important interventions in our Seneca toolbox – the intentional cultivation of HOPE and persistence even in the face of immense challenge. I also know that in this past year, I have been fueled by the support of our extended Seneca Family and found purpose in our shared commitment to this work for the students and families we serve.

If nothing else, this past year has challenged many of our assumptions about education and schools, and we have done some incredible learning together. I hope that as we enter this new year, we can take some of those learnings with us to create schools that truly serve all students.

Leveraging Technology for Connection - While we are all tired of connecting only virtually, there are many ways in which we have learned to use technology to bring us closer together. Whether it’s connecting with colleagues in other geographic locations, or with clients and families in the comfort and convenience of their own homes, video technology will continue to allow us additional flexibility for collaboration and support.
The Central Role of Families – In our move to distance learning, families became increasingly central and connected to what was happening at school, and educators and practitioners have had a new insight into the lives of their students. This mutual awareness can continue to support children’s wholistic experience between home and school and increase accountability between schools and the families they serve.
Real Individualization – While many students struggled with pandemic learning, some students actually did better with new models that promoted greater flexibility and individualization. We can continue to challenge the notion of what “school” should look like to best meet the varied learning and social emotional needs of students.
Community Wellness - For the first time, we are having a real conversation on the wellness of whole school communities, including the adults within them. As a nation we have begun to reckon more broadly with racial and socioeconomic inequities upheld by our public institutions, and the ways in which community wellness interplays with systemic power, particularly along the lines of race and class. We must continue to address how both individual actions and systemic change are ongoing and build schools that engage in anti-racism work alongside a full and complete cultivation of JOY.

While we have returned to school, largely in person, the pandemic and its impacts are far from over. To provide healing spaces for students, school professionals need emotionally attuned communities and support in implementing practices that promote personal sustainability. School partner, Kyndal Easter offers these tips for administrators on How to Build Emotional Support for Teachers. In the year ahead, emphasis on wellbeing and connection will be paramount as we build on what we have learned to create schools where all students are truly welcome and can thrive.

Best wishes for a safe and happy launch to the school year and beyond!

Blog Post Written By: Robin Detterman, Chief Program Officer, Education Services

WA State's Cross Coordination of Supports Team (CrossCOST)

6/21/2021

My name's Emily Dunk and I'm a Behavior Intervention Specialist with the CrossCOST Program in Seattle, WA. But before I tell you more about our program, I'm going to start this blog post the same way many of our program meetings start off - by talking about good food and drinks 😊

Recently I had gone to one of those fancy pants restaurants where they do wine pairings with your order. This was the first time I had been to one and originally, I did not want wine with my dinner because I had not found one before that I truly liked. The waiter asked me if I would be open to trying something and offered to help me figure out which one would be best. They even went as far as to say that I would not be charged for the wine if I did not end up liking it. I agreed, the waiter brought out my pairing, and I LOVED it.

It was such a great experience that later that week I went out to dinner again and I very confidently sat down, opened the wine menu, and was ready for another amazing wine experience. The waiter came over and asked what kind of wine I liked and for the life of me, I couldn’t remember what I had with my last meal! I tried to describe it but all I could come up with was "red" and "very tasty." The waiter began to ask questions to see if they could figure it out. They asked what food I was eating with it and more. Was it sweet? What protein did I have? Tannins, full-bodied... Do these words sound familiar? They took the time to work with me and be curious about what I was looking for. We came to a decision and they brought out a delicious red that, once again, went perfectly with my meal.

I like to think that CrossCOST is like the waiter in this story. Not knowing where to start in asking for what you need is frustrating. Whether it's about learning vocabulary that is highly specific to other fields or being so close to a problem that it's almost impossible to step back to see solutions, most of us just need a little extra support sometimes. Without the waiter’s patience and curiosity, I would be stuck thinking that there isn’t a wine out there for me, or maybe worse, continue to pay for and order wines that I don't enjoy! We strive to provide that same patience and curiosity to the schools we partner with to consult around behavioral, clinical, and school systems needs to coordinate the right kind of support.

A great example of this was when CrossCOST received a request from a school that wanted a school-wide training in Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS). This school faced a number of challenges: high staff turnover, numerous leadership transitions, disproportionately high academic, behavioral, and SEL student needs... all while taking on virtual learning in the middle of a pandemic. Our team leader, Katrina, met with the school’s admin to get a better idea of what they were looking for. With Katrina’s amazing strengths in communication and relationship building, she was able to see the school’s needs extended beyond just training staff in MTSS. Just like our students, when we are escalated or in crisis, it’s not always clear what we need to make things feel better.

Acknowledging that the school could really benefit from centering self-care first, and also wanting to meet the initial request, we decided to do both! Our MTSS of Self-Care training not only taught the model of tiered intervention, associated language of MTSS, and the basics of behavioral intervention, but did so through the lens of staff wellness. We provided a framework for thinking about self-care as a tiered model of support, giving tools to each staff member for recognizing their behaviors through their escalation of burnout, and identifying interventions at each tier. Staff reported feeling better equipped to care for themselves, and in doing so, increased their understanding of how to support their students through escalation too.

Sometimes it feels like progress comes at the expense of our own wellness. Often, it feels like working to shift systems to be more equitable, inclusive, and healing centered competes with a school’s academic and results-based goals. We're here to flip that narrative. By centering Unconditional Education (UE), we not only help schools meet their goals, but balance offering support with challenging existing systems. This allows us to impact lasting change within our school communities. We like to call this process, “sprinkling the UE fairy dust.”

So what is CrossCOST? In formal terms, we are a team of behavioral, clinical, and school-systems minded specialists who coordinate services to support schools with UE as our philosophy of change. And in informal terms, we’re just your friendly neighborhood waiters. So, what’ll it be? A glass of red or white? 😉

Blog Post Written By: Emily Dunk, Behavior Intervention Specialist