Blog Posts

School Highlight: Caliber Beta Academy

5/1/2023

I’m excited to highlight our ongoing partnership with Caliber Beta Academy! Seneca began its partnership with Caliber seven years ago and we are still going strong. Our Seneca team at Caliber includes two Clinical Intervention Specialists, one Behavioral Support Specialist, and one Student Support Assistant. Meet the Seneca Caliber Team!

Behavioral Support Specialist – Justin Vizinau
Clinical Intervention Specialist – Edward Vasquez
Clinical Intervention Specialist – Azaleah Goose
Student Support Assistant – Yitzel Ramirez Morales

One unique aspect of our partnership at Caliber is our Collaborative Model – “Collab” for short. The Collab model takes a wrap-around approach to supporting high needs students that might otherwise be referred for a more restrictive educational placement. The Behavioral Support Specialist coordinates communication and collaboration between all members of the student’s treatment team including the youth, caregiver(s), general education teachers, education and program specialists, administrators, Clinical Intervention Specialist, and Student Support Assistant. Treatment team meetings are held twice a month to update members on student progress, to assess and plan intervention strategies, to identify areas of immediate need, and to connect with outside resources. The philosophy underlying this approach is that students thrive when their needs are met, and they can build strong relationships within their community. To this end, the Collab model aims to bring necessary academic, behavioral, and social-emotional support to the student in their general education setting rather than removing the student and placing them in a different setting. Last month, our Collab team was recognized by the larger Caliber network for demonstrating exemplary “Empathy and Kindness”. They were selected for this award through a nomination process across all four Caliber campuses!

In addition to the students in our Collab model, the clinicians at Caliber hold a caseload of Medi-Cal eligible youth and work closely with their families, teachers, and admin to support holistic, healing-centered engagement*.

“Seneca’s partnership with Caliber has had a huge impact on our community. As a charter school with an emphasis on Social Emotional Learning, Caliber prides itself on its commitment to serving all students of any need in the general education environment. While some students present with more needs than a typical public school would have capacity to serve, Seneca staff on campus makes it possible for students to remain in our classrooms and community. The collab model is particularly special based on the focus it offers for select students with exceptional needs. The collab model supports Caliber staff who so often are juggling 50-100 students, focus in on specific students with incredible detail to discuss, learn, understand, and plan for their growth and success, with consistent regularity. The collab model offers clear collaborative methods for supporting students academically, disciplinarily, socio-emotionally, as well as collectively with their families and caregivers. These Seneca efforts are noticed on Caliber campus as the standard of teamwork and efficacy to impact students who need support most and can be seen through the on-going growth and success of their students.”
– Danielle Schnur, Director of Mental Health at Caliber Beta Academy

*For more information about healing-centered engagement, please read the article The Future of Healing: Shifting from Trauma-Informed Care to Healing-Centered Engagement, by Dr. Shawn Ginwright

Blog Post Written By: Robyn Ganeles, Clinical Supervisor

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Staff Highlight: Sanita McNeally

4/24/2023

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Position: Behavior Support Specialist (BSS)
What led you to your current position: I've always loved working with children in the school setting. I'm also passionate about social justice issues. Being a BSS, I have the privilege to bring diversity, equity and inclusion issues directly to administrators.
What inspires you to do this work: I am passionate about creating spaces for all children to be their authentic self. I also wanted to support teachers to become more aware of positive behavior interventions to support student success. Being able to sit at the table with the schools administration to create systems for student discipline that move away from harmful zero- tolerance practices that are detrimental to our students is what inspired me to do this work.
What is a recent highlight you’ve experienced in the work or an important lesson you’ve learned in this role: A recent highlight was being able to reduce defiant office referrals from 40 referrals in trimester 1 to 23 referrals in trimester 2. This was possible by addressing the subjective behaviors concerns directly with teachers one to one and during our monthly all staff meetings. I have and will continue to support teachers to increase their awareness around cultural competency, their personal biases, the power and the privilege they have as teachers, and how to use our behavior matrix to ensure office referrals are procedural and not personal. We've got a long way to go but change is Here!!
Share your life motto or something unique about yourself: "I cannot do all the good that the world needs, but the world needs all the good I can do." -Jana Stanfield

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Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Resource: National Equity Project

4/21/2023

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Happy countdown to the end of the 2022-2023 school year! I have received requests for more tools and resources to support Unconditional Education (UE) partner's intentions to develop equitable cultures and systems. One resource I want to highlight is The National Equity Project. An Oakland-based organization,

"The National Equity Project is a leadership and systems change organization committed to increasing the capacity of people to achieve thriving, self-determining, educated, and just communities". Their mission is to, "...transform the experiences, outcomes, and life options for children and families who have been historically underserved by our institutions and systems".

The National Equity Project is a well respected organization that has developed tools and frameworks that UE is integrating into our trainings and resources. Two examples are: Liberatory Design and Constuctivionist Listening. In addition, The National Equity Project has other tools and resources that can be shared and utilized with UE schools and school districts.. For further information, please check out the following links:

Resources — National Equity Project
Tools — National Equity Project

Best of luck the rest of this semester!! Please feel free to reach out with resource suggestions or questions.

Blog Post Written By: Dev Cuny, Assistant Director of Implementation

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School Highlight: Alhambra Counseling Enriched Classroom

4/17/2023

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Did you know that UE Alhambra's Counseling Enriched Classroom (CEC) program is located in Martinez, California, and that we work with high schoolers on a public campus? We are a one classroom, eleven student, and all Seneca staff program. There are amazing happenings at the site. Below are some that my team and I want to highlight.

Meeting clients where they are at: We work collaboratively with our school partners to create a truly individualized treatment that includes (1) aligning their class schedule (between mainstream and CEC) to match their identified strengths and needs, (2) incorporating a clinical focused lens to school based discipline, and (3) providing additional academic resources such as online credit recovery courses to help bridge gaps in school credits. Most importantly, the program is based on offering a supportive atmosphere environmentally (see pictures) as well as therapeutically (see pictures) that invites each student to be themselves and get the support they need.

Development of real-world skills: We work to support the young folks to create resumes, apply to colleges and jobs, and navigate commitments that help to prepare them for life after high school. Currently, over 30% of the students are holding a part-time job and actively maintaining a work/school life balance.

Blog Post Written By: Khom Sai J. Ounniyom, Clinical Supervisor and Assistant Director of School Partnerships

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School Highlight: Dr. Charles Drew Elementary School

4/10/2023

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The sun is finally out and you can see the flowers blooming! From what I hear, the past few months have been challenging in our school communities due to rainy weather, an increase in challenging behaviors, and the fact that this work can be really exhausting. In the midst of all of that, we are seeing student progress and teams supporting one another through challenging times. This week I want to lift up Dr. Charles Drew Elementary School, located in San Francisco’s Bayview Hunters Point neighborhood. At Drew, we have Katy Krogstad (Unconditional Education Coach), Mickey Rosenberg (Clinical Intervention Specialist), and Oscar Prieto (Student Student Support Assistant). The team and school staff are rooted in demonstrating love, community, and joy for their students, families and school partners.

Here are a few words from the Seneca team at Dr. Charles Drew Elementary School:

What helps you collaborate as a team?

“Caring about each other as human beings first and also as colleagues. Taking the time to check in, listen, give a hug and center our meetings around topics that feel relevant and authentic to the growth of our students and ourselves for where we are at in our path in this work.”- Katy Krogstad

What parts or moments of your work with students, families and staff bring you joy?

“Hearing from teachers, families and students that students have been growing towards their goals, receiving positive rewards and encouragement and are feeling successful. Having an environment where building joy is possible whether it be outside in the school garden, having bubbles in the Wellness center, playing laser tag on the stage as part of our earned PBIS rewards, or family photos and positive affirmations around a mirror to start each day in the classroom.” -Katy Krogstad

“A lot of this work can bring me joy, for instance, when I hear that a student is using coping skills and feelings language outside of sessions, when I'm able to connect with parents and share a laugh or genuine appreciation for their child with them, and when I get to share a more relaxed moment with staff at a work happy hour and just be a person with them!” -Mickey Rosenberg

“What brings me the most joy working with students, families, and staff are their presence. Seeing them all everyday and communicating with them is always a positive experience for me. I also learn a lot from them! Everyone is very nice and welcoming!” -Oscar Prieto

Thank you team and school staff for your commitment and care in creating a supportive and empowering community for students and families!

Blog Post Written By: Cristina Sanchez-Cruz, Assistant Director of School Partnerships

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Building Community

4/10/2023

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The demographics of our students in Oakland are ever shifting and changing. In recent years, we have started to serve more students who are recent immigrants from Mexico, Central and South America. Some of them came to the U.S. alone, many of them traveling long distances under harrowing circumstances. Some are multilingual and others are monolingual in the indigenous language of their region. Their needs and experiences are unique and diverse.

Over the past two years, our program has implemented several new services tailored specifically to the immigrant experience. First, two therapists have collaborated to provide newcomer groups. These groups bring together students who are new immigrants to process their experiences and get support from their peers as well as the therapist facilitators. Topic areas include sharing cultural values and practices, celebrating their heritage, processing their immigration journeys and discussing their experience living in a new country. One group started a practice of wearing traditional dress on Friday as a way to share their cultural heritage with their larger school community. These groups were such a resounding success that they were featured in a KQED radio program. Take a listen!

Second, at a middle school, a therapist has started a Spanish language parent support group. While this group is not specifically for parents of newcomer students, there is a strong focus on helping monolingual Spanish speaking parents to support the social-emotional wellness of their children. Group topics include communication strategies, adolescent development, love languages and much more!

Meeting the needs of our students and families has always been at the heart of our school-based work. These new and creative interventions strategies have helped us to continue to meet those needs and build on the resilience of the immigrant communities we support.

Blog Post Written By: Amy Blair, Clinical Supervisor

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SCHOOL HIGHLIGHT: Ochoa Middle School Counseling Enriched Classroom (CEC)

3/27/2023

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Hey y’all, for those of y’all of that don’t know the HEART program, we are a collection of 8 CECs (counseling enriched classrooms) ranging from Elementary to High School across Hayward Unified School District. HEART stands for Hayward Empowering Advocacy and Radical Transformation, and one of the programs that especially embodies these values is our newest addition, the Ochoa Middle School CEC. The Ochoa CEC opened this school year and the team is comprised of Haddie Smith (classroom therapist), Milele Hare (clinical intern), Brisia Calderon Flores (MHC), Rosi Barboza (MHC), and Alexine Luna (MHC). We recently interviewed them to find out how this brand new team became so dope:

Blog Post Written By: Jesse Wiltey, Assistant Director of School Partnerships

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Engaging in Service Learning

3/20/2023

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A connection and sense of togetherness has been a foundation and central to human experiences since….our existence! For many of us, our sense of purpose comes from the feeling that we are a part of something bigger than ourselves or that there is something that we give not only to individuals around us but to the collective. This belonging and life contribution enables us to develop a stronger sense of personal and collective identity. I am not talking about volunteering, more so I am speaking to Service-Learning.

I hope I am not making assumptions here, but I feel many of us came into this field wanting to support young people through their some of their most influential years of development. Why not engage them in Service-Learning? At its foundation, Service-Learning enables one to develop critical reflection, deepen sense of understanding on complex causes of social dilemmas, and enhance collaboration.

How to get started:
Let’s start off by brainstorming. Take some time to think about your communities and what is needed. Is there an area that needs a new paint job? An area that needs some cleaning (spring is around the corner)? Are there shelters in need of supplies, money that needs to be raised, food that needs to be distributed? Once we have the idea, how can we engage our clients and colleagues and what we as a unit can offer. I am consistently humbled by the skills, knowledge, and passion of the young people that we are with and am a firm believe that the possibilities are endless. As a general sense of some ideas:

Giving Tree – Food Drive, Shoe Drive, Blanket Drive (Student’s place items under the Christmas Tree and items are donated to the cause of choice)
Shoebox for Soldiers – One box is placed in each classroom to fill up for soldiers.
Community Clean-Up – Do what needs to be done in a community area to clean it up.
Crafts for the Elderly – Create a craft for a nursing home.
Letters – Create letters or cards for patients in the hospital, soldiers, police officers, etc.
Blankets – Create simple tie blankets for a homeless shelter or animal shelter
Teaching – Older kids can teach younger kids about an important topic
Perform – Have students put on a play or music concert in the community
Re-live History – Interview and write reports about the history of your neighborhood

Clinicians, therapist, counselors….I encourage you to bring these ideas into your sessions and work with youth. Parents, caregivers, aunts, uncles, bring these practices inside your homes and families. Let’s develop community together!

Blog post written by: Daniel Perez, Director of School Partnerships

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School Highlight: Nystrom Elementary School

3/20/2023

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Happy March! Most of us educators are finishing off one of the seemingly longest months of the school year and are on the verge of spring break. In Elena Agular’s book Onward: Cultivating Emotional Resilience in Educators, she encourages us to tap into play and creativity during the month of March, “When we are creative, we are resourceful, and we problem-solve in new and original ways, which fuels our courage.” School breaks can be a great time to explore play and imagination so we can integrate this joy and flexibility into our work lives.

I am reminded of creativity as I reflect on Seneca’s second year partnership with Nystrom Elementary School, a TK-6th grade school located on the southside of Richmond. Our Unconditional Education Coach, Kelsey Corrales has worked intentionally to create a culture of joy and celebration where community members are welcomed and invited back on campus, to develop a space for student leadership, and to bring the school community together through monthly assemblies.

At the end of last school year, the Nystrom Culture and Climate Committee (C3) teamed up to dig into several data sources and identify culture and climate goals for the following school year. In many public schools the C3 teams are limited to meeting once a month. Kelsey tapped into her creativity to develop targeted teams that could push the work for individual goals. In addition to the C3 team meeting once a month, the family engagement team also meets once a month. This has allowed the Family Engagement team to dive deep into getting information from families on the type of events and classes they would like to have on campus. So far the team has planned a winter festival and monthly coffee chats that have supported in educating families. They have brought in speakers from adult ed to talk about English as a Second Language (ESL) and citizenship classes and provided a Triple P Positive Parenting Training on cultivating resilience in children.

Creativity and imagination has not been limited to the Family Engagement team. This November, the halls of Nystrom were abuzz as students ran for a spot on the student council. Each class watched a campaign video of the students running and then voted on ballets with the students' photo accompanying names. On the same day that some adults were taking ballots to the polls, students were taking their ballots down to Ms. Corrales office and proudly displaying their “I voted” stickers. The student council is enjoying fundraising on campus. They also supported the winter festival and starred as newscasters in the Positive Behavior Intervention & Support expectation video reteach. Outside of the student council, other student leaders have gotten to have their voice heard through participation in biweekly student announcements and teaming up with the Risk Resilience Research Lab at University of Berkeley to be ambassadors for a video game that is aimed at building skills to reduce aggression.

I recently had the pleasure of joining a professional development that Kelsey had prepared in collaboration with the Occupational Therapist and Psychologist to support teachers in developing calming places in the classroom. As I walked out the door, a teacher turned to another staff member and said, “that was so much fun!” Kelsey has worked hard as an Unconditional Education Coach to get important systems up and running while at the same time tapping into the joy and creativity of the staff, students and the community. As educators take time away from their sites this upcoming spring break, I encourage you to tap into your creative side and think about what parts of that you might want to carry with you into everyday life.

Blog post written by: Jenna Evans, Assistant Director of School Partnerships

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"We will REST!"

2/28/2023

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Hey Everyone! In the spirit of our DEI commitments and amplifying BIPOC voices, I wanted to share a resource. Theologian, activist, and the author of Nap Ministry, Tricia Hersey, also known as the ‘Nap Bishop,’ lifts-up the idea of radical rest for BIPOC communities— leaning into rest not just as a form of self-care, but as a tool for LIBERATION and RESISTANCE.

Hersey writes,

“My rest as a Black woman in America suffering from generational exhaustion and racial trauma always was a political refusal and social justice uprising within my body. I took to rest and naps and slowing down as a way to save my life, resist the systems telling me to do more and most importantly as a remembrance to my Ancestors who had their DreamSpace stolen from them. This is about more than naps. It is not about fluffy pillows, expensive sheets, silk sleep masks or any other external, frivolous, consumerist gimmick. It is about a deep unraveling from white supremacy and capitalism. These two systems are violent and evil. History tells us this and our present living shows this. Rest pushes back and disrupts a system that views human bodies as a tool for production and labor. It is a counter narrative. We know that we are not machines. We are divine.” (Hersey, T., 2023)

So often folxs of color feel like we need permission to take a break. Let us release the guilt and idea that we must earn rest and lean into the idea that it is our birthright! Hersey provides a hotline, 1-833-LUV-NAPS (588-6277), that supports us on our journey. I hope that you find it helpful. Wishing you a RESTful week ahead!

In solidarity,
Nicole