When we first started seeing stay-at-home orders, school closures, and then school closures for the rest of the year, we all went through a roller coaster of emotions.

            What does this mean for us?

            What does this mean for our work?

            And ultimately, what does this mean for our students and families?

There were many things we suddenly had to navigate all at once:

• How do we stay safe?
• How do we stay healthy?
• How do we change how we work?
• How are our students going to keep learning?
• And so much more.

However, as things continue to unfold, we are seeing the real impact COVID-19 has had on our community. Throughout the education world questions have arisen such as:

• What about students with no internet access?
• What about students with no access to devices to access internet?
• What about students’ access to meals?
• What about students access to counselors and special education resources?

The list goes on.

Schooling and learning was not the only thing removed from our students’ lives; the resources to support the health and wellbeing of students was removed as well. Students no longer have immediate access to special education resources, counselors, school nutrition programs, the school nurse – resources outside of the classroom that many students across the U.S. rely on to learn successfully.

Trained as a school counselor, one thing comes to mind during all of this, Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. If a student’s basic needs are not met, how can we expect them to learn?

Image of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs from psychologytoday.com.

As we all navigate this new reality, educators across the U.S., and across the #GEARUPworks community sprang into action to support the basic needs and the social emotional needs of students. GEAR UP programs are hosting self-care and wellness virtual workshops for their students, Zoom or Google hangout sessions where students can check-in with their GEAR UP coordinators, Instagram Live chats to check-in on the well-being of their students with engaging guest speakers, meal pick-up information, technology access resources, and so much more. GEAR UP equity warriors are certainly rising to the occasion.

I recently had the opportunity to connect with two GEAR UP grants that are leading in this space during the COVID-19 pandemic. Check out what they had to say below.

Alexandra Marquez‍, GEAR UP Director from St. John’s University GEAR UP in New York shared how their students have been impacted and services they’ve implemented to support their students.

“Our students are experiencing inconceivable trauma and stress. Some have suffered the loss of family members, are experiencing severe financial hardships and and/or struggling to manage their new course loads given the new remote learning environment. St. John’s University GEAR UP is proud to continue to support our students and parents during this time. Our efforts include calling students to check on their wellness, provide referrals to community resources, as well as academic support and college readiness/ financial aid guidance. In addition, our “Watch Us Wednesday” workshops (which are delivered on IG live or thru Google Meets) provide weekly opportunities for our students to engage with us virtually. These webinars have taught students about self-advocacy, sharpening some of the soft-skills needed for college, and navigating the college acceptance/financial award process. In collaboration with some of our program partners, we are also presenting a series of parent videos and virtual workshops, which will help guide parents thru the challenges of remote learning, the college acceptance process, as well as provide basic tips to help them further support their teens during this difficult time. During the coming weeks, we look forward to surveying our students and parents to further determine their needs, as we plan to deliver our virtual summer workshops.” 

Jennifer Murphy‍, an expert in Social Emotional Learning from GEAR UP at Arizona State University, also provided insight into how their students and educators are navigating our new circumstances.

“When school closures took place in Arizona, everyone found themselves in unchartered territory; however, for our GEAR UP staff, the immediate physical and emotional wellbeing of our students was top of mind followed closely by a sense of grieving, of sorts, for the potential loss of relationships with students who they might not have the opportunity to see again as we prepare to transition to the high school setting.  While our staff scrambled to identify creative methods to reach as many students as possible in an effort to support the academic and social-emotional needs our students, I quickly recognized that I need to ensure my staff are taking care of their own emotional health; now, more than ever, we need to be able to authentically convey optimism and hope in our student interactions.  Our staff pulled together to establish virtual tutoring services and created a library of pre-recorded math and ELA videos.  We quickly realized, however, that the heart of our work was developing a virtual mentoring system to allow for live student check-in’s and a social-emotional library of pre-recorded and “paper” activities/resources that could be accessed by students, parents, and partner school staff at any point in time.  Despite these unprecedented times, we have to stay true to what is at the core of our ASU GEAR UP efforts - to constantly strive to strengthen our relationships with students, as these relationships will inevitably support academic growth and social-emotional skill-building.”

Check out a few of the resources below to further support your students and families:

• Headspace – meditation app
• Calm – meditation app
• Feeding America – donate & find your local food bank
• NCCEP Online Resource page – where you will find a variety of wellness and academic resources
• American School Counseling Association – resources and webinars to navigate virtual counseling
• Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) - SEL specific resources and activities to implement
• U.S. Department of Education – response and resources for COVID-19
• Telehealth options for students at Institutions of Higher Education – reach out to your local institution to see what options are available for students to receive telehealth or teletherapy

I recently attended (virtually) a research briefing on the impact on mental health in education with expert panelists from the American School Counseling Association, the American Counseling Association, NACAC, and more – and the ultimate takeaway was this: don’t let your health and wellness fall to the wayside during this time. As educators, our mental health and wellness needs impact our abilities to provide these services to our students and to support our students, when they too may be experiencing similar feelings of loss, despair, or stress.

Take care of yourself & take care of your students.

Please share any SEL experiences or resources you have seen specific to addressing the needs of students and families during COVID-19 in the comments below.

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