Professional Learning Network Sessions: Social Emotional Learning/Mental Health
Do you lead or support SEL and Mental Health initiatives in your school district? If so, and if you find this work challenging, you’re not alone. I often think that if something feels hard, that’s probably because it is hard—and a supportive network along with resources can make our challenging tasks a little easier.
As the 2024-2025 school year gets underway, I’m looking forward to another great year with the Social Emotional Learning Professional Learning Network group! This group meets for a 3-session series, during which NYSED SEL updates and resources are shared, and participants have the opportunity to connect and network with one another. The series (geared towards school social workers, psychologists, counselors, administrators, and teachers) will feature lively discussions in a supportive environment, as well as meaningful activities and actionable strategies that can be utilized in your schools to support and grow your Social Emotional Learning initiatives and support student mental health and school-community wellbeing.
Dates: 10-30-24; 1-7-25*; 4-2-25
Time: 8:30am-11:30am
Place: Eastern Suffolk BOCES Instructional Support Center @ Sequoya (* January meeting will be virtual via Zoom)
Cost for Subscribers: $199/series; Cost for Non-Subscribers: $249/series
Register today at: http://webreg.esboces.org
Engage. Reflect. Grow. These three words drive every learning experience I design.
Engage – expect discussion, activity, and movement in my workshops. Time will be spent working with the material, critically engaging to support participants in considering how—and if—the concepts we are covering apply to your work with students and staff.
Reflect – self-reflection is an essential skill, so the opportunity to build this skill is part of every learning experience I facilitate. The depth of your reflection is up to you, but know that prompts and modeling will be provided. Deep reflection helps us “make better mistakes,” a concept I learned from legendary social work professor Dr. Larry Shulman. I think about this often, as our mistakes can help us grow more than any other learning experience, if we let them.
Grow – adopting a growth mindset and commitment to lifelong learning is a practice. The material we will cover in any given workshop is a starting point, and an invitation to make it your own through continual exploration. Towards the conclusion of each workshop, recommendations for further learning, ways to support your ongoing growth, and how to share what you are learning with your colleagues will be provided. The goal is to plant seeds that will be nurtured over time to support your ongoing growth.
If your staff could benefit from training and development around Social Emotional Learning, Challenging Behaviors, Supporting Student Mental Health, Educator Self-Care, or other related topics, I encourage you to contact me so we can get started with a complimentary meeting to see how and if I can support your staff professional development needs.