By Adam Swift
When it comes to social-emotional learning, Chelsea has been at the forefront of prioritizing the mental health of its students, according to school administrators.
At last week’s school committee meeting, school district Chief of Staff Dr. Aaron Jennings and Director of Student Supports Brenda Pena presented an overview of the district’s social-emotional learning initiatives.
“We are doing a series on school safety and security, and the reason we are sharing about social-emotional supports is that we know that many of our students need to feel safe in school,” said Superintendent of Schools Dr. Almi Abeyta. “Part of that is knowing our students by name, strength, and story, and it’s also reaching out to our students who are struggling with some social and emotional issues, and all of us do, who need support. So we have a myriad of social-emotional options for students, ways for them to plug in, and I am very proud of the work we’ve been doing over the last several years, especially during the pandemic.”
During the pandemic, Abeyta said district officials became very concerned about the mental health of its students, and dedicated money from the Student Opportunity Act and pandemic relief funds heavily into mental health and social-emotional learning programs.
“We are really comprehensive when you look at comparable districts,” said Pena. “Chelsea Public Schools has a large support team, and we really think about students at all levels.”
Over the past five years, Pena said the district has continued to increase its support staff in the buildings. Currently, she said the district has 19 counselors and 21 social workers.
The multi-layered approach to mental health and social-emotional learning consists of three tiers, Pena said. The first tier is universally accessible to all students, the second tier includes targeted interventions that typically reach about 15 to 20 percent of the student population, and the third tier is a more individualized crisis intervention that includes partnerships with outside organizations and providers.
“We have very strong community partnerships to allow us to continue to collaborate and provide resources and supports,” Pena said.
Pena pointed to Alongside, a mental health AI app, as a resource that is available to all students. The app includes journaling activities and prompts, as well as mental health videos.
“There is an opportunity to interact and engage, and really, for students to self-regulate,” said Pena. “It’s been going really well, it’s in year three, and 89 percent of students are using it actively. In the last three years, there have been over 25,000 activities (on the app).”
In addition, Pena said the district has had success with mental health screenings for anxiety and depression for all students from grades 3 to 12.
“This allows us to identify students in need that we may not be able to immediately identify,” she said.
Other more recent mental health initiatives include telehealth-related services and a partnership with Pariva Health and the Lego Foundation to help support the district’s neurodivergent students.
“Overall, the work we want to do, it’s really embedding social-emotional learning in day-to-day practice, using common language across the classrooms,” said Pena. “We want this to be part of our culture.”