A MESSAGE FROM THE

SEL PROJECT COORDINATOR

Dear SEL in OST Community,

As another school year is coming to an end, I want to take a moment to reflect on what has taken place in our SEL community over the past several months. First, I would like to congratulate and extend appreciation for our colleagues who completed this year’s 24 hour "SEL in Afterschool Cohort." All who took part in this cohort showed tremendous dedication to its completion, implementation into daily practice, and fore mostly, a passion for providing quality SEL learning opportunities in OST to our NH children and youth. The following members of our community are this year’s "SEL in Afterschool Cohort" participants: 

The participants from "SEL in Afterschool Cohort 2021-2022" and "Social, Emotional and the Mindfulness Learning (SEML) Cohort 2022" expressed the desire to remain connected to one another as they continue to pursue their work in various locations across the state. To stay connected, offer mutual support, and continue to learn together, we implemented a Quarterly Community of Practice in fall 2021. In June, we will welcome this year’s new "SEL in Afterschool Cohort" participants along with those in our community who finished all three Mindful March SEML trainings to join in our CoP series! 

Warmly, 

Abigail J. Blodgett, SEL Project Coordinator

ACROSS NH

ablodgett@seresc.net

RAFFLES

Two raffles were held in March. In the first raffle, in celebration of International SEL Day on March 11th, our colleagues in the field were invited to send in an SEL practice and/or respond to an SEL prompt to be entered into a raffle. This year’s winner was Rebecca Branscombe of The Boys and Girls Club of Central New Hampshire. Rebecca received an SEL gift for her program. We were able to showcase all entries in our final March newsletter. 

In the second raffle, participants who completed all three Mindful March SEML trainings were entered into a raffle to win a copy of the beautiful children’s book, “Change Sings,” by Amanda Gorman. The winner of that raffle was Jessica Adams of Project Promise. We would like to thank all of those who qualified for the raffles for their dedication to being engaged in our SEML community.  

SEL CONNECTED TRAININGS

Many SEL and SEML connected trainings, the SEL cohort, the SEML Quarterly Community of Practice, and the Mindful March SEML series were offered this year. These could not have been possible without the dedicated team of trainers and mentors on the ACROSS NH team. Below you will see a list of many of the trainings with SEML themes that have been offered. We are so fortunate to have so many dedicated Positive Youth Development professionals provide trainings on weeknights and at Saturday mini conferences. 

ACES, Trauma, and Wellness

Presented by Theresa Peck, M.Ed.; ASMP F/ECMP F and LE Level 5

How to Calm the Angry Octopus

Presented by Melanie Smith, M.Ed.; NH ASMP WT, PC and LE Level 5

Social Emotional Curriculum for Regulation

Presented by Kimberly O’Donnell, M.S.; NH ECMP & ASMP WT, IM, PC

On-the-Spot Activities that Create Connections in Out of School Time

Presented by Amy Upton, M.S.; NH ASMP WT, F, IM, PC and LE Level 5, ASA Level 4

Emotional Wellness in Out of School Time

Presented by Rick Alleva, Ed.D.; NH ASMP WT, F, PC

Trauma Informed De-Escalation with School Age Children

Presented by Kimberly O’Donnell, M.S.; NH ASMP WT, IM, PC

Creating a “Speak-Up” Culture for Your Team

Presented by Jaime Calcagni Salagaj; NH ASMP WT

Essential Tools for Behavior Management

Presented by Bobi White, M.Ed.; NH ECMP WT, PC & ASMP WT, PC, F and LE Level 5

Social And Emotional Learning (SEL) and Suspension/Expulsion Prevention in OST:

Trainings on the SEL and Prevention Guides

Presented by Abigail Blodgett, B.S.; ACROSS NH SEL Project Coordinator, NH ASMP WT, PM, ASA Level 3, and ADS Level 6

The contributions from Kathy Jablonski and Rick Alleva to our "SEL in Afterschool Cohort" were tremendous. They attended every training session and provided a constant support to participants embarking on their SEL implementation work in programs. These two mentors went above and beyond to support our OST providers in this cohort! We are all immensely grateful for their mentorship and guidance. 

We extend our appreciation to our SERESC collaborator, Eric Mann, for his collaboration, facilitation, and leadership in the SEL in Afterschool Cohort. See a clip of Eric from the SERESC website providing a synopsis of SEL: https://youtu.be/dStBWh9EVqI

We also thank Rick Alleva for his work on our Mindful March SEML collection of trainings. Rick is a driving force for creating our mindfulness centered learning opportunities here at ACROSS NH. Our SEML work wouldn’t be the same without him. Stay tuned for more opportunities to come in the future!

LOOKING AHEAD: SAVE THE DATES

We have already started planning for next year! Please spread the word to save the dates for next year’s revised SEL in AS cohort, "SEL in OST." If you have not yet participated in a previous cohort, this cohort may be the one for you! Be sure to stay tuned in August for more information on this cohort and other upcoming SEML opportunities.

CLIPS, SNIPS, IN-A-SNAP

Tour de BOOST CONFERENCE with Abigail

This month's Clips, Snips, and In-A-Snap items are takeaways that I want to share with you from the 2022 BOOST Conference in Palm Springs, CA. I attended the conference in April with Jamie Nadeau, ACROSS NH Project Director, and Terri Peck, ACROSS trainer and Child Care Licensing Unit Supervisor. 

CLIPS

After attending the film, “The Bad Kids” at the “Boost Film Festival,” I contemplated sharing the movie with our OST community given the film setting was a high school, rather than an elementary OST setting. However, I was deeply moved by the passion, implementation of practices, and the dedication of the teachers and principal featured in the film. The many SEL supportive culture, climate, and connection practices that were implemented in this high school reminded me of the quality work our OST programs do with school aged children. 

The adults involved in this high school structured their school to support a sense of belonging for their youth. The adults also encouraged their youth to believe in their ability to form and achieve micro-goals, short-term goals, and eventually reach long-term goals. I was touched, once again, by the knowledge of the power of children and youth that have caring, compassionate, and effective healthy relationships with the adults in their lives. Having just spent a week of travel in the proximate location of this high school, I recalled wondering in my daily travels, as often I do wherever I go, ‘’I wonder what the stories of the children and youth who call this place home might be?” I am sure, as with any area we can possibly travel, there are many stories to be heard.

When I chose to attend the showing of the film, I did not know it was set in an area where I’d just been traveling. Perhaps it was serendipity? I ultimately decided to share the film with all of you as I realize it may hit home for some of us in our SEML community. Please let me know if you do find a moment to view the film. I’d love to connect with you to discuss our perspectives on this piece of media. Visit the website https://www.thebadkidsmovie.com/, or watch the trailer below or go to Youtube.com: https://youtu.be/7LD1PDzA6D0 for more information. 

SNIPS

Keynote speaker, Shawn A. Ginwright, Ph.D., captured the audience with his sharing of his work on healing centered engagement. He is the author of “The Four Pivots: Reimagining Justice, Reimagining Ourselves,” in which he discusses the four pivots: 

1.      From Lens to Mirror

2.      From Transactional to Transformative

3.      From Problem to Possibility

4.      From Hustle to Flow

This snip here is from the back cover of his book: 

A Google search will render you access to a few free recordings of Dr. Ginwright as a keynote at some virtual events during the COVID-19 shut down. I was able to “snip” this from his training session, “Pivoting from Trauma-Informed Care to Healing Centered Engagement: Imagining Justice, Reimagining Ourselves,” I was able to attend this on the last afternoon of the BOOST Conference. 

IN-A-SNAP

Anyone planning a spring cleaning or summer road trip? Do you have a commute to work? Do you have another time when your engaged in a hands-on task and you can use that moment to enjoy a great book? I know that many of us listen to our favorite podcasts or audiobooks during those times. Are there any SEL and/or SEML themed podcasts or audiobooks that have caught your ear? I would love to hear from you and be able to disseminate recommendations from you, our colleagues in the field, over the upcoming year. Please email recommendations to ablodgett@seresc.net. 

Terri Peck and I attended “Safe and Sound: ACEs, Trauma-Informed Practices, and Wellness,” a six-hour training presented by Karissa Luckett, RN, BSN, MSW, Senior Clinical and Quality Operations Director for the Center for Youth Wellness, San Francisco, California: https://centerforyouthwellness.org/our-team/. Follow the link for a video, “The Things We Carry,” posted by the Center for Youth Wellness: https://youtu.be/ngYnzNArGyo

In this session, Karissa recommended three books for understanding what trauma is, its impact, and healing from trauma. They are: 

I “read” the audiobook version of “What Happened to You? Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing” by Dr. Bruce Perry and Oprah Winfrey while cleaning up my hotel room, on my layovers and flights home, and in my car rides and chores in the following week. I have since purchased the hardcopy and have recommended it to anyone who will give me a minute of their time. Dr. Perry and Oprah read their own work and it flows along similarly to a podcast. I can’t imagine anyone reading or listening to this book and not walking away with a clear understanding of the topic in a digestible and accessible format. Perhaps if anyone is interested in getting a “book club” together, please email me at ablodgett@seresc.net and we can explore this opportunity together! I will keep you posted as I complete the rest of the works from the recommended reading list! 

To enjoy a conversation with Oprah and Dr. Perry on the book from the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma, click here or go to: https://youtu.be/eNIJBT5q0nI

SEL RESOURCES FROM ACROSS NH

If you would like to request a guide introduction training for your program, please email acrossnh@seresc.net or call (603) 206-6848.