Social-Emotional Learning Summit

Social-Emotional Learning Summit
Posted on 02/26/2020
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Several Indian Lake School counselors, board members and administrators recently attended the Mental Health and Social-Emotional Learning Summit in Columbus. They joined thousands of school leaders and mental health specialists to concentrate on the psychological state of today's young people. 

Governor Mike DeWine spoke to the group, explaining that he will fight hard to continue in future state budgets the Student Wellness dollars for schools that he added in 2019. 

Indian Lake Superintendent Rob Underwood was reassured to hear the governor’s commitment to supporting social emotional learning. He explains that our district is on the forefront of SEL.
Underwood says, ““Prior to the state initiating SEL standards, we had already trained our entire staff in Mental Health First Aid and we have some long-time programs in place to build positive behaviors. Using the CASEL framework, ILS is implementing the R-Factor and Six Seconds to promote staff and student emotional intelligence. We know focus on mental health supports and social emotional learning is critical because those coping skills are necessary for a student to learn and succeed in school and beyond.”
Using Student Wellness funds, Indian Lake Schools recently added an additional licensed social worker/mental health case manager and counselor to serve students three days a week. In addition, ILHS juniors are taking part in a nationwide Mental Health First Aid for Teens pilot program.
ILMS Counselor Mandy Tidwell says she left the conference breakouts sessions and resource fair with even more strategies to help kids.
"They really emphasized a few simple things, like calling a student by name. It goes a long way to making sure that students feel heard and understood," Tidwell explains.