Facilitating Dialogue with Compassion
Students need the guidance and safety of adults in their schools to be able to navigate their own emotions and trauma. Classrooms are powerful places to help children process current events, provided educators create safe spaces for students.
Engage with Open-Ended Questions
When engaging with staff and students, use open-ended questions, such as:
- What are you curious about?
- How are you feeling?
- What needs to be discussed?
- What terms did you hear that we might need to understand?
- What might you need right now?
Help the Community Ground Itself
Values
- What do you value?
- How will this help guide you?
Community
-
What community do you have to support you?
Hope
-
What future do you want to build?
Reflecting
- What has this situation taught you?
- What has this situation taught you about the criminal justice system in America?
- What has this situation taught you about people and communities?
Wellness and Mental Health Resources for Students, Adults
SDCOE offers training and support related to school safety, school climate and culture, and student mental health and well-being. Learn more about student support topics, and find the training calendar.
- The Virtual Wellness Center has resources and tools for parents and educators.
- Youth Mental Health First Aid helps provide initial help to young people showing signs of a mental illness crisis and connect them with the appropriate professional, peer, social, or self-help care.
- Compilation of mental health resources for parents, students, and educators.
The National Child Traumatic Stress Network provides resources that can be filtered by topic or keyword and by audience with a focus on how adults can identify traumatic responses in young people and how to support them.
Resources
- School Leaders Guide to Create Healing Dialogue Space – Provides ways to create and hold authentic, healing dialogue space for those in your school community
- The Constitutional Rights Foundation: Lesson Plans – Provides texts on both sides of a civic issue and encourages discourse skillset
- Teaching as Activism, Teaching as Care (video) – From the SDCOE 2021 Equity Conference, speaker Jamilah Pitts provides ideas to care for students who might be hurting from national events
- 6 Guiding Principles to Trauma-Informed Approach – One-page PDF explains the trauma-informed approach
- Let’s Talk: Facilitating Critical Conversations with Students – From Learning for Justice, a guide for educators to prepare and hold critical conversations in the classroom
- 10 Ways to Fight Hate on Campus – Resource intended for college-age students, but may be helpful for high school students
- Talking to Children About Violence – Tips for parents and children from the National Association of School Psychologists.
|
|
More to explore
Dr. Gloria E. Ciriza, a 30-year educator who has championed educational equity, will become the next San Diego County Superintendent of Schools. She will be the first female county superintendent in the San Diego County Office of Education’s 76-year history.
San Diego County Superintendent of Schools Dr. Paul Gothold was recently published in the third edition of the School News Roll Call, which features messages from school district superintendents across San Diego County. Read Gothold's full article.
Middle and high school students are invited to attend Mind Out Loud, a free, virtual event where students have the opportunity to connect with one another on issues of mental health, wellness, and suicide prevention.
Three outstanding employees were selected recently to represent San Diego County as Classified School Employees of the Year. The honorees highlight the wide variety of skills that classified school employees bring to school sites, representing the health and student services, paraprofessional services, and custodial and maintenance services specialties.
On April 24, parents and caregivers can learn about helping youth create a healthy school-life balance. This free webinar series is hosted by SDCOE and medical and mental health experts with the Transforming Mental Health Initiative at Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego.
More than 300 middle school students from across the county came together to attend workshops on college preparation, leadership, black empowerment, and more at the 2nd Annual Black Student Summit.