BeWell is a virtual wellness space that offers evidence-based practices, resources, tools, and strategies for education professionals to support their emotional regulation and well-being. Strategies are organized into three categories – calm yourself, activate yourself, and increase your well-being – that users can choose from based on their mental or emotional state. BeWell offers activities for listening, watching, reading, doing and learning that support a calm, centered, and engaged mindset. Bookmark this site and visit any time you need to regulate or learn about how to improve your overall well-being.
Social and Emotional Learning
Calming Spaces in Schools and Classrooms
As the places where young people spend a significant amount of their lives, schools have an immense opportunity to attend to the social, emotional, and mental health needs of students on a regular basis. Calming spaces can be integrated as part of a school’s comprehensive strategy to provide nurturing environments that foster positive student development and prevent harmful and persistent distress.
This brief describes calming spaces and the potential positive impacts that offering such spaces in schools or classrooms can have on students’ mental health and learning. It features several examples of calming spaces and related resources from California and beyond, provides an explanation of how calming spaces align with other initiatives for supporting student well-being, and offers practical guidance for educators to consider when setting up their own calming spaces.
A Community-Based Approach to Student and Family Well-Being
School districts that implement whole-community supports incorporate the needs of families and caregivers in their approach to student well-being. In this audiocast, you’ll hear about how Pajaro Valley Unified School District prioritizes community voice to provide responsive supports that promote multi-generational wellness through their Family Engagement and Wellness Center.
Featured Speakers:
- Dr. Michelle Rodriguez, Superintendent
- Christine (Christy) MacLane, Coordinator of Counseling Programs and Coordinator of PVUSD Family Engagement and Wellness Center
View the transcript for this audiocast.
Download the Pajaro Valley brief.
Centering Community Engagement in Collaborative School Design
Family members play a crucial role in supporting positive school experiences for students. In this audiocast, you will hear how EnCompass Academy recruited parents to be active contributors of a school design process that sought to represent perspectives throughout the East Oakland community. This collaborative process led to the development of whole-child strategies that create a caring, supportive school climate while honoring cultural and community strengths.
Featured Speakers:
- Ms. Amelia Rico, Student–Family Connections Coordinator
- Brianna, 4th Grade Student
- Minh–Tram Nguyen, Principal
View the transcript for this audiocast.
Download the EnCompass Brief.
Universal Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Screening During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Considerations for Practice
This practical guide from Project Cal-Well summarizes key considerations and includes recommendations for schools and districts implementing social, emotional, and behavioral screening during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Two partnering Project Cal-Well districts share examples of how they have gathered data to identify the behavioral and mental health support needs of their students.
Supporting Students’ Social and Emotional Connectedness During Remote Learning
This practical guide from Project Cal-Well focuses on flexible and feasible approaches to supporting social and emotional connectedness during remote learning. It provides information and resources about easy to implement strategies for educators, students, and families to stay connected and foster a sense of community within a virtual classroom. The guide includes strategies for educators to:
- Promote students’ feelings of being welcomed as part of a community
- Foster peer-to-peer connections and relationships through classroom activities and independent assignments
- Regularly check in with students about their mental, emotional, and physical wellbeing
- Demonstrate flexibility, understanding, and willingness to communicate with students and their families
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