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Many youths are facing significant trauma, but educators are unsure of how to help these students. The American Youth Policy Forum has released a report detailing how educators can use trauma-informed educational practices with students. Practices include a positive behavior approach, equity practices, and a commitment to instructional methods that do not re-traumatize the students.

Youth must learn how to express their emotions with words, especially when they encounter conflict. The Harvard Graduate School of Education has created a blog post describing emotional regulation strategies educators can promote with their students. One example is having students use “I” messages to describe their feelings.

Do you want to learn more about social and emotional learning (SEL)? The Wallace Foundation has produced a podcast with three episodes dedicated to the “what,” “how,” and “why” of SEL. Learn about what makes for high-quality SEL and about the intersection of SEL and equity.

Self-care is vital to protecting your physical and mental health especially for educators who continue to face numerous challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic. WestEd has created a brief that provides self-care strategies for educators, including recommendations for healthy mindsets and behaviors, setting boundaries, and social media intake. While this brief was written in 2020, these self-care techniques continue to be helpful today.

Although Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Day has passed, the topic remains of interest year-round. The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) hosted a webinar called Cut the Jargon: What We Actually Want for All Students. The webinar commemorated SEL Day and educated attendees about SEL. One of the takeaways from the webinar is that SEL can happen inside and outside of the classroom. Schools are not the primary place where SEL happens. Instead, SEL can take place during extracurricular sports or community service activities. SEL also must be built on trust and relationships and driven by interest.

Each year about one in five students faces at least one form of hostile or violent behaviors like bullying, hate speech, hate crimes, or assault. The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) published a study explaining the hostile behaviors that students experience on school campuses and the strategies that schools adopt to address these problems. The report finds that nearly every school reviewed uses programs or practices to address hostile behaviors, with almost 90% of schools utilizing SEL principles.

The National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments has designed a tool that provides helpful practices on how school administrators can support staff members and how educators and other staff can support students. These practices center on building individual capacity and creating a supportive environment. Topics include ways to support staff when they are overwhelmed, designing an identity chart for personal reflection, and helping students build connections with others.

The U.S. Surgeon General’s office has published an advisory report that compares children’s mental health before and during the COVID-19 pandemic and explains the risk factors that are partly responsible for youth mental health symptoms. The report also provides ways that families, youth, and mental health advocates can support youth who are experiencing mental health challenges.

Research shows that intuition can play an important role in decision making. Y4Y has released a blog post that includes tips and resources on how to build a student’s confidence and self-awareness so that they can develop and trust their instincts.

As communities continue to grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic, educators are seeing an increase in the number of students experiencing anxiety, depression, fear, trauma, food insecurity, or homelessness. A recent webinar hosted by the Afterschool Alliance, Forum for Youth Investment, and Every Hour Counts, focused on SEL, its purpose, and how afterschool programs are using SEL to address consequences of the pandemic