What are some of the early impacts of the pandemic on schools and how has the program responded?
The pandemic forces everyone into unfamiliar and uncharted territory. From the very beginning, mental health professionals understood that the damage to children’s mental health would be one of the many impacts of the pandemic. The REACH pilot program took place in the midst of the pandemic, and those 55 schools tried something new during already difficult times. They go away with increased knowledge of trauma, a sense of readiness, recovery strategies, and action plans. Now, three years after the pandemic, the rules and regulations have been relaxed, but the long-term effects of surviving the crisis are still being felt through the loss of learning ability, behavioral challenges and increased anxiety and depression.
Fortunately, participating REACH schools are better equipped to help address these challenges.
Did you notice the expansion of the REACH program in early 2022. What does that include?
The expansion to all schools statewide includes the creation of seven regional social-emotional learning centers that provide local training and support for informed activities about trauma in school. The centers provide professional development resources to school districts in their area so that they can establish and expand social-emotional learning programs in schools. They also assist school community leadership teams in implementing data-driven strategies focused on addressing the trauma and mental health needs of students.
Can you share any measurable results from the program?
In a survey of 306 school-based REACH team members who attended the entire semester, respondents said that REACH training content was helpful in preparing and assisting them to complete the self-assessment on their trauma coping policies, procedures, and practices. (seventy three%); understand trauma approaches (69%); and develop a feasible action plan (90%).
Additional data on the impact of schools participating in the REACH initiative on student achievement, discipline, and attendance will be provided. It will take at least a year until we have student-related impact data, as the data is measured and reported on an annual basis. It should also be pointed out that we know that school transition efforts take time. At least we need to give schools a full year to implement REACH before we can expect those changes. Meanwhile, anecdotally, when we asked administrators about the changes they’ve seen in students, we’ve heard promising messages.
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