Social Emotional Learning (SEL) videos, part of an MHS, objective targeted towards bettering the student body’s mental health, are played in many classrooms during homeroom on Wednesdays; however, their efficacy remains questionable.
The mental health counselors occasionally send SEL videos to teachers, Associate Principal Skyler Draeger said. The mental health counselors are a new resource this year to provide anything from conversations to therapy for students, Draeger said.
Another significant contributor is the ASB socio-emotional wellness committee.
“The general goal of the committee (socio-emotional wellness committee) is to make sure that students are doing pretty good mentally and emotionally, while also focusing on suicide and bullying prevention,” junior and current socio-emotional wellness committee lead Vinh Nguyen said.
In terms of the origin of these videos, at the moment they are not composed due to the committee being busy; rather they are found pre-made, Nguyen mentioned.
“We hope for the students are watching it, they pay attention, they learn and then they think about themselves emotionally,” Nguyen said.
They are trying to find a replacement for the videos, but as of now they haven’t found a substitute, Nguyen said.
“Last year the main initiatives were the surveys that we released. We got a little over 1000 responses just to check in with the students and how they were doing and then also utilizing our social media for wellness Wednesdays,” senior and former Socio-Emotional Wellness commissioner Althea Belen said. Mental health on our campus has been better this year in comparison to last year, Belen added.
“Well I think what we can do better is trying to reach out with our students, really reach an understanding where they(students) honestly hear us for what we’re talking about,” Nguyen said.
SEL videos have not benefitted our campus at the moment, in terms of their impact on students, Nguyen said.
“Honestly, if you want to sleep through (SEL videos), sleep through them,”Nguyen said.
Yet, it does seem that there has been an upward trend in the betterment of mental health, Nguyen said.He sees more groups of people and tables that are crowded, which is a sign of strong social emotion, he said.
“Have consideration of your time, have confidence because a lot of people don’t have that right now, and you can get work done,” Nguyen said as a message from the socio-emotional wellness committee.