7 February 2018
Community Profile: Jennifer Perry - Program Manager for Reinvesting in Youth
How do social emotional skills play a part in the day-to-day functioning of your facility/program?Building the social emotional skills of our youth is an essential part in what we do, from intake to discharge. Whether we complete formal assessments or engage in teachable moments via daily interactions, our goal is to support youth and families in increasing self-awareness, and empowering them to take control over their lives. A secondary goal, no less critical, is supporting staff in understanding their own needs and triggers so as a team we can provide better service to families by developing better understanding of ourselves and our communities.
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31 January 2018
Children's Institute In The News
Below is a collection of news articles, publications, and videos that Children’s Institute staff have created, contributed to or were written about our programs. We’re proud of all the great work done by our organization and its employees, working hard every day to support the success of children.
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12 January 2018
The Person On Your Right...
At our staff meetings, it’s not atypical for there to be some kind of activity or conversation. We talk about the work we do, our families, projects to come. Often, though, we like to talk about each other and the appreciation we have for our coworkers – whether it’s how they bring SEL programming to hundreds of children in New York, or the yummy cookies they baked and left in the kitchen for everyone to enjoy. At our December staff meeting, we were asked to look to the person to our right and say what we appreciate the most about them. The list included:
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8 January 2018
Happy New Year from the SEL Center!
It’s early January – a time of contradictions and conflicting emotions. It’s that time of year when we simultaneously want to refresh, renew, and try new things AND want to curl up on the couch and wait out the cold. It’s a time when we want our students and youth participants to buckle down and get back into work yet we get as excited about the prospect of a snow day as they do. We crave routine and order yet miss the chaos and excitement of the holidays as the winter stretches out with no good excuse to eat chocolate anywhere on the horizon.
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21 December 2017
Looking forward to 2018
As a new year approaches, it's a good time to reflect and plan. We asked Children’s Institute staff what they hope to accomplish in 2018. We asked for big, lofty goals, and/or small ones alike. Here's what they said:
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19 December 2017
Happy Holidays!
With the holiday season upon us, it’s always fun to reflect on what makes this time of year special. We asked the Children’s Institute staff what were their favorite holiday traditions growing up, and as an adult what do they look forward to. There are a few clear themes, the stuff we always think about at Christmas, yummy treats and presents. It’s also clear that as we get older, but even as children, we appreciate this time of year for the chance we get to see our loved ones and enjoy spending time with each other.
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14 December 2017
Calming Children’s Holiday-Induced Anxieties
“It’s the most wonderful time of the year” . . . or is it? Whether you work with young people in schools, afterschool programs, or early education centers, for many children, the holidays bring with them stress and anxiety. Often the young people we work with are worrying about money, family situations, gift-giving, being “different” in their beliefs or traditions, and loss. All of these factors can cause children to feel anxiety or sadness at a time when the mainstream media (not to mention their family and friends) is screaming, “Joy! Happiness!! Merriment!!!” As educators, what can we do to help them embrace this season with hope rather than trepidation?
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7 November 2017
Children’s Institute 2017 Coterie
Last week, Children’s Institute hosted their biennial Community Update and Coterie Induction. The Coterie inductees were Deborah Johnson, Dr. Jeff Kaczorowski and the late Gary Lazenby. What is a Coterie? Webster’s Dictionary defines it as an intimate and often exclusive group of persons with a unifying common interest or purpose. Children’s Institute defines it as a group of special friends whose contribution to Children's Institute is ongoing and significant; whether it be intellectual property, financial property, volunteerism, or a combination of the above.
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2 November 2017
Rising Teacher Stress and How SEL Can Help
A study from the American Federation of Teachers was released on Monday of this week, revealing that teacher stress is on the rise, and remains at rates startlingly higher than the general workforce population. Almost 5,000 respondents took the opportunity to reflect on tensions in their workplace, some randomly sampled from the AFT’s union membership and most voluntary respondents through social media channels. Cumulatively, 61% of these educators find their positions to be “always” or “often” stressful. More than half of the respondents reported a full week’s worth of poor mental health days every month, perhaps because they are being “bullied” by administrators or students (27% report incidents of this nature). On the whole, educators feel they have less impact on policy decisions and professional development content, and less control over their classrooms. They see more instances of verbal aggression among students and the majority of them do all of this on 5-7 hours of sleep a night.
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4 October 2017
Everyday SEL: Being Grateful
At the start of our Programs & Services area staff meeting yesterday, I stood at the head of the table – pausing, looking and listening to the incredible team getting settled – checking in, laughing, sighing, deep breaths – taking a few moments to be together and recognize that we are in the fall season that brings a demanding focus and intense service to schools, agencies and communities. Significant work is already accomplished and it’s only the beginning of the new school year!
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