Creating a Culture of Care
The CSU Center to Close the Opportunity Gap (CCOG) recently hosted a webinar series presented by Dr. Caroline Lopez-Perry, an Associate Professor in the school counseling program titled “Creating a Culture of Care.” The webinar series was in response to recent findings from The COVID-19 Teacher Survey Report from the Center to Close the Opportunity Gap in which teachers reported needing access to meaningful professional development to support the mental health needs of students as they returned to in-person instruction. In the first webinar, Supporting the Whole Child: Safeguarding Student Mental and Behavioral Health attendees learned about the various mental health disorders, how to recognize mental health warning signs, and strategies for removing stigma associated with mental health issues. The second webinar, Creating a Culture of Care through Trauma Sensitive Practices provided an overview of trauma and its effects on youth in school. Attendees learned about the intersection of trauma-informed, anti-racism, and equity work in schools and strategies for building trauma sensitive classrooms. The last webinar in the series, Building Systems of Care through MTSS: A Guide to Your School-Based Mental Health Team focused on understanding the roles of school-based mental health providers including school counselors, school psychologists, and school social workers and building systems of support through an MTSS framework. This webinar was a unique opportunity to interact with the leaders from all three professional state organizations, The California Association of School Counselors, the California Association of School Psychologists, and the California Association of School Social Workers.
Recording links can be found on the CCOG website.
