COVID Impact: Groups Teaching Emotional Resilience

There is no doubt that educators and parents/guardians are seeing first hand the negative impact that COVID has had on students both academically and emotionally.  The change in learning structure from remote, to hybrid learning to returning to school in person, has been a difficult adjustment.

Many students are struggling to motivate and do not see the same rationale for having to learn in school buildings. Educators and parents/ guardians are reporting a lot more anxiety and adjustment issues.  During remote learning, the more introverted, anxious and shy students did not maintain the same social connections as their peers and now report feeling uncomfortable and out of place in school full time. These students often lack the social skills necessary to resume lost connections that they had pre-COVID or to create new ones.  There is also a lot more stress in general surrounding grades and academic demands.  During hybrid and remote learning, there was more leniency in work volume and flexibility on when assignments were due. Students had more support with their work outside of school either by doing it with their peers via zoom or by getting assistance from their parents/guardians or siblings. As a result, grades may have been inflated due to circumstances and not an accurate representation of true ability.  Now that school is becoming more normalized, students are not seeing the grades they are used to during quarantine, and this is causing anxiety.

As an educator, I am amazed daily at how hard schools are working to meet the varying needs that COVID has created. Literally, at times around the clock. But there are only so many hours in the day or issues that can be addressed at once. COVID has really led us to rethink our priorities and it is more apparent that in today’s world, emotional resilience is critical for future success.

 If you feel your child is struggling in any way and can benefit from learning skills like emotional regulation and distress tolerance (dealing with heightened stressful situations) then please contact me. I am offering middle school and high school groups via zoom.  I can also create a specialized group, if you feel your child and some friends would like to meet together.

Please note that during the group, we will learn important life skills that are taught through the DBT STEP-A curriculum (Dialectical Behavior Therapy).  This does not take the place of traditional DBT Therapy that is more counseling in nature.

Please contact me at lisa@guidance411.com for more information. I am here to help!