School Psychologists Build Student Resiliency Remotely During Pandemic: Resiliency through Stories Project

Throughout the COVID-19 Pandemic, Social Emotional Learning (SEL) has become more important than ever. The Ohio Department of Education Social Emotional Learning Standards indicate that SEL promotes resiliency and builds protective factors that can help children cope with adverse experiences. The ODE Framework for Systematic Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL, 2017) includes five competency areas including self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills and responsible decision making. ODE indicates that there is compelling research to support the use of SEL approaches in schools (ODE, 2019). As well, the National Association of School Psychologists PREPaRE Training Curriculum advocates for school psychologists to promote internal resiliency in students as a protective factor to mitigate crisis/trauma risk. As school psychologists we want to build resiliency skills to help our students cope with new changes and intense emotions created by the pandemic. At Adlai Stevenson School in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District, we used a digital bibliotherapy format to teach Resiliency Skills through Stories. We created engaging video recordings of school psychologists reading SEL stories.