During the 2006-07 school year, project staff engaged representatives of the San Francisco Unified School District School Health Programs, public high school Wellness Coordinators, and private school counselors, in order to obtain input on program design and school needs. In addition, we provided trainings for school personnel to describe the Grace Magill Project. Through this process, we gained invaluable knowledge to guide project start-up. Also, several schools approached us expressing interest in partnering with us for our three-year pilot. Our selection process involved a visit to each school for an initial meeting with the Principal and counseling staff to describe the objectives and methodology of the project. We selected partner schools according to the following criteria:
- A commitment to a pilot project, which is an iterative process involving assessment, provision of services, evaluation, program improvement, and replication. These goals are impossible to achieve without a strong partnership.
- At least one person, and ideally, a team of school representatives, as our school “point person,” to facilitate our entry and relationship building in the school community.
- A commitment to assessing and building the capacity of the school’s ability to support student well-being.
We also offered psychoeducational activities for students and presentations for faculty in order to explain the Wellness Wheel. From this activity, we learned of two themes common to all the schools we visited:
1. Students enjoyed the psychoeducational activities and let us know that they wished they had access to a class that would allow them to discuss life issues – such as dating, stress-management in self and friends – with an objective and non-judgmental adult.
2. Teachers strongly expressed their lack of confidence in knowing how to tell the difference between “normal” adolescent angst and true signs of serious distress. They also wanted help in knowing how to approach the students for whom they felt concern. Like students, teachers also want a place to talk with a non-judging person who can offer consultation around management of mental health issues.
Partner Schools
Grace Magill Project partner schools are:
Independence High School: A continuation school, Independence is attended by students who have not succeeded in “regular” high school and who are experiencing difficult life circumstances that challenge their school success. Some students are breadwinners for their parents; some are parents themselves. Many have gang affiliations, substance abuse issues, and mental health issues. All Independence students have made a commitment to completing high school despite the challenges they face. Independence faculty, concerned about the high-risk factors facing their students, asked Edgewood for help. The project was introduced to faculty in September 2006 with:
- Focus groups with faculty and students
- Psychoeducational classes on wellness, stress reduction, sexual abuse, and other topics identified by students
- Outreach and individualized services (therapy, referral, life coaching) for students
- Participation in the school’s accreditation process. The accrediting agency had identified the school’s lack of an approach to student support as a deficiency. The Grace Magill Project worked with the school to create a plan for a Wellness Center, and the school has since been accredited.
St. Ignatius College Prep (SI): Grace Magill is still remembered at SI with much affection as a vibrant and successful student who was popular across all groups of her peers. The project was welcomed into SI in January 2007. Counseling staff had been envisioning a wellness approach for several years, but they were fully occupied with academic counseling and intervening with individual students in distress. As part of our assessment, we asked SI counselors, “If you had another person on your staff, what changes would you implement at your school?” Creating a school-wide approach to supporting student well-being was the answer. We spent the remainder of the year with counselors, students, and administrators in a rigorous assessment of the school's strengths and needs. The 2006-07 year began with an Edgewood social worker teamed with an SI counselor, Michele Levine, who was on a yearlong sabbatical for the purpose of creating programs and services for the school. In October, students kicked off the project with a student planned and sponsored Health Fair. This promises to be an exciting and fruitful partnership and we anticipate strong outcomes this year.
Menlo-Atherton High School: Counseling staff from Menlo-Atherton contacted Edgewood in the spring semester of 2007 following the death by suicide of a student. Although the school is in an affluent neighborhood, about 50% of its students come from East Palo Alto, making the school a diverse demographic mix. The school contracts with a local agency to provide on-site mental health services. However, some parents were concerned about the impact the student's suicide would have on other students, and asked the school to find more comprehensive approaches to student support. The Grace Magill Project staff introduced the project to school administration during the summer of 2007, and introduced the project to all faculty during the first week of the 2007-08 semester. We are currently running focus groups and will implement the project and individual wellness assessments in November. The school has identified violence as a significant challenge to its students, many of whom have gang affiliations. Our project clinician at Menlo-Atherton has recently been trained in Aggression Replacement Training (ART), a group-intervention program for youth and adults that has proven to be effective in the reduction of violent behavior and conduct problems. The program focuses on behaviors, coping strategies, and beliefs behind aggressive and violent behavior, and addresses behavioral change in the here and now. We plan to pilot ART in December.
