We are using cookies to give a better service experience. By using our services you agree to use cookies. Read more

Accept
Reject
search
clear

Building Resilience during Covid-times

place India

Offering safe spaces to help 6th graders in India process and cope with pandemic stressors.

In the wake of 15 months of the pandemic and the carnage of the 2nd wave in India, children have experienced not only loss of routine, time outdoors and time with friends, but have also witnessed death and their caregivers' helplessness in the face of it. This intervention equipped 75-100 6th grade children to process, articulate, and cope with their current realities with safe adult support.

Overview

Information on this page is provided by the innovator and has not been evaluated by HundrED.

Web presence

2019

Established

150

Children

1

Countries
Target group
All
Updated
July 2021
"As an SEL facilitator, I too learned a lot of SEL tools in this intervention. It helped me to recognize and name my emotions, deal with my worries, and handle tough situations."

About the innovation

Why did you create this innovation?

Due to the pandemic, aspects of learning, play, friendships, family relationships, the home environment, and a sense of safety and security have all been affected for children. Yet, children are not well supported in dealing with these impacts. We created this intervention to provide a safe, shame-free space to children to share, listen and learn to process ongoing events in constructive ways.

What does your innovation look like in practice?

We partnered with a leading edtech company in India, and using the train-the-trainer model, trained their teaching faculty in conducting live, online sessions on Zoom with groups of 5-10 children.

We addressed pertinent topics such as toxic positivity, gave children tools to name and identify intensity of their emotions, make sense of conflicting perspectives and deal with catastrophic thinking. We also provided tools to rebuild connection, routine, and creative and physical play.

Between the pre- and post- assessments, we have data to show an increase of 24% in the number of students willing and able to talk about their tough emotions like sadness and anger, 91.4 % students now understand the reasons behind others’ emotional states, and 75% students would recommend the intervention to their friends.

The curriculum for these sessions is proprietary. Pedagogical elements such as differentiated instruction, peer dialogue and tools such as Yale's Mood Meter were used.

How has it been spreading?

In the absence of safe and supportive conversations with adults, processing and coping with pandemic-induced stressors had been challenging for children. In our intervention, students experienced a safe, shame-free space where they shared their often conflicting emotions, concerns, and in one case, grief of losing a friend to covid.

The main achievement of this intervention is that student participation was high, and students asked for more sessions even after the intervention ended. Here are quotes from teachers: “Every single student was eager to share their thoughts openly, I never had to ask someone to start. "

Our goal for the next 2 years is to provide such a safe space to 1M students through the partner's expansive student outreach and SEL certification of the teaching team.

If I want to try it, what should I do?

Please contact vrinda@csel.in for partnerships.

Spread of the innovation

loading map...