In the past few years, the Department of Education, the Surgeon General, and the CDC all agreed: belonging isn’t a buzzword. It’s an essential factor in well-being, especially for young people, who need it more than ever in the midst of the current mental health crisis. But how can teachers make such a broad concept a reality for students?
Though belonging will look different for every classroom or group, the evidence-based methods Girls Leadership teaches in Collective Belonging training are a strong foundation. Participants learn practical strategies for cultivating culturally responsive mindsets, and practice how to encounter bias with care for themselves and their students.
“[Students] can make a lot of identity-based comments. And sometimes they’re genuine, and sometimes they’re just kids testing limits and trying to see what kind of reaction they’re going to get,” says Catherine Castillo Cruz, Training and Engagement Associate Director, remembering difficult interactions from her own work with adolescents. “A lot of the identity work that we do can aid teachers in maintaining balance in moments like that.”
Our facilitators are experts with decades of experience in K-12 education. They know what it’s like to show up even on the hard days, and they know, too, what it’s like to help young people manage learning, including social and emotional learning, during times of stress.
“The piece about SEL that I think gets lost a lot is that SEL is deeply connected to the current context. The current social context, political context, environmental context, this is the world that young people exist in,” says Hénia Belalia, the National Training Director for Girls Leadership. Teachers must meet young people in their context every day, and so their goal with Collective Belonging is to meet teachers where they are. What are they bringing into the room? And what can facilitators help them to hold?
By the end of the three-day learning retreat, facilitators all agree that they aren’t the only ones providing support. The few dozen strangers have come together to form their own community of belonging, which for us is what it’s all about.
“The core of what we teach is all relationships,” says Catherine. “Relationships are what’s going to transform your classroom. Relationships are what’s going to heighten engagement. Relationships are the only thing that’s going to make that student sit down and tell you they have the worst day of their life. We teach plenty of tools for building trust, and we teach plenty of tools for helping teachers recognize their positionality within relationships.”
This is Part 3 of Belonging in Action. See Part 1 and Part 2.
That’s why we created the Collective Belonging Learning Retreat: so Students and Teachers have Sustainable Support. There are still spots in our next retreat in NYC, August 25-27, 2025!. Sign Up Today! Sliding scale pricing.
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