It was Christina’s 11th year teaching. In addition to the expected needs of the fifth-grade population, she noticed that, despite being several years out from the pandemic, her students had a heightened degree of anxiety and social and emotional struggles compared to the beginning of her career.
She and her co-teacher had volunteered to try the social and emotional learning (SEL) program from TRAILS, a nonprofit that equips school staff with training and resources to provide evidence-based and culturally responsible mental health programming to students.
“We do have one student this year who’s very anxious,” she said. In addition to the weekly lesson delivery, she’d started posting SEL activities and reminders in the hallway outside her room, including an outline of a breathing technique that involves hand tracing.
At the beginning of the year, this student would take breaks to walk in the hallway when agitated, “and he would just kind of stand there and pace.” But after they’d done several lessons and mindful checkouts that involved breathing and emotional regulation, something changed. She saw him observing the breathing techniques posted in the hallway, tracing along the hand image, and working on his own breathing, “and I could see him from my window and … [would] just do like a little silent teacher cheer … So that’s kind of a win for me and him.”
At TRAILS, we envision a future in which all children and teens have equitable access to effective mental health services. We equip school staff like Christina with the training, resources, and implementation support they need to provide evidence-based and culturally responsible programming to their K–12 students.
TRAILS offers three tiers of programming that span from universal education and awareness to crisis response. Programming is skills-based, providing students with tools to navigate social and emotional challenges that they may experience during their lifetime. With MTSS school-based mental health support, we’re able to meet students where they are during a time when rates of adolescent depression and anxiety have soared.
Christina adds that, “all students can put these tools in their toolbox and use them on a daily basis. In yesterday’s lesson, we talked about stress, and I said, ‘you guys may not know it, but you do feel these things that build up and you need these tools to help you cope.’ I think it’s just a great way that all grade levels can give students these tools.”
Available to Every Michigan School
Accessible
Now partnering with over 700 schools across Michigan, TRAILS equips school staff with the training and resources they need to provide evidence-based and culturally responsible programming in the K-12 setting. And, as a result of state funding, TRAILS is available to every school in Michigan at no cost.
Effective
As a nonprofit, mission-driven organization, not only do we work to make mental health care more accessible to students, we ensure it’s effective. With training, materials, and implementation support from us, staff at our partner schools can provide students with three evidence-based programs that address everything from universal education and awareness to crisis response:
- Tier 1: TRAILS Social and Emotional Learning, a K-12 classroom curriculum designed to foster core social and emotional skills
- Tier 2: TRAILS CBT and Mindfulness, a multi-session program designed to help students manage depression and anxiety symptoms
- Multi-tiered: TRAILS Suicide Prevention and Risk Management, a comprehensive approach to suicide prevention, with specialized training and support
Prioritize Usability
Unified under the same research-driven approach, our programming is designed for real-world application. TRAILS ensures that our materials, training, and implementation support are highly effective by prioritizing key design standards:
- Flexibility: Schools aren’t required to implement all three of our programs; rather, they may select which program(s) to implement and when. We’ve also designed programming to complement services schools may already have in Place.
- Ease of use: We understand the demands schools face and deliver materials that minimize prep, from lesson agendas and presentations to letters home.
- Continued support: After training, school staff receive ongoing support from TRAILS staff, including monthly calls and topic-specific workshops. We update our materials, training, and support methods annually to match the latest research and incorporate partner feedback.
The TRAILS team offers sample materials and informational sessions to orient school leaders and staff to the work we do.
To learn more about TRAILS, visit https://trailstowellness.org/.