The SEL Community Schools (SEL CS) program works directly in six schools within Bridgeport Public Schools. This program involves the entire school community—students, faculty, staff, administrators, and parents—to build a safe and healthy school climate. The goals of SEL CS include reducing chronic absenteeism, lowering out-of-school suspensions, increasing academic performance and improving the overall school climate.

Social Emotional Learning (SEL) is the process through which young people and adults acquire and apply knowledge, skills, and attitudes to develop healthy identities, manage emotions, achieve personal and collective goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain supportive relationships, and make responsible and caring decisions.

We support students’ emotional and mental health needs by expanding the use of Restorative Practices (RP). RP offers schools an alternative to traditional disciplinary actions. Rather than centering on punishment for misbehavior and breaking the rules, RP aims to repair harm and relationships, build healthy communities, increase social capital, and decrease crime and anti-social behavior.

Our Restorative Practice Facilitators (RPFs) and Student Support Advocates (SSAs) build SEL and RP capacity at the school level. We support students struggling in school, community, or at home. This holistic approach is crucial as we collectively address the ongoing challenges stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in the realms of education, health, and overall well-being.

Restorative Practice Facilitators

RPFs work with the entire school staff to implement Restorative Practices on a daily basis. The RPF is a vital member of the SEL Implementation Team, supporting the school in developing SEL and trauma-informed practices with all staff members. RPFs facilitate interventions with students and staff to address issues and engage with students and staff to solve problems.

Student Support Advocates

SSAs are responsible for building capacity in the school with all stakeholders, including teachers, administrators, staff, parents, and students, through their own skills and expertise in SEL. They provide individual and group counseling to students regarding their social-emotional needs. They serve as a resource and advocate for students struggling in school and the community.

A key component of SEL CS programming is capacity-building and training. We train students, parents, administration, faculty, coaches, and even security guards. These community members, instructed in RP and other SEL components, help foster positive school environments. Catalyst CT staff have also collaborated with school district leaders to create SEL Ambassador Teams for middle and high school students within their school communities.

By embracing Restorative Practices, when issues arise, staff can lean on the social capital that has been built through the use of classroom charters, circles, check in’s, and mediations. Problems become opportunities, and the classroom becomes a functioning unit. While it is important to hold students accountable, it is even more important to address the root causes of difficult behaviors and address them, which will help us launch our students into healthier and more productive lives. The administrative team and staff at Harding [High School] greatly appreciate the continued support by our community partner, Catalyst CT.

– Kathryn Silver

Assistant Principal, Harding High School

Trainings Offered

Request a Training or Presentation

Restorative Practices

This two-day training provides necessary tools for establishing the conditions for developing and nurturing a positive school climate and culture. It is the practice of strengthening relationships at school, home, work, and in the community. RP’s tools enable responses to wrongdoing that focus on repairing harm, building relationships between individuals, and improving social connections within the community.

The RULER Approach

(Recognizing, Understanding, Labeling, Expressing, & Regulating Emotions)

Developed at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, RULER is a systemic approach to SEL. Catalyst CT uses RULER to infuse the principles of emotional intelligence into the preK-12 schools, informing how leaders lead, teachers teach, students learn, and families support students.

RULER is an acronym for the five skills of emotional intelligence:

Recognizing emotions in oneself and others
Understanding the causes and consequences of emotions
Labeling emotions with a nuanced vocabulary
Expressing emotions in accordance with cultural norms and social context
Regulating emotions with helpful strategies

Research shows that students and adults who use RULER experience the development of emotional skills, improvement in academic performance and classroom climate, fewer attention and learning problems, greater social and leadership skills, less anxiety and depression, less stress and burnout, and better school performance.

Adverse Childhood Experiences

Adverse childhood experiences, or ACEs, are potentially traumatic events that occur during a child’s development (0-17 years). For example, experiencing physical or emotional violence, suffering abuse or neglect, or witnessing violence in the home or community.

The 10 Adverse Childhood Experiences are:

Physical Abuse
Sexual Abuse
Emotional Abuse
Physical Neglect
Emotional Neglect
Mental Illness
Incarcerated Relative
Mother Treated Violently
Substance/Alcohol Abuse
Divorce

Understanding each child’s ACE score helps to frame support and treatment strategies.

School Climate

This training defines school climate and how it differs from school culture. We explore adults’ role in fostering a positive school climate, covering the conflict cycle and professional responsibilities towards improving climate. During training, participants learn how to develop school climate, how to model school climate and culture, and how to improve school climate through four strength-based models:

School Connectedness
Resiliency
The Circle of Courage
Youth as Resources

Strength-based models help create safe and supportive schools where all students can thrive and achieve success, especially those who have faced challenges and trauma outside of school.

SEL Ambassadors Program

We train our students to be SEL Ambassadors in our Social-Emotional Initiatives using RULER, Restorative Practices, and School Climate. SEL Ambassadors spread the message of social emotional learning, run school-wide events and activities, work with classroom teachers and peers on emotional regulation strategies, model affective language, build positive relationships through circle keeping, and repair harm using restorative questioning and impromptu conversations.

SEL Ambassadors are student leaders within their school communities. They support the SEL team in building positive relationships to create and maintain a positive school climate where students feel a sense of belonging and safety and want to attend school.

Presentations Offered

Healthy Choices & Friendship

This is a presentation for elementary students. Students will learn how to make healthy choices regarding food and lifestyle. Students will also learn how to build emotionally mature and healthy relationships with their peers.

Dangers of Vaping

This is a presentation for students and/or parents. Both will learn about the potential dangers of vaping, the chemicals in vaping pens, and the potential risk one is putting him or herself in.

Social Media

This is a presentation for parents and students. Both will learn about the most popular social media apps and platforms youth are using and the potential positive and negative aspects of those social media apps and platforms.