Vision & Background

We are working to improve student and family wellbeing by empowering school communities to respond to the complex wellbeing needs of their teachers, staff, students, and families. This work is made possible as a partnership through the DMH + UCLA Public Partnership for Wellbeing and carried out by the UCLA Pritzker Center at the UCLA School of Education and Information Sciences students. Teachers and school staff are constantly being asked to do more, and 2020 has brought that into sharp focus. Instead of creating more work for educators, we hope to provide resources that make self-care and promoting wellbeing easier for our school communities.

What We Do

To improve student wellbeing and support teachers, the Pritzker Center will develop a multidisciplinary community-partnered approach with schools in Los Angeles County. This collaboration will help school staff first manage their own wellbeing and self-care through supportive resources. It will also help them recognize and respond to the needs of students, and families as they remain in remote learning. This partnership will also give school staff the tools they need to address systemic inequities and remove barriers to student wellbeing and success. Trainings will help school communities understand the impact systemic racism has had on the mental health of students and families. It will also create resources to help students develop resilience skills while helping teachers feel supported long after the pandemic ends.

Services Provided

The Pritzker Center and DMH partnership will focus on providing DMH’s Regional Team with professional development training. It will also offer technical assistance in creating a help line that will provide school staff with one-on-one emotional support to address burnout, moral distress and professional fatigue. The Pritzker Center will also conduct a landscape analysis of community needs to ensure all resources are as supportive as possible. School partners and DMH leadership will inform the selection of training topics, including but not limited to:

  • Childhood development related to distance learning and school reopening
  • Recognizing student mental health problems and what teachers can do
  • Strategies for engaging diverse learners and their families remotely
  • Enhancing family-centered engagement in education settings during COVID-19
  • Developing a community-driven approach to re-entry for children and their families
  • Educator wellbeing and self-care
  • Implicit bias, cultural responsiveness, anti-racism, LGBTQIA+ needs, and xenophobia
  • Restorative Justice Framework to change discipline systems

School Wellbeing Toolkit

The Pritzker Center 2021 School Wellbeing Toolkit provides actionable steps educators can take in the classroom to address many of the most pressing concerns in our schools. Visit wellbeing4la.org/schools to print single topics, or download and print the full toolkit to use and distribute with colleagues!

No matter what challenges get thrown at us, we can solve them when we support one another.