Positive Approaches Journal, Volume 12, Issue 3

Volume 12 ► Issue 3 ► November 2023

The Power of Belonging: How to Create Supportive Learning Environments That Reduce Suicide Risk

Pennsylvania Department of Education - Office for Safe Schools
Dr. Nikole Hollins-Sims, Dr. Scott Kuren, Dr. Dana Milakovic 

Abstract

The Office for Safe Schools at the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) is focused on creating supportive learning environments for every learner in the commonwealth. As an office dedicated to safety, educational approaches centered in equitable trauma-informed practices, seek to address physical and psychological safety. As the office has evolved over time, it now primarily focuses on promoting inclusivity, connection and belonging through cultivating relationships of care, support, and safe environments. These key tenets are imperative for reducing suicide risk in youth from a preventative and systemic approach. 

Keywords: Belonging, Trauma-Informed, Safety 

The Power of Belonging: How to Create Supportive Learning Environments That Reduce Suicide Risk 

Supportive learning environments across the educational ecosystem are the place for learners to engage with others, learn how to become self-directed citizens, and develop academic skills for adulthood. In addition, learning environments can serve as a place where learners can feel connection, experience belonging, and create inclusive communities. The Office for Safe Schools at the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) works collaboratively with Pennsylvania school communities and vested partners to advance efforts to develop and sustain equitable trauma-informed learning environments that promote and support the academic, physical, and psychological safety and well-being of all students and staff. 

Over the past years (2017-2023), the Office for Safe Schools has evolved in a variety of ways. As schools continue to be places where learners are experiencing academic, social, emotional and behavioral interactions, the Office for Safe Schools has focused on explicitly integrating physical and psychological safety, with the understanding that physical safety alone could not be the primary focus of our public-facing work. Learners show up in schools as whole beings, and seeking ways to address each of these valuable domains of life are paramount. While the office is bound to specific laws and regulations that guide portions of the work, the ways in which these initiatives and practices are communicated to the educational community becomes an imperative and significant role of the office.

For example, Act 71 was signed into Pennsylvania law on June 26, 2014. Act 71 is dedicated to Youth Suicide Awareness and Prevention and Child Exploitation Awareness. “This law, which added section 1526 of the School Code, 24 PS § 15-1526, specifically requires school entities to: (1) adopt a youth suicide awareness and prevention policy; and (2) provide ongoing professional development in youth suicide awareness and prevention for professional educators serving students in grades 6-12. Additionally, section 1526 specifically permits school entities to incorporate curriculum on this topic into their instructional programs pursuant to their youth suicide awareness and prevention polices.” ¹ Although Act 71 is specific to suicide prevention, the guidance and curriculum that accompany the law are aligned with other proactive and preventative guidance that schools are expected to put in place for safety purposes. Act 44 signed into law on June 22, 2018, is an example of where schools are required to (a) Appoint School Safety and Security Coordinators; (b) Establish mandatory school safety training for school entity employees, and (c) Establish standards for school police, school resource officers, and school security guards. To illustrate the importance of psychological, emotional and physical safety, these requirements are aligned and integrated with situational awareness, trauma-informed educational awareness, behavioral health awareness, suicide prevention/awareness, bullying prevention and awareness, substance use awareness, and emergency training drills. In June 2022, Act 55 amended Act 44 to increase the training requirement for school personnel to three hours annually for these topics, based on the needs of the school environment. 

These examples of mandates for schools serve as an avenue for the Office for Safe Schools to articulate ways for schools to be intentional, and is creating safe and supportive learning environments. When implemented with fidelity, these educational systems can create equitable, inclusive, and trauma-informed spaces of belonging. Since the onset of the global pandemic in 2020, the Office for Safe Schools has sought to equip elementary and secondary schools with the necessary tools to align their efforts in proactive ways, and sustain climates of care for learners, staff and communities. Fall 2020 saw the release of the PDE Equitable Practices Hub, which served as a one-stop shop repository of resources dedicated to establishing and sustaining equitable practices in education. Organized around six pillars of practice, the hub offers resources aligned to specific spheres of influence. These include, school/district, classroom, and the individual educator, with each sphere represented in the following pillars of practice: (1) General Equity Practices, (2) Self-Awareness, (3) Data Practices, (4) Family/Community Engagement, (5) Academic Equity, (6) Disciplinary Equity. Although the audience for the hub extends beyond educators, the primary users have been teachers, administrators, and student support service providers (school counselors, school psychologists, etc.) The ultimate goal of creating equitable learning environments is to create inclusive communities that produce spaces of belonging. Given the ongoing work for the Office for Safe Schools related to school climate, social-emotional learning, trauma-informed practices, equitable practices, bullying prevention, and alcohol and other drugs prevention, the focus on aligning these supports in a comprehensive equitable and trauma-informed approach was necessary at a time when educators needed streamlined and clear approaches to their work.

In 2019, the Office for Safe Schools launched a dedicated MH webpage in an effort to be responsive to the educational field, inclusive of students, staff, families and communities. Resources provided to the field were a compilation of supports for mental health, social and emotional learning, suicide prevention, and grief and loss. Supports were  linked to other state agencies to reduce the need for schools, families, and staff to navigate multiple state agency websites.  In 2020, as families and students struggled to adapt to a changing world, this page was updated to provide targeted supports for families and students. This included self-care for educators, families, and students; support for families in dealing with emotional youth while they were struggling with emotions; and support in developing positive online learning environments.   As schools began to physically re-open in 2021, it became more evident there was a need for supports around mental wellness, suicide prevention, and self-care. Updates were made to align with reopening guidance, and mental health was integrated into the Accelerated Learning Plan developed by PDE.

In addition, the traditional way of supporting schools and districts was revamped from a siloed delivery system of support to a cohesive and collaborative cascade model. For years, the intermediate units, which offer regional professional development and coaching to schools and districts, connected to PDE through a state system of support (SSOS). The Office for Safe Schools would initiate content and direction for each of the intermediate unit’s individual point of contact, who was then responsible for communicating to their team and local area school districts necessary training and content by topic. For example, the PDE lead for bullying prevention would connect with the 29 intermediate unit points of contact (POCs) assigned to bullying prevention and ensure that the most up-to-date information and training content was available and accessible to each POC. There was a lead for bullying prevention, school climate, equity, mental health/Student Assistance Program (SAP), school safety, etc. As one can imagine, many of the intermediate unit points of contact were responsible for many different areas of focus. While this approach is necessary, given the needs in the educational field, it unfortunately did not create an understanding of the interconnectedness of many of these initiatives and processes.  The year 2021 was a year of significant change in education, and the Office for Safe Schools recognized the need for positive change as well. The need to streamline processes and convey the importance of connected approaches was evident and expressed by the educators attempting to deliver services to the best of their abilities in an ever-changing societal climate. The Office for Safe Schools dedicated time to engaging in an overhaul of the service delivery model previously established through the state system of support and established the Social-Emotional Wellness (SEW) system of support across the 29 intermediate units. In this new iteration of supports, each intermediate unit maintained a point of contact. The primary role was to align efforts related to trauma, equity, school climate, and bullying prevention into one connected stream of support. Students engaging in schools each day do not attend as one piece of their profile (e.g., academic, social-emotional, behavioral), but rather as a complete being seeking connection and community in their school environment. This knowledge informed the shift toward a complete approach to efforts in creating learning environments where students, staff, families and communities have the access and opportunity to experience school in a positive way. Currently, the SEW supports offered to schools and districts focuses on making explicit connections in centering equitable, trauma-informed practices to create supportive learning environments. The goal is to make transformative systems changes in schools, where students ultimately know that they are in a place of safety and care. Suicide prevention is nuanced and necessary. At the macro-system level there are many opportunities for educational, health, human service and economic agencies to influence and impact how to reduce the risk of suicide in youth. Safe, supportive and responsive learning environments can serve as the core of these influences and offer a safe haven for students to feel human connection that promotes mental wellness, cultural humility, and belonging.