Project SEEKS SES supports students’ social and emotional health

SEEKS SES stands for Supporting Expansion and Enhancement of K-12 School-Based Social, Emotional Supports. It’s a grant-funded partnership between the Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) and the Allegheny Intermediate Unit (AIU). With input from its partner organizations, SEEKS SES supports the social and emotional health of students in 10 Allegheny County school districts, including behavior and mental health issues and trauma that have grown more challenging since the COVID-19 pandemic. SEEKS SES also assists three higher education institutions — Chatham University, Duquesne University, and Pitt — to make sure Allegheny county has a strong pipeline of professionals who work in social-emotional, behavior, and student wellness health fields. This includes teachers, social workers, school psychologists, and others. One example of this assistance is taking place at Chatham. With SEEKS SES support, Chatham is offering 40 scholarships to students who are interested in obtaining their Social, Emotional and Wellness for Individuals Serving Youth Certificate. Since SEEKS SES started, the partnership and its participants, under the leadership of Shannon Fagan, Project Coordinator, have: Outlined participating school districts’ strengths, needs, and areas for improvement, and helped to support wellness initiatives that focus on chronic absenteeism, violence intervention, wellness methods and spaces, student fitness rooms,...