Document Type

Dissertation

Publication Date

Spring 4-13-2025

Faculty Mentor

Cristina Reyes-Smith

Abstract

Teachers have a great influence on developing children’s emotional intelligence, regulatory capacity, and occupational engagement. These professionals also happen to report some of the highest rates of stress, mental health challenges (Agyapong, B. et al, 2022), and burnout (Xie, M., et al, 2022). Providing teachers with education and support on nervous system regulation, social-emotional learning skills, and related topics can improve their ability to manage job stress, enhance modeling and interactions with students, and improve their quality of life. This project aimed to enhance knowledge, provide access to resources, and serve to support elementary educators at an inner-city school in nervous system regulation, social-emotional learning, coping skills, emotional processing, burnout, and classroom application. This intervention took place over the course of a 14-week period with a total of four live and recorded presentation sessions. These sessions were paired with discussions and the provision of various supplemental resources to reinforce content. School staff were given access to a virtual hub for these resources as well as a physical binder of its contents. Data and analysis were collected via qualitative and quantitative methods, including surveys, interviews, and observation. Overall, the majority of participants reported that this series improved their stress management, increased their knowledge, and provided them with resources they planned to continue to refer to. All participants also reported that they felt the information they received would improve their ability to model and interact with their students.

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