Course Description
This course introduces practitioners to fundamental concepts and practices in supporting students' social emotional skills and wellness. Students will learn how supporting social emotional skills impacts short and long-term quality of life outcomes of supported persons and the Educational Assistant (EA). Methods for self-regulation and self-care for self and other will be practiced. Through a process of reflection and self exploration, students will develop an understanding of how past traumas, experiences, strengths and stretches impact our ability to support others. Using a trauma-informed lens, practitioners will use a strength-based approach to encourage the development of self-agency and other essential skills.
Course Content
The following global ideas guide the design and delivery of this course:
- Feeling safe, valued, and connected is fundamental to learning and growing. Creating environments that priotize strong, supportive relationships with a strength-based focus is essential to student success.
- Adverse childhood experiences impact lifelong health, opportunities, and outcomes. Trauma-Informed Practice allows us to understand and be responsive to the impacts of trauma by taking a strengths-based approach.
- Awareness of the impact of our own past traumas and experiences is critical to being able to provide social and emotional support to others.
- Awareness and understanding of cultural context, including our implicit biases, are essential to being able to develop meaningful relationships and provide culturally responsive support.
- To effectively support students to develop social-emotional skills and wellness, exemplary practitioners must continue to develop and model their own self-regulation skills and self-care practices.
- Social-emotional skills encompass five core competencies, including social awareness, self awareness, self management, responsible decision making, and relationships skills. Each core competency should be considered and supported by practitioners.
- Establishing predictable routines with explicit teaching of executive functioning and self-regulation skills benefit student success socially and emotionally.
- Self-agency is the feeling of power and control over one's life. Self-agency is developed through thinking patterns which practitioners can actively support to impact positive long-term outcomes.
Learning Activities
- Lecture
- Case Studies
- Presentations
- Guest Speakers
- Video
Means of Assessment
This course will conform to the Douglas College's Evaluation Policy regarding the number and weighting of evaluations. Typical means of evaluation would include a combination of the following:
- Research and Reflection Papers
- Collaborative Group Work
- Case Studies
- Skill Demonstration
Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Explain the significance of prioritizing strong, positive and supportive relationships and articulate approaches for fostering those relationships;
- Reflect on personal experiences, perspectives, strengths and stretches that may impact support for others;
- Describe the five social emotional core competencies and identify methods for addressing and supporting each in practice
- Demonstrate knowledge of strategies for self-regulation and self-care for self and others
- Provide examples of how practitioners can promote self-agency within the scope of their roles and responsibilities
Textbook Materials
Instructors are committed to prioritizing OER and publicly accessible resources.