Leaders as Learners

Kami Lerma at the 2023 SEL Exchange Conference!

The My True SELF program and curriculum has positively impacted the lives of hundreds of students since its introduction. This year, Kami Lerma, Director of Mind-Body Programming, and Shawndale Thomas, Director of After School Arts Programming at Kennedy Heights Arts Center – one of The Well’s community partners – had the opportunity to present a breakout session at the 2023 SEL Exchange Conference which gave us the platform to share our innovative, impactful model with the world. 

Each year, the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) holds a conference that attracts leaders and learners in the field of social-emotional learning for days of collaborative sharing between innovators, educators, researchers, policy leaders, and youth. This year, the conference, held in Atlanta, GA, attracted over 1,700 attendees representing 47 US states (along with Washington DC and Puerto Rico) and 36 countries. It is the nation’s largest forum on SEL. It is estimated that the impact of this gathering will affect approximately 17.8 million students around the world.

The theme for this year’s gathering was “Leaders as Learners: Building the Village Our Children Need” where we explored the notion that when “adults and students alike have meaningful, inclusive opportunities to learn and develop social and emotional skills, we build a village where everyone thrives.” The list of speakers and panelists for this gathering included Dr. Tim Shriver, CASEL Board Chair, recording artist Jewel, hip-hop artists Darryl (DMC) McDaniels, and executives from the children’s network Noggin in addition to top researchers and educators in the field.

Based on The Well’s My True SELF program and curriculum, our interactive, experiential breakout session allowed participants to see how stress and trauma-informed, mindful, somatic practices for self-regulation allow adults to better co-regulate with students using these practices to build SEL competence and positively shift the climate in schools and afterschool programs. Our evidence-base, science-forward approach to creating a culture shift inside a school or youth-focused program supports the social-emotional competence of students and the adults who support them.