GPA eNews: GCS Student Services
Mental Health & Wellness Edition
Be Emotionally Sound: Your Mood Tells All
Mood meters are great tools to check and discuss mood with children and adults according to the research of Marc Brackett, Ph.D., founding director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence. Coined by Drs. Marc Brackett and Robin Stern, download the Mood Meter app here to track your moods throughout the day. Discover patterns and build self-awareness developing better communications and informed decision-making.

Learn more about how moods impact every day activity through the video from the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence.
Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence:
Mood Meter Overview
Understanding and Managing Emotions
Through Social and Emotional Learning
Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) is the process through which children and adults understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions. 

Currently, we are living in challenging times. As never before, we need to build our resilience and rely on our social and emotional skills for ourselves and our families.

The GCS SEL team works to provide an abundance of resources for students, educators, and families. On our website, you can check out a multitude of resources including at home activities, informational articles, games, videos, lessons, and much more. The SEL webpage also creates and unifies connections between bullying prevention and service-learning to further build students' leadership and community skills.  

Check out the links below for SEL activities for families, broken out by school levels.
Know the Signs of Anxiety Disorders
Occasional anxiety is an expected part of life. You might feel anxious when faced with a problem at work, before taking a test, or before making an important decision. But anxiety disorders involve more than temporary worry or fear. For a person with an anxiety disorder, the anxiety does not go away and can get worse over time. The symptoms can interfere with daily activities such as job performance, schoolwork, and relationships. There are several types of anxiety disorders, including generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and various phobia-related disorders.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder
• Feeling restless, wound-up, or on edge
• Being easily fatigued
• Having difficulty concentrating; mind going blank
• Being irritable
• Having muscle tension
• Difficulty controlling feelings of worry
• Having sleep problems, such as difficulty falling or staying asleep, restlessness, or unsatisfying sleep

Panic Attacks
• Heart palpitations, a pounding heartbeat, or an accelerated heartrate
• Sweating
• Trembling or shaking
• Sensations of shortness of breath,
smothering or choking
• Feelings of impending doom
• Feelings of being out of control

Phobias
• May have an irrational or excessive worry about encountering the feared object or situation
• Take active steps to avoid the feared object or situation
• Experience immediate intense anxiety upon encountering the feared object or situation
• Endure unavoidable objects and situations with intense anxiety

GCS offers mental health coordinators to help students cope with anxiety disorders as part of the district's Health Services and Nursing Department.

Learn more at the links below.
Now What? Taking Action to Support Behavioral Changes at Home
Tips and Strategies to Help Your Child Cope With Anxiety
Since March, school, work and home life has shifted due to the coronavirus pandemic. To say the least, it has been a stressful, overwhelming and uncertain time for many of us. Explore these family resources to support the emotional and social health of your family.
Kimberly M. Funderburk, Director of Guilford Parent Academy, interviews two GCS school psychologists on ways to recognize anxiety in pre-school, school-aged and adolescent children and tips to help them feel safe and secure at home. Sherry Rogowski from the GCS SEL department and Debika Dillard from the GCS Pre-K department share strategies to help parents support their children during uncertain times.
Find Help at School: Specialized Instructional Support Personnel (SISP) Offers Suicide Prevention Strategies and Intervention
Students, like adults, are striving to gain a sense of normalcy as we navigate through these unprecedented times. Supporting students emotionally and academically has been at forefront of the minds of educators and families. One of the resources available to students and parents are the school’s Specialized Instructional Support Personnel (SISP) that includes school counselors, school social workers, and school psychologists.

School counselors can be found in every school in the district. They help support the academic and social emotional needs of students. School social workers are specifically trained and qualified to analyze barriers to learning and achievement. Using these skills, school social workers develop and implement strategies to address and eliminate identified barriers experienced by students and families, while also serving as a vital link between the home, school and community.

School psychologists support students' ability to learn and teachers' ability to teach. They apply expertise in mental health, learning, and behavior to help children and youth succeed academically, socially, behaviorally, and emotionally. SISP work in tantum to offer training to staff in conjunction with emotional and academic support to students and families.

One area of support offered is suicide prevention and intervention. SISP offer a unique skillset of fostering relationships and promoting social emotional wellness with students. They are trained to recognize warning signs and risk factors that prompts school-wide prevention and personal intervention. Additionally, SISP facilitate the following areas:

  • All school counselors and social worker collaboratively to organize and facilitate school-wide social emotional activities.

  • School counselors and school social workers provide individual counseling sessions.

  • School counselors and school social workers facilitate classroom guidance lessons with students about choices.

  • School psychologists provide individual and group counseling and have been offering virtual tele-health services.

  • School counselors are responsible for training school staff on suicide intervention and prevention.

  • All school counselors and social workers have been trained on Sandy Hook Promise - Know the Signs Programs.

  • School counselors and social workers lead “Say Something” and “Start with Hello” school activities.

  • School counselors and school social workers conduct suicide interviews with students threatening to harm themselves.

We are operating in difficult times; however, each school can offer support that can help students and families. For additional information, please contact your school counselor, school social worker or school psychologist.
GCS Student Crisis Hotline - (336) 332-7295
The GCS Student Crisis Hotline operates 7am-12am daily and is staffed by GCS counselors, social workers, school psychologists and those trained to assist students in crisis.

Use the links below for more assistance.
Connecting Mental Health Support with Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
The GCS Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion compiles resources for families seeking help with intersecting mental health support and racial equity.

Free App:

Shine App - Check out this free app to build more skills to care for your mental health. Create a free account and have access to daily meditations and guided calming activities.

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Guilford Parent Academy
501 W. Washington Street
Greensboro, NC 27401
336-279-4924