The purpose of this grant was to further students’ “emotional skills by providing explicit instruction in the areas of mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotional regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness, particularly addressing the middle and high school student population.” The grant also outlined the recommendation to provide information regarding the Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) STEPS-A strategies with families to support the generalization of these skills at home.
The DBT STEPS-A curriculum is a universal intervention, which means that all students in grades 6-12 will engage in the skills lessons offered by the program.
As reported in 2024 by Assistant Superintendent Tina Henckel, “since the grant was approved by WEF, all administrators, and our mental health staff, which includes counselors, social workers, school psychologists, and health teachers at Weston Middle School and Weston High School have received training for DBT STEPS-A. The lessons are being implemented through the health curriculum and on an individual and group counseling basis provided by our school counselors for those students who qualify. In addition to the initial training, staff continue to receive ongoing consultation with Cognitive Behavior Consultants (CBC). This consultation model was initially implemented during the 2020-2021 school year and has continued every year since.”
The grant proposal also envisioned accompanying parent training. As noted by Tina, “Beginning last school year [2023], the mental health and curriculum department has also provided parent training in a variety of different forums. Some have been at our BOE Curriculum subcommittee meeting and most recently through our PTO meetings at the middle and high schools. Most recently training was offered during a districtwide parent session in October 2023. These trainings have been offered in a virtual format, recorded, and can be accessed for viewing on our district website under the Pupil Personnel tab.
On behalf of the WPS, we are extremely appreciative of the support provided by WEF for this important initiative and are happy that after several years, this program is still having a positive impact on the social-emotional well-being of our students at the middle school and high school levels.”