Bartholomew County will be a community pilot in international efforts to study and enhance youth development.
The Council For Youth Development, the Indiana Department of Education, the Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. and the Flat Rock-Hawcreek School Corp. made the announcement this week.
BCSC Director of Secondary Instruction Bill Jensen said that this is an opportunity “to help youth around the world.”
“All of these groups are coming together for this project that we hope will be a replicable, international model for well-being of students,” he said.
The county has joined an international research team led by the International School Psychology Association, the International Institute for Child Rights and Development, Search Institute and the Indiana Department of Education “to advance current work in the area of positive youth development and child well-being.”
The county will work with the international team to study whether asset-based practices “reduce the effects of childhood trauma and improve youth resiliency.”
Jensen said that asset development focuses on building upon students’ “strengths and passions.”
“You’re really building upon strengths and giving students more assets so that they can be more resilient to adverse experiences,” he said. He added that this will also help prepare students for when they face challenges in adulthood as well.
Bartholomew County public school students in grades 4-12 will have the opportunity to share anonymous feedback on their current well-being. Jensen said participation in the survey will be optional.
Council Director Heather Carson said that this survey will be “heavily based” on the Search Institute’s Developmental Relationships Survey.
Results of the survey will be studied with a focus on whether “developmental relationships and developmental assets buffer young people from the harmful effects of adverse childhood experiences, thus increasing the chances of better short-and long-term outcomes.”
Details of how and when the survey will take place are still being determined. The survey could begin as early as April if circumstances permit it.
“We don’t know what school’s going to look like in April, so we don’t even know if we’ll be able to do it due to the pandemic and whatever modality of learning we’re in at that time,” Jensen said.
The county expects to finish the community pilot phase by the end of 2021.
Initial local community partners working with the international team and the Indiana Department of Education are the the Council for Youth Development, BCSC and Flat Rock-Hawcreek. Carson said that the three are equal partners in promoting developmental assets.
“Once the survey report is completed, stakeholders including youth, families, and community partners will be invited to work together to address needs and explore new strategies to ensure all Bartholomew County youth thrive,” according to the group.
The results of the student survey will be used to gather evidence for the case that promoting well-being is an “effective strategy for overcoming the negative effects” of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs).
The data will also be used by local schools and stakeholders to promote a “shared vision of young people’s success in Bartholomew County.”
“I think this community pilot is a wonderful kind of next step for our community to have that additional data and feedback from our young people, who may be struggling, especially during this time,” Carson said.
Survey results will also provide best practices for other Indiana schools and communities seeking to bolster youth resilience.
“Findings from the pilot phase will establish ‘proof of concept’ for an international initiative on child well-being based on Search Institute’s Developmental Assets and Developmental Relationships frameworks to promote well-being and buffer the negative effects of ACEs,” according to organizers. “The international research team plans to strategically adapt and pilot measures, tools, and processes in selected regions and nations around the world over the next five years.”
The release stated that Bartholomew County was chosen for the work because of its “pioneering efforts over the last four years to invest in strength-focused, community-wide strategies that continue to prioritize the social, emotional, mental, and physical well-being of all local children and teens.”
Beginning in 2017 with the launch of Bartholomew Consolidated School Corporation’s Counseling Counts Initiative and the Council for Youth Development’s Youth Master Plan, a collective effort has been made to integrate Search Institute’s Developmental Assets and Developmental Relationships frameworks in local schools and throughout the community, organizers said.
Counseling Counts is a BCSC system that focuses on students’ needs with two tiers. Jensen said that one tier is “preventative” and focuses on the developmental assets and developmental relationships frameworks promoted by Search Institute.
The other tier focuses on treating students’ “acute care needs,” he said. Through a Lilly grant, the school corporation was able to hire mental health workers for all of its school buildings.
These workers, who are employees from both Centerstone and Family Service Inc., work with counselors to help students who might be facing “very challenging social and emotional issues,” he said. Other community partners have also collaborated with the Counseling Counts system as well.
“Flat Rock-Hawcreek, even though they do not have this Lilly Endowment funding for Counseling Counts, they have made a commitment and continue to make a commitment to build assets with their students,” Carson said.
For more information: https://www.cydbartholomew.org/resilience-through-strengths
