SCPL Facilitator: Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to the Community Resilience Project: Families and Distance Learning
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SCPL Facilitator: Eric Howard, Assistant Library Director will now begin our program.
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: Good afternoon. My name is Eric Howard. I'm the Assistant Director of the Santa Cruz Public Libraries and thank you very much for joining into our series on community resilience.
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: Today we are taking a closer look at how we can better support families as they navigate distance learning.
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: We began developing this series in the wake of the stay at home order and now we are confronting multiple crises, the fires and also an economic crisis as well.
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: Like many viewers I evacuated Scotts Valley. I evacuated with my two five year olds, my wife, two cats, and a dog. Um and we are very thankful to learn that we can return, though, we're going to hold off for a little bit until the air quality improves.
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: The mission of our library is to connect, inspire, and inform. We are working hard to do that.
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: You can find multiple resources on our website to help with managing through the current crisis and you can also call us and we can assist you with your questions and with downloading a book or movie or music. And you can still visit us at our curbside locations.
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: To reach a staff member, you can call 831-427-771. And you can really contact us with any question at all. And we'll try to work and find an answer for you.
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: I want to thank our guests today um we're going to get to them in a minute. I've also asked Dr Sabbah to provide an update on the fires, but first I want to talk quickly about a program that we have coming up as part of this series that will be coming up in the next month, in September.
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: It's on interdisciplinary perspectives on resilience. It'll be moderated by Professor Mike Rotkin, joined by Professor of History, Dr. Robert Strayer,
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: Professor of Psychology, Dr. Regina Longhout, medical anthropologist, Dr. Nancy Chen and Professor of politics. Dr. Matt Sparke. You can learn more about that on our website.
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: The, the series has in mind, the idea of resiliency, which goes beyond simply bouncing back,
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: But also figuring out what kinds of tools and resources. We can take advantage of in our community to come back even stronger.
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: We're going to get to that more in just a little bit.
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: Right now we have a panel. We are very grateful to have an esteemed guests who are going to help us work through some of these issues today.
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: Joining us first is Dr Faris Sabbah who's the county school superintendent psychologist Dr. Suzanne Nicholas and Lauren Fein, who's the program manager for Santa Cruz County Children's Behavioral Health.
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: And we'll invite you at 2pm roughly today to join in this conversation and ask your own questions that we'll try to respond to.
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: But first I'd like to turn it over to Dr Sabbah um to have him introduce himself, but then also to hear uh an update on how the schools are managing with the most current crisis uh around the fires that thank you very much Faris for joining us.
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: Thank you so much, Eric, and it's really a pleasure to be here today to to speak with you.
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: You know, resiliency is something that we think a lot about and in educational system, we
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: we do our best to create safe environments for students to help them develop the skills that they need to be successful in life and
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: that the social emotional learning aspect of of education, I think if anything, at the our understanding and our appreciation for that has has continued to get amplified
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: at least at the level where we see it as as as important, if not more important, and then our academic components of what schools have to offer.
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: And that is especially true right now while we're dealing with, with layers of different crises that are that our families have been and our students have been experiencing.
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: I want to share just a couple of slides just to share with you some of the some of the things that we've been working on and and some of the challenges that are that our families have been facing. And just give a brief update as to how things are going for, for many of our students.
Go.
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: And so, as, as all of you know we've been experiencing the the fires in the northern part of our county and those have really had a huge impact with the evacuation of 80,000 people
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: that's about a third of our of our of our families in Santa Cruz County. And so what we're experiencing, of course right now is is a lot of families that have been displaced.
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: Thankfully, many have been able to begin returning back to back to school and and so we have displaced staffed. Some of our schools have been damaged the most impacted school districts are Pacific Elementary, Bonny Doon School, and San Lorenzo Valley.
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: And the those schools have been deeply impacted, not only with the displacement of students but also, we're still learning about the amount of damage that has taken place to to
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: homes and as well as school structures. Our understanding at this point, is that none of the
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: none of the school structures have been destroyed, but but we're still not sure exactly what kind of damage they have sustained as a result of the fires.
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: And the most important part I think something that is so important to this conversation and why I'm really appreciative that we're having today
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: is that the trauma experienced by everybody involved in our school community is so deep and in many ways just has really rattled our
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: our the, the, the, our community in such a way, and really has brought us together to recognize that we really need to be thinking about how to support each other and how to to help
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: our students, our families, our staff through these these these really difficult times.
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: Scotts Valley has been also impacted with evacuations. The evacuation has been lifted and families have already started returning home.
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: And and many of our school districts, almost all but one Pajaro Valley Unified School District because of the, the number of people impacted, made the decision to to close down
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: instructional programs this for this week. Pajaro Valley Unified School District did continue to provide services and some of the school districts like Live Oak also continue to provide some services online.
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: But that most of those services are going to resume Instructional Services, except for those three most impacted districts will resume next week.
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: And we recognize, we've been working a lot with with colleagues from other counties that have experienced fires in the past and
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: they talked to us about how long it takes, really, to restore and rebuild schools, school districts that have been impacted.
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: And the psychological and kind of behavioral-health aspect of this is really such an important part of that work. We have to be able to provide those resources now.
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: We have to respond quickly and we have to be able to ensure that we're providing as many opportunities as possible for everybody impacted by the fires to be able to to be able to connect and and and heal and grieve and and to be able to before we can start thinking about getting kids
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: learning again, we really also need to be thinking and focusing on wellness and so that's a quick overview of how things are going and why I'm so appreciative that we're having this conversation about resilience and social emotional learning today.
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: Thank you again very much. And we're going to dive into more of that
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: as we enter into the conversation with the rest of the panelists, but I'd like to turn it over to Lauren to have you introduce yourself and thank you to you've provided some slides to help frame the rest of this conversation. Thank you.
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : Yes. Thank you, Eric. I'm really thrilled to be here. So as
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : Eric said, my name is Lauren Fein.
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : I'm a program manager at Children's Behavioral Health and I oversee our community and school-based services. For our school-based programs, we work closely with PVUSD
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : and County of Office of Ed Alt education programs providing behavioral health services to youth who are presenting with severe and persisting mental health needs. So I'm going to share my screen my little PowerPoint.
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : Um, so I'm going to talk a little bit about ways how we can
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : how we can promote resilience amidst everything that's kind of going on right now.
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : The pandemic and the fires and the social like the associated social and economic stressors can really undermine children's development and wellbeing.
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : So not only must they cope with major changes to everyday life, such as physical distancing or being displaced, but their families may be struggling to meet their basic and emotional needs.
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : Rates of poverty, unemployment, parental mental health problems, substance abuse and child abuse and neglect tend to rise during these disasters and children may not receive the critical supports they need within the community.
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : Slide okay so ways that we can promote resilience are through protective factors. And protective factors can really buffer children from harm and increase the chances they have to adapt positively to these adversities.
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : Resilience, as I mentioned earlier is is a lot more than just bouncing back. I think it's really important to understand that with resiliency, it requires that we really understand the reality of the different difficult situation.
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : And the belief that we can overcome them. This is a muscle that we develop it's, we're not born with it and like resilience like trauma like resilience can also come through ancestral lines in generations.
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : And we need to work to create conditions where people can be resilient and not in creating resilience in people.
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : So I'm going to look at five protective factors of how we can really impact a a child's recovery during this time.
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : So the first factor is sensitive and responsive caregiving. This is really a primary factor in a child's recovery.
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : And what's what parents and caregivers can do is spending quality time with children.
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : This could even be short periods of time just playing, reading, going outdoors, just to really bolster bolster a child sense of safety and security during these uncertain times.
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : And it's really important that there's a sense of connection. Even when physical separation is necessary for safety reasons.
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : So this could be through online video chats, phone calls, emails, letters, because it allows children to really feel secure and supported.
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : As a community, we can offer strategy and supply strategies and supplies, such as activities equipment access to the Internet.
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : To allow adults that are maybe not living with the child, such as biological parents, grandparents, providers, teachers, and other professionals to be able to work with families to maintain those connections.
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : The second factor is meeting basic needs. So I think often what I see happen is, you know,
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : our families, our communities and crisis and we want to give them every resource at the same time, and it's really recognizing a right size approach of
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : really meeting those basic needs first. Working in Children's Behavioral Health often were looking through this therapeutic lens and really realizing that until those basic needs are met, they're not families, not even have a place to start to start processing or having insight.
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : And so this is essential to protecting children's well beings and those basic needs are things like food, shelter, clothing, medical and mental health care.
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : It's really important for our parents and caregivers to know that asking for help is a sign of strength and resourcefulness and not a weakness.
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : And really, that they, as a community, we can help them find the right resources they need at the right time and to reduce barriers to
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : accessing services such as really being creative and our sa- service delivery options and conducting targeted outreach to marginalized and vulnerable families.
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : So the third factor is emotional support for children. So it's expected that emotional and behavioral changes will occur during a pandemic, or a crisis.
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : Because everybody's adjusting to change in their daily routines. Uh  and some children may show signs of emotional distress. It could be regression in behaviors, clinginess,and anxiety.
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : But, you know, with really strong emotional support from the adults in their lives in the community, most children will return to the typical level of functioning.
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : So what parents and caregivers can do is really focused on the three R's reassuring children about their safety and the safety of loved ones.
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : Maintaining predictable routines, such as eating and sleeping and practicing regulation skills.
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : Helping them find time to manage difficult feelings and making time for emotional check ins and really trying to prioritize the positive,
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : right? Stories of hope and resilience are really important. They provide a counterbalance to all the negativity and fear that's going on.
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : And this can be through books at your local library [smiles] or resources online. And as a community, he what we can do is really help families access early intervention, mental health programs, connections to teachers and by offering remote ways of contacting those support people.
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : So the factor number four is support for the caregiver and when caregivers and parents needs are met the children are likely and more received more likely to receive sensitive and responsive care.
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : And so, you know, really, I think, a lot of times services are are geared towards children but recognizing that our parents and caregivers need that same level of support and making time for self care, really hearing that this is a value that's important,
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : and encouraging them to reach out to support significant support people such as family members, friends, and religious groups.
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : And the last factor is social connectedness. Spending time with loved ones and friends is really important for both children and adults and you know it's really challenging right now as well. We can't have in-person contact.
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : You know, physical distancing really should not turn into isolation and a big risk factor with all of this is that because in person contact is limited,
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : Social Workers, CPS, mental health providers, teachers are not accessing children in person. And so there's a huge risk factor for abuse, neglect, substance use, and family violence because the eyes aren't on them in the same way.
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : And children tend to interact less frequently with mandated reporters during this time as well who can maybe recognize something earlier on.
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : And so what families and caregivers can do is to reach out to other families and children to check on their well being. Connect to others in the community through hobbies and opportunities and to spend time virtually with regular fit with family members regularly.
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : And that's a little bit of a kind of primer of what we'll be talking about today. So thank you.
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: That was great. Thank you very much, that did touch on a lot of the questions that I'm going to probably could circle back to in different ways later on in this conversation. It really does help frame it. I'd like to turn it over now to Dr. Suzanne Nicholas
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: to have her introduce herself and and and to listen to what she has to say on this topic.
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: We still have to just have you unmute yourself, Dr. Nicholas.
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: Okay, I'll see if I can get going again here. Thank you. So hi, I'm Susanne Nicholas. I'm a psychologist here in town in private practice. Previously in my life, I've been a
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: high school counselor for Santa Cruz city schools for 30 years and it was also on the staff of UC Santa Cruz. So I work a lot with adolescents and young adults and certainly am talking to them a lot about all the things that are going on right now in our community.
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: Also, we really want to appreciate the public library for really addressing
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: the idea of resiliency during these times, so, so important for us. And as a community to come together and look at how we can help each other with that.
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: Um, so I want to talk a little bit more about resilience or really appreciate what Faris and Lauren have already said. They really covered a lot of really important things. And I want to zero in a little bit more on on resilience.
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: Resilience is is really the capacity to to adapt in a setting of adversity and
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: our settings right now in our community and in our world are certainly full of adversity. You know, our current situation
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: nationally, with the pandemic and, you know, raci racial and economic strife, um inequality. And then our own local issues of fire, that we're all very connected to and and suffering from - especially you Eric - with having to move um.
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: So, um, so, those, those things are challenging both us and our children and challenging our capacity to be resilient. So I think it's important to look at resiliency and and figure out how we how we help each other with that.
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: Because resiliency as Lauren pointed out pointed out, it's really not a trait. It's not something that some people have and some people don't naturally or that we're born with, or we're not. Really important for us to all know that resiliency is a capacity that everybody has, to be developed.
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: And we develop that by practice and practice actually requires adversity.
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: So, both small adversity, as well as large adversity. We need to practice for resilience and
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: so we're getting a lot of that right now. And so we want to take advantage of that and as Lauren said too, resiliency is a muscle that must be exercised
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: in order to be strong. So the more we exercise it, the more we build those skills. And and the skills are really
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: some of what Lauren has already talked about as well. But I want to go over four of them [holds up four fingers] to talk about for people to just think about as they think about their own resiliency.
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: The first is coping skills [holds pinky finger as number 1]. And that's really the ability to face adversity and not be overwhelmed. So, you know, those, those kinds of skills. Next is self care.
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: That ability to take care of yourself physically, emotionally, and mentally. It can include things like eating healthy getting exercise having someone to talk to you being connected socially.
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: Those are important self care skills and the third one is what I really like and that is optimism. And optimism is it isn't really about
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: I'm not going to think about anything negative [moves hand over her head as in in not addressing an issue], optimism is really a skill to be able to take a situation that has a lot of adversity and negative and be able to see where there is opportunity and hope in these kinds of hard situations.
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: You know with with having to move with fires and things like that, you know, some I've had friends who said, "Yeah, I took my kids to a place where they had a pool." And so we had, you know, that was that we got a sense of optimism from "Yeah we get to have some fun right now." So that was good.
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: And then the fourth thing, which I think is probably the most important is something that we in the psychology world call "internal locus of control".
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: And that really is one's own sense of being able to have control or agency and responsibility for things in one's life.
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: We cannot control the fire, but we can re control how we react to it, how we take care of ourselves in it and and what we do to protect ourselves and our families. So
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: internal locus of control. That's our sense of our own control in the world. And those are all skills. They're all learned skills. We, as adults, hopefully have them
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: pretty well set, but we can always learn more about. Our children are, you know, those are new skills for them and they learn them, as I said, through the adversity, but also
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: By our role modeling for them. And that's going to be so important during these times that we're real modeling those things for our children.
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: So you know resiliency if is a muscle that has to be exercised, um, you know, how do we help our children do that? And like I said we we do it mainly by
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: by role modeling and then really speaking to children about how to, you know, how, how to use those. So when we see our children suffering or worried or we we do things like Lauren talked about about reassuring kids telling them
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: the truth in a way that they can hear it.
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: We can also reframe adversity in a different way for our children to think about. We can reframe that
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: as a way that that we're currently, the adversity we're currently living with more as a challenge, as opposed to a threat, a threat.
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: How are we going to meet this tough challenge today? It's a tough challenge. It's not "oh my gosh, what's going to happen? We're all going to die!" It is
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: "How are we going to meet this challenge?" And that is really important. And so I think as we move on to talk more about distance learning
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: I think many parents are very concerned about how are they going to handle distance learning and in the, in the middle of this divert this adversity that we're having.
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: And you know so learning to practice these skills of resilience probably is going to help us, you know, as parents, figure out how to have a positive focus and
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: bring that to the prospect that can be very daunting about distance learning for parents. So, I hope, as we go on we'll give parents and families more tips on on in practical things that they can do to make this it a positive experience as much as we can during this time. So thank you.
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: That was great. No, thanks very much. And I, and I
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: certainly appreciate too
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: The way you framed it around optimism.
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: Because the to the last one that you noted about having a locus of control ties into that. If you can think about how you can contribute to kind of a hopeful direction. What can you do in your life to kind of manage
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: things down the road? And that's part of this thing that we were trying to capture in Community Resilience is how do we how do we come back even stronger? And there is science to talk about how, if you're thinking about a roadmap for the future, it does help you in the present.
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: And and with that we're looking for those some of those practical steps. I wanted to see from Dr. Sabbah
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: if you could kind of communicate to us a little bit about what worked as you were all thrown into this with the stay-at-home order and what didn't work. And so now you've had some experience obviously doing this. And now we're going back into the Fall school year and doing it again.
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: Thank you. Yeah.
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: You know, we
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: had a lot, very, very little time to prepare for
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: for that school closures that took
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: place in the in the Spring and had a lot more time to process and really study, what was it that worked in the end. What was it that didn't work. I did want to share too that, that the greatest impact of COVID-19
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: and fires
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: are they really reinforced the inequities. And I have a airplane flying overhead, I apologize for that [smiling].
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: But really reinforced the inequities that exists in our, in our society when I, when I think about basic things that many of our families rely on like internet connectivity. When I think about our families, having
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: you know, not sure about their, their housing situation when we think about going hungry. You know those inequities that exists in our, in our, in our community.
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: You know having financial insecurity, those have been exacerbated by by the COVID-19 crisis and, of course, by the fires as well. And so
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: it is it is another place where where families in greatest need have even more need and have had more difficulty in accessing resources. And connectivity is one of those basic things where about
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: one in five of our of our students did not have access to the internet when we first started, when the closures took place in the spring.
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: And so we recognize that having internet connectivity was really important, making sure that we were able to help parents
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: with with with a lot of support. Parents felt really overwhelmed by their new responsibility, the new and their new role as as a support for as a learning support for their child
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: To be able to, and then how that impacted their ability to be able to when it came to childcare and their, their work situation.
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: Having ongoing communication. We are now in a place where we're doing daily communication with our families and with our students.
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: Being able to connect with them on zoom or by phone.
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: Making sure that we're we're being really clear and also having realistic expectations. I think at first we thought we're just going to shift everything online.
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: And it's going to work, magically, and I think we recognize that those expectations had to be changed and that we had to really adapt to the different learning styles that students had.
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: And I think that our recognition that student wellness and wellbeing was first and foremost that we really needed to check in to make sure that students had that they they could access
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: the internet, that they could acc, that they were being fed that they were they were safe, that they were that they were doing well, that they had opportunities to access support services.
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: All those pieces have to be in place before we start talking about learning. And I think that one of the things that we worked really hard on
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: is to establish a great network of support with behavioral health services that we're messaging over and over again. And I really appreciated what both Susanne and Lauren said about making sure that our families recognize that that the stigma of
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: mental health and stigmas of accessing mental health resources have to can't get in the way of people getting the resources they need. And so we have been spending,
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: connecting with all our all our our partners to ensure that that our students, our families, and our staff have access to these mental health resources to be able to to support them as they work through these these different challenges.
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: Thank you. I just picking up on the connectivity issue, too. I just want to
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: mention that the library has expanded its WiFi services at ll of its branches and we've also posted online maps where families can find WiFi access in their area as well. So, so we're trying to create multiple points for families and individuals to connect up uh.
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: So,
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: I wanted to mention, Lauren, or ask Lauren and if there are ways, you'd recommend for families to connect um for for mental health needs like specifically how they can, they could access that?
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : Um, yeah. So I think one thing we've had to do with the county is really get creative about our services, whether it means meeting in backyards, and
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : parks.
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : You know, trying to make sure that we're still able to provide a safe contained environment to
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : to do Behavioral Health services, but also recognizing that so many of these things often happen in spaces that are not appropriate anymore due to COVID.
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : So specifically, they can call our access number and I can put it in the Q&A and we can kind of help them get to where they need to go.
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : We've definitely shifted a lot of our services to recognize that we need to meet these basic needs first. Figuring out how to connect families to
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : different resources in the community. I would just echo what Faris said is, you know, really realizing
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : how these crises have already have highlighted already the inequities in our community and we had a lot of challenges.
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : With technology as well. You know, it seemed like the obvious place to go. And we tried to shift it that way and then recognize how many families
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : didn't have access to WiFi or if they had access to a device it was their Chromebooks through school that wasn't necessarily prepared to handle HIPAA-compliant
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : you know services through the County. And so it really just it just highlighted those inequities of even being able to get in touch with families.
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : So we've tried to work with families of just seeing where can we find free WiFi, where can we get them
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : extenders or you know modems or whatever technology they need so they can access the services. I think another piece, I'll just add to that is
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : we also have this technology curve where so many of our students are so adept at technology and their parents aren't.
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : And all of a sudden these families, the parents are thrown into these roles where they have to be tech experts, where they weren't before, not just for school, but even accessing services and accessing different platforms and
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : you know, we've had some pretty savvy can say, "Oh, we can't access that psychiatry appointment" because the parent didn't know how to access it [puts hands up in the air to indicate not knowing how to do something]. So,
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : I think, you know, it definitely runs on many lines of just the disparities around technology. But I can, I can post that number in the Q&A for families.
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: That would be great thing. Yes.
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: If I could just add one more thing, just I didn't want to share that, since we're talking about technology. We did start with, you know, one in one in five of our students not being connected, but the school districts really stepped up also to
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: kind of launch a digital equity initiative and try to get as many folks connected.
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: I think in terms of devices, I would say that I'm pretty confident that we do have every student in the county has a device that they that they need. And if they don't have one, we can get them one very quickly.
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: The challenge really is that internet connectivity and I think we're down to about 8% of our students that don't have that at this point.
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: And sometimes, because we give them a hotspot, but that hotspot doesn't work or
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: there's, you know, they have that they have the technology resources as Lauren is sharing, but they're not exactly sure how to use them. And so we still have a lot of work to do to support
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: them, but it's still an important piece and and now you know connectivity is a lifeline. It's not only about learning. It's about all these other resources as well. We just wanted to add that.
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: No thank you. That's critically important. And then I also just wanted to see there's been
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: Universities have used online platforms for some time, but now this has become the big question of the social aspect that's so crucial, particularly for that for the younger children. We have two that will be starting kindergarten when Scotts Valley comes back online in a week.
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: And that's something we've all seen on on on news on the news around how you know small children are sort of having little
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: almost little breakdowns with so much pressure on their shoulders, trying to figure out this new medium.
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: And and then they're missing out on that that social experience that's so critical, particularly in kindergarten and first grade.
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: What kinds of things can we do to support them and what what things have changed to since the Fall, or I'm sorry, the Spring and that you may introduce in the Fall that it helps support that kind of social piece?
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: I think one one aspect that we've
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: that you'll see differently and it is some of it is required by the state, and some of it is just being implemented as a lot more
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: synchronous learning. Meaning a live instructional services being provided by teachers and a better use of the the technology like using Zoom or Google, Google Hangouts, or Google Meets
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: connectivity. And so I think that, you know, I, my kids are doing distance learning as we speak. And they're spending about, I would say between two and four hours a day with live instruction.
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: connecting with other students and participating. So it looks it feels a little bit more like a regular classroom and that they're there, whereas we were moving towards a lot of
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: asynchronous instruction, where it's stored videos and stuff. And then people working independently.
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: And I think that that does given a much better opportunity for students to interact with each other. It gives an opportunity for teachers to connect with each other and and it also I think provides a richer learning experience for for for students. And I also the as
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: as Lauren said
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: online services, a lot more. I think you have speech pathologists who are now connecting, you have
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: special education teachers who are connecting online, and of course, you also have have therapeutic support that has been provided remotely. And so I think we've gotten better at using that that those connectivity tools to be able to continue to connect with our students.
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: Thank you. It is just wanted to see too if Dr. Nicholas or Lauren you have thoughts that, what around helping to manage that
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: piece that is in some ways missing now. Where they're able to socialize with their peers and and and and suggestions that you have may have around that aspect?
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: Well, I would say, you know, I work mainly with adolescents and young adults, so
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: high school and college students. So I have that perspective that I can talk about. And as I've talked to them about this sort of new reality that they're dealing with they're certainly missing the in-class aspects, but exactly as Farris was just talking about the importance of
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: actually having class online where they're where they can talk to their fellow students that talk to their professor has made such a difference in comparison to what happened in the Spring, where there was not as much of that happening.
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: That shift to that has made a huge difference in terms of students feeling more connected and also feeling more motivated which because I think that's been one of the issues is that
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: it was it was hard for students to feel motivated to do the work to be excited about what they were learning because they weren't getting that
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: That immediate feedback about things. So getting that immediate feedback has has made a huge difference. And then I would also say in terms of connectivity
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: not having to do with school, I know sometimes parents get concerned about how much their, their kids are doing social social media and also gaming and things like that. And so certainly we want to
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: we want to monitor that in in terms of of the the things that we know about, you know, the dangerous things that can happen on that. But I also really want to caution
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: parents to not sort of shut that down too much because that is how kids are connecting and if they can, can you know if they're connecting safely with a friend group
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: that's wonderful. And I also have a lot of both high school and college students, primarily boys, who are doing gaming online.
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: And sometimes parents get concerned about how much they're doing gaming, but a lot of gaming is about about kids talking to each other. And so that's I've noticed for some of my clients that that's a really important connection for them. So, you know, keeping those kinds of things going.
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: Those are good observations.
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: Thank you.
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : Now I can just add you know one. We're always trying to figure out, or find opportunities and silver linings and in the past, we've tried to do groups and schools and it's really challenging when you have a few kids in each school and now with
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : being able to do telehealth or
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : or whatnot, we're able to provide virtual groups which you know eliminates the need for transportation, eliminates the need for logistics of kind of the organization,
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : and really trying to use them very simple groups, social skills really not trying to get into anything too deep, considering,
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : you just never know who's in the next room or who, you know, who knows who and who could be listening, but to provide opportunities for youth to engage socially. Obviously doesn't take the place of being in person,
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : but just seeing it as an opportunity. And the other thing I would say is, I've seen some families create isolation pods
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : of, you know, maybe one or two families they feel safe within the community that they've all really agreed to who they're going to
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : hang out with and who they're not. You know, and to keep each other safe and will all get together and their kids will do distance learning together. And so I think that's another way that I've seen people try to overcome our current challenges with socializing.
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: Great examples too thank you. And
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: just kind of going back to building that that resiliency muscle. I know with our kids, their favorite thing at night after we read them stories, is
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: the "mistake time" and and my wife and I share mistakes that we made. And they they look forward to this and
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: we we've gotten to the point where we have to start inventing mistakes. I mean, I've got plenty. But there's some that aren't aren't appropriate for five year olds. And so I'm wondering if you have other suggestions that we can do to help build that that muscle, the resiliency muscle?
Yeah.
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: Trouble with that button, um, you know, one of the things that that I've worked with families with
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: recently is in terms of structuring the day to really start off with something
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: He kind of a ritual, kind of like your end of the day, ritual that you do, Eric because, which sounds - I love that.
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: One of the things that I've had been having families do is ritual in the morning of saying, you know, kind of either drawing or saying or writing something that maybe they're grateful for.
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: You know, or excited about in their lives, could be just a small thing [makes a pincher-sized motion with her index finger and thumb] and then just one thing that they want to make sure they do today.
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: So that keeps that focus and and keeps it starting out positive. So I think that the importance of starting out the day positive instead of chaotic and and worried. So those are, that's just a little tip that that I've seen with some of my families that have worked really well.
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: That's great.
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: Thank you.
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: Wanted to see from all of you, something they that you maybe have learned out of this crisis, something that since since the stay-at-home order went into effect, now the fires.
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: Is there, is there something that you're looking at a little bit differently? The way that we're operating in our county and with our schools and with our families.
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: I, you know, I'd like to share that how inspired
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: I have been
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: when it comes to
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: the coming together of the different organizations and government, nonprofits, and private,
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: and just families in general - it's been really inspiring. I got to be part of a community meeting yesterday for Pacific Elementary up in Davenport.
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: And the way that community has come together to support each other many families who have lost their homes,
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: it's just been it's just really, really inspiring. And think about the kinds of resources that have taken place that have
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: come together. through all of these different you know with the Sheriff's Department, working with with County Behavioral Health our Health Agency and and Doctor Newell working with the schools.
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: Just the amount of collaboration that has come together. I got to see the volunteers that are working at the overflow warehouse for the fires here in Watsonville.
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: It's just really inspiring and I think that the, the amount of resources that we have both individually, the strength that people bring um
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: is is so powerful. And when we share that strength and we support each other through the tough times, through the the the traumatic experiences,
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: it really, I think we saw community coming together community in action in such a beautiful way and it is one of the silver linings that
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: that really manifested as a result of both fires and COVID19. And I think that it's, it gives me so much hope for, for our future as a community and and seeing that
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: Knowing that that we've we're working so hard to create those safe spaces in the support systems for us, for our children and for our community just gives me motivation to keep on keep on working and supporting and creating those collaborative relationships.
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: Absolutely.
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: Eric Howard: Lauren?
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : Yeah, I think for me, I'm just really been inspired by families.
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : You know, obviously
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : Never wish this to ever happen, but it's forced families to slow down. Families playing games together, you know, kind of
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : forcing it have to be together in the same place, and not running around and life just slowing down, just provides some really beautiful opportunities for connection that I think
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : due to technology and and just how fast paced our culture was we were kind of getting away from.
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : I think a challenge that's really come up for me is I think there are so many resources in our community and I but I recognized for families I think it's really,
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : despite all the efforts you know that I've personally been a part of and other people who are part of, I still think it's really hard to navigate
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : and to find what you need when you need it. Because it's just there's so much, which is a good thing, but I think it means that it just makes it I imagine for families very hard to navigate to find what you need when you need it.
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: Yes.
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: You know, and what I've noticed in my work and talking with colleagues as well it and also thinking about this in terms of schools. Is this what we're doing with online learning and tell a therapy that which is what I am now doing
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: You know, in many ways,
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: it doesn't work as well as what we were doing before. But in some ways we're learning new things about doing using technology that we had never really done before and developing
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: some exciting new strategies for different ways of learning and also different ways of doing therapy. Um and so I am hoping that as we move forward and are these crises subside and we go back to some of our normal ways of being, we can also keep
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: these new learning technologies and these new therapeutic technologies online things because I think for some people
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: that allows them to have more access than they did before. Just from my own personal experience it, um, I have more people coming to therapy
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: and keeping their appointments now than I did previous. Partly because things are so chaotic and hard right now, people want to come to therapy and I'm really glad that they're doing that,
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: but also to some of the barriers of "I missed the bus"
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: but you know, "I couldn't get my mom to drive me" are you know all different kinds of things about getting to an actual office or getting to school because I know in my work and and you know alternative ed that was very often an issue for students about just access to get to school.
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: So I think, I think if we can keep these and add them to our other strategies, I think that's really a wonderful thing. And so it's an interesting thing for me because I certainly wasn't happy about doing online therapy, but I've, I've adjusted to it and started to recognize the positive
aspects of it.
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: The same for the Library. We're learning new ways to do programming.
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: And we certainly missed having people come into our buildings for as I know all you do too, but we are also learning new skills and new ways to connect with people.
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: Um along those lines, I wanted to ask, what are some things thinking long term that we need to do in our community to improve our situation so that we don't, so we can start to really address -and you mentioned some of these Dr. Sabbah around the inequities -
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: but really building resiliency is about addressing those very basic things that Lauren mentioned at the top of her program that we need. We can't really think about too much else unless we have some of these foundational things for health and and safety.
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: What are some things that we need to start doing as a community to begin to address some of these inequities?
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: Um, I
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: guess I can, I can go first. Again, I think that, you know, when I think about school systems and I, we talked a little bit about how to
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: kind of really continue that focus on social-emotional learning and wellness as as as a highest priority.
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: I think that that investment in time and resources is really is really important. And I think setting up regular schedules and structures
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: to help provide stability and a semblance of normalcy for our students and our families is really important. There's so much
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: that feels like there's a lack of structure and chaos that that as much as we can be part of that stabilizing force in that place
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: because a physical aspect of what schools represented - a safe space for students, that connection, the networks -
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: we have to now kind of replace them with with virtual ones. And that, I think if we can, if we can help make that transformation complete
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: I think that this it can create a real stabilizing impact. And I think that, you know, I, I, what I believe is the sum of the long term impacts of of this crisis and kind of the virtualization of education is that we're going to be better at at
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: adapting education to the needs of students, as opposed to trying to make students adapt to how schools are set out in rows and, you know, kind of more traditional educational structures.
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: I think being able to be more flexible with them in terms of figure out what exactly their strengths are, what are the things that need support with
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: and then I think, again, we are going to be seeing a lot more focused on that social-emotional connectivity and learning and that's taking place.
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: We'll see more of that training as a requirement for teachers, you're going to see a bigger focus on social-emotional learning as as as a long-term aspect of what schools represent. And I think that
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: I also believe that that that relationship with families is going to is going to get closer [motions open hands with interlacing fingers toward one another], I think that seeing them recognizing them as as true partners in this process.
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: Not, not as kind of my turn, your turn [motions hands in rows or compartments], but really seeing it as as more of a continuum that that I think that the teachers have have developed a deep sense of
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: appreciation for the role of parents and parents have developed a deep sense of appreciation for teachers through this process and and I think that's that's that's going to help to continue to create a stronger community, a learning community for our students.
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: Very well, said
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: Thank you.
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : I can add
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : the parent engagement part. I think
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : as a system Children's Behavioral Health in the past has had challenges, sometimes accessing parents or getting them engaged in
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : treatment and I think through this process, you know, it's been an opportunity to strengthen those connections, and I hope that they continue. I think it's also, you know, like Dr. Nicholas said earlier.
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : it's really forced our industry to like get with the 21st century technology wise and, you know, my hope is down the line that this isn't the only
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : delivery services through telehealth, but it means it is another option on our menu.
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : I think the county still has work to do as far as making our services more available at alternative hours. I mean, we're typically a nine to five organization right now and I'm hoping through this process, it allows us to expand that and be more flexible to meet the needs of our community.
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : Yeah, and I think, yeah, I'll just leave it at that.
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: Yeah, I wanted to
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: also
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: talk about, you know, the excitement of what Dr Ferris said er uh what Dr. Farris said about, um, you know, the increase of social-emotional learning and our, our focus on that because I that is
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: you know, that's such an exciting thing for me as a former high school counselor and now as as a psychologist in the community.
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: And if we can continue to work on destigmatizing mental health and
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: and families seeking out help when things first start, start having them when they first start having trouble. And in fact, if we can do all kinds of preventive work so, so we don't have to have those other
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: resources as used as much. Um, so I think the schools plays such an important role
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: in that because they are the both students and parents and families have access to schools and school they feel more comfortable in talking with schools about mental health issues than they do maybe seeking out
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: mental health in a more medical setting. So I think the schools are really are leading the way in social-emotional learning as well as mental health care and really normalizing the importance of of making that a priority. So I totally appreciate
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: his words on that.
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: I just add one more thing, too. I think it's important, and I see some questions in the chat about when students come back.
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: And we've received guidance this week from the California Department of Public Health. That is
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: giving us some some framework to be able to bring students back in small groups, especially students with high needs.
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: Whether it's special education students, language learning students, who are experiencing mental health challenges and we are concerned about the ability to do
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: kind of a testing for staff that's kind of a requirement for for a lot of the work that we is to make sure we have the capacity, part of our making keeping people safe is to know that there that, you know, people don't have COVID, but
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: I think that you're going to be seeing a lot more of in person, one on either individual services and small group services, so it's it's really
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: going to be happening. I think as we work on building up some of the capacity and the safety measures, those things are going to be happening soon and so
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: we have to be prepared for that. And I think there's going to be opportunities for us to connect with students in person in the near future.
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: And so it's definitely something that we're, we're looking at and figuring out how we're able to provide those services in a safe way and which students should we prioritize first to bring back in small groups.
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: Thank you. That's
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: sounds very hopeful. I, I wanted to ask all of you, if there's anything that you wanted to add before we look at the Q&A and I was just took a peek at it. And we've touched on a lot of the questions in there
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: already, but we'll go through them. But before we move in that direction, is there anything that you wanted to add on this topic of community resiliency, what we can do to support families during this time?
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: You've given us a lot of a lot to think about already.
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: So,
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: we can we can we can move in. Yes. [Suzanne Nicholas, PhD raises her hand] Sure. Thank you. 
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: I just wanted to note, and it's it's not a hopeful note at this point, but there was a recent survey that was conducted actually nationwide, but in California as well.
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: And it was conducted between April in July of this year [motions hands to denote a block of time] and what we found is that the 44% of the respondents
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: talked about levels of worry, anxiety, hopelessness helplessness that
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: that would fit in that diagnosis of either generalized anxiety disorder or major depression. That's huge. And very worrisome.
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: The same survey last year had 11% so from 11% to 44%.
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: That was a
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: survey done with adults, not with children. But what we did find in the surveys that the younger the respondents were the higher level of of [motions hands low and then high to correspond to the ages]
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: concern and worry and helplessness was happening. The older, they were that the better. So perhaps the more resilient they were. And so really emphasizes the importance of working with younger people on resilience.
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: It also emphasized things that, of course, we already know that the more economically disadvantaged someone was the higher their level of distress [motions one hand, palm up, rising up].
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: Did not the report I saw did not break out for ethnic diversity, but from other studies, we certainly know that that is certainly,
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: You know those those issues would also cause for high higher levels of distress. So, so it's just, um, I think it's we could actually call it a mental health crisis that we're going through right now. And so, doing things like really addressing mental health
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: both in schools through the county that Lauren's talking about, and just in general in our community, being aware of those issues being aware of the importance of caring and kindness for each other I think is really important.
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: That's something that we often talk about in our
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: Staff meetings is just kind of managing everyone's expectations and and trying to give everyone a little bit of grace, including yourself. But we've talked about that how we're seeing people
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: they're not always being themselves because everyone's carrying this cognitive load that's so intense right now with so much uncertainty. And I think a big protective piece to this is just affording people a little bit more grace than you would have otherwise.
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: This, this has been a really wonderful conversation. I'm gonna, I'm going to just take a peek at the Q&A here.
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: Like I said, we did touch on a lot of these
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: There were questions around countywide free WiFi. I don't know for sure if the County is looking at that. The library is working to expand its WiFi reach from its from its libraries, as I mentioned.
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: One question is," I'm curious what opportunities exist for young kids to
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: connect with each other in person?" Lauren, you had some good suggestions around and pods. My family has done that as well.
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: And to try to do it in a COVID-safe way, we we go outside. We still have the kids wear masks. But it's always with the same group of kids. And it's only a handful, so they can at least see their buddies from preschool um
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: and because we know that that is so important.
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: There's another question here. "Where are how does creativity/imagination fit in in the role in resiliency. Can you provide some practical examples?"
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: Um
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: that's a really
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: That's a great question. And I think that
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: one of the things that we learned from the Paradise fires up in Butte County was
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: they launched something that we're going to be launching here, which is an opportunity for students to use art to express how they're feeling.
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: And part of, you know, social-emotional learning is helping people kids or adults to be able to really understand how they're feeling and where they're at and really get in touch with with, you know, being having a really good sense of self.
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: And and sometimes art is the way to go. And so one of the projects were hoping to launch
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: is is one where we see young people are able to to tell us where they're at, how they're feeling and and use the art for that.
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: And I think that that's, you know, I'm seeing a lot of pretty wonderful programs that are there still implemented virtually at distance in schools as part of the school day for students. And so, music
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: and and the and other kinds of visual & performing arts are are still happening. And this virtualized environment. And and I think that
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: it is, you know, this kind of concept of using art as a mechanism for healing. I think it is also something
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: really excited about. And I'm sure Suzanne and Lauren know a lot more about it than I do, but but I think it's something that was implemented over there and it's something we'd like to see over here.
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: I think it's a brilliant avenue to go and that really touches on that question, really, really well. How do certainly art helps us make sense of what's going on and what we're thinking and can always bring out
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: consciously so
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: that is a fantastic tool.
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : I would
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : you know, in addition to art depending
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : you know, developmentally, especially play, dress up, you know role play any of these things is an avenue for kiddos to really process and work through what's going on for them.
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : Often when they're not in a place to maybe express those things verbally and while it's great if it's happening in schools, that can happen in your homes, just creating that space.
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : Providing those resources for kids to really just use those avenues and and typically they'll kind of gravitate to those things themselves and
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : I think along with that is, you know, parents, explaining what's going on right now in a developmentally-appropriate way is really important because
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : often kids will go too far off places without some sort of parameters of of what really is happening. And sometimes it's a lot worse than maybe the situation might call for, but that could be a precursor to the play orhe art to kind of express what's coming up for them.
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: That's great, thank you. And
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: we had some more questions around
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: the WiFi. What kind of advocacy is happening to expand it. I, I don't have, I don't know if anyone has any information on that.
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: I do. So we launched a digital-equity initiative and we formed partnerships with all the school districts as well as some corporate kind of corporate partners like Cruzio.
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: So one one layer is to get hotspots to everybody, but that that the goal really is broadband, right? It's 25 megabits per second. That's that's
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: you can't get that on a hotspot. And that's for you to be able to get access to content, video content, and other high kinds of high-bandwidth content in it in a quick way.
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: Not only for the for the student, but for the family because they're on more more than one device.
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: We want them to know there's no reason why in Santa Cruz County why anybody would go hungry with amazing organizations like
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: Second Harvest Food Bank, but if you don't know about where the location is you're not going to be able to get those services. And so we are working
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: for, with these organizations. We've, we've set up a lot of these public location hotspot, WiFi locations all over the county.
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: Some of them tapping into the school system WiFi, but we recognize that we need a big investment in infrastructure.
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: That really the only way we're going to, to, to address this, this divide in a meaningful way and get broadband to everybody would be to increase the amount of
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: Broadband opportunities that are available in a public sense so public broadband initiative and that's that takes a big investment in infrastructure and it's something that
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: we are working on. But we're going to be looking to to raise funding for that because it is it's going to require a big investment.
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: Until then, we have, we're going to try to get to 100% connectivity with the with the slower speeds and then move towards that that higher broadband connectivity and and also make as many of these locations accessible that you have broadband WiFi available for for families.
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: That's great.
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: Thank you. I'm going to read off a few more here. "We've, we've found Minecraft and other video games to be immensely supportive in our family.
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: We made a "requirement" that the kids need to be playing and talking with a friend they know in real life.
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: Not just zombie-like YouTube video watching, it's really been positive. Lots of laughing and the friend groups are growing. We aren't able to do the germ pods due to being in a high-risk groups, but this has been positive."
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: There is a really good
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: suggestion there. "Is there anything that the County Office of Ed and schools need as physical donations that the community can help provide besides free WiFi.
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: What do the three of you see as a need?"
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: At this point, I think that, you know, we've been we've been looking at trying to help families that have been displaced as as a focus.
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: We recently had a "Stuff the bus" activity where folks may donations and that we use the funding to purchase school supplies to fill backpacks to give to to to young people that needed it. At this point, you know, I think that we are looking at creating some some
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: some easier ways for for families. We've been sending folks to to provide donations, to to Santa Cruz County Community Foundation, because they have a really great system to get resources out there. And so that's that's usually how we recommend
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: families who want to provide donations to help, but there's a lot of organizations like the Red Cross and other organizations that would be
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: could benefit from that. I think that
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: In terms of in terms of kind of fundraising activities that we're doing that we don't have any of them launch right now because we're we're channeling everything to the Santa Cruz County Community Foundation that are helping displaced families.
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: But thank you so much for your willingness to to to to support us.
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: Now that I also just want to add we
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: have posted on our website, a number of places that you can give including the Community Foundation and it's helping support different organizations throughout our county and there's also a link there to to to volunteer as well.
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: So,
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: let's see, looking through some of these others.
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: "Many of our kids with IEPs also have health-related issues and anxiety and depression feeling pressure to send them back into schools as the first cohort is quite scary for us.
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: I'm wondering if this has been considered or if them getting back in for testing etc is coming from the State."
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: There's, I don't think there's a lot of pressure from the school system to bring students all students back and I think that parents are when we do is begin opening
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: or bringing students back for in-person instruction, I think you'll, parents are gonna hear the message that they have a choice.
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: There'll be able to continue with the
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: kind of the distance learning, we can actually, you kind of modality. But also, but I think that
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: we recognize that that that connectivity, as we've talked throughout this conversation and social, interpersonal those pieces can really be enhanced in person.
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: But parents will have a choice to be able to say no, I really for now I'm not ready and I want to wait until the situation
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: in terms of the disease and the systems to make sure students are and families are safe are in a better or even more evolved than they are right now. And so I don't I don't know of any school district to saying that I'm going to require people to come back to school,
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: students to come back to school if parents don't feel like they're ready for that.
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: And then there's another question that I missed here. I'm sorry, but "How might this renewed focus on resiliency be delivered when students are allowed back on campuses?"
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: Well, that's how I think that is part of the conversation we all, we all chipped in in a shared about how there is going to be a greater focus on on social-emotional learning. And I think that the recognition that trauma is not just a something that is resolved and 
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: goes away and something that we carry with us as part of who we are. And I think that these resources. This the destigmatization of mental health services and behavioral health services is really important.
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: I think that needs to continue, I think we need to also create opportunities for peers to support each other in a safe way. I think that
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: kids are hungry for getting back with each other. But I also think it's going to take some time to to rebuild relationships. And my son doesn't you know, feels like he doesn't know anybody at his new high school.
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: He's a, he's a freshman at Watsonville high school and he hasn't had the opportunity to make friends. And so I think we're gonna have to really work on
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: building those relationships in an accelerated way and to really protect those the safe spaces. I think it's really important, just like we've had some negative experiences with zoom bombing and people
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: misusing that technology. I think we want to make sure that that as much as possible, our, our, our students who are vulnerable coming from, from the, the experiences of feeling isolated.
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: That we create opportunities for them safely to for them so they can bring their whole selves to school that regardless of
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: You know how they identify themselves or who they are, how they see themselves that they know they belong and that that the schools are their schools and and that they're they're amazing and beautiful and and and whole and that these spaces belong to them.
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: Um, I also want to you know what commend Faris for his leadership around social-emotional learning and
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: you know, coming from the County Office of Education, that's really important that you know the county is our is our leader in the in in education. And what I've seen over these last, you know, these last years is that focus on social-emotional learning and we have amazing
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: personnel in our schools, amazing counselors who have so caring and so skilled, as well as teachers who are also caring, skilled and actually need more support on providing those social and emotional learning opportunities for kids as well.
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: As I've been talking also to teachers recently who are back in school or back online doing work with kids.
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: It seems I'm hearing that teachers are also getting that message about checking in with kids more about really addressing the social-emotional learning
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: first, before you know getting into academics. We used to say, you know, you have to reach 'em to teach 'em. And if they're not present emotionally
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: they're not going to learn anything. And so it's so important and schools, schools are big organizations and they have a climate and really what we're talking about is changing climates of climate of schools to really make it more
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: inclusive, friendly, kind, and caring and that really comes from both the top, as well as from the kids up. [motions her hands up and down and side to side to indicated everyone coming together] So, and also families
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: you know, pushing for that. So really want to encourage people in the community to push for that because if we don't have that, then we don't have a good educational system. Because as I said,
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: they have to be present emotionally in order to learn.
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: So, thank you
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: Dr. Faris, Dr. Really appreciate it. Yeah. 
Eric: Thank you very much for your leadership.
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: And and also for your time you've been very generous with your time today. I'm just going to look at just a few more questions and then I know you all have a lot of
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: commitments we have to let you get back to those we could keep having this conversation. There's so much to dive into. I'll just I'll read a couple comments and questions here.
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: We have a comment. "The local resource and referral CDRC is offering regular workshops for family childcare providers and teachers on resiliency
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: online, which I found very useful." from one participant and there's a question "If a young child needs tutoring with reading, how can this be provided at a distance? Do you think it can be done effectively via zoom?"
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: I think I absolutely believe it can, and it's it's happening right now. Many of our school districts have amazing
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: support staff, classified staff, that are providing that kind of support. It is one of those areas where you know it inequity kind of does manifest in that families, that can afford bringing,
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: hiring people can do so and our families that have don't have the same resources aren't able to do that. But um but I think that I think those kinds of services are definitely
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: are we've gotten better at being able to deliver services through through through zoom and in a virtual environment. And I think that that's that's we'll be able to continue to do that. I
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: was a part of a a math festival that we organized where students had virtual, virtual rooms working on problem solving and so that things are, I think, the tools are there. And I think that
Dr. Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education: out of necessity, where we're having to really embrace as many of these tools and to think creatively and differently. And I think that that allows us to do things really effectively and and and maybe not, not as well as it would be in person, but but pretty close.
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: Thank you. There's one for Dr. Nicholas
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: "How do we help support teens, especially those in new schools. Are there any books or videos you found particularly helpful for their particular age group."
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: Okay, I'm going to get that unmute thing going there.
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: You know teens or adolescents are their, their own their own animal with their own needs, as most of you know.
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: You know, adolescents are really going through a whole
whole scale
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: resolution of everything. A whole renovation in their, in their lives, in their brains, during adolescence. And so um there's a lot of new things happening for them. I think, um,
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: you know, they're and they're dealing with things like, you know, figuring out their own identities, figuring out how like intimacy works, figuring out
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: how can I be independent, but I don't want to be too independent, and then there's the important piece of the about impulse control. So those are really like kind of big things for for for adolescents and the essential thing for parents to know. I think are
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: are the importance of
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: being curious about your adolescent and really listening. And
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: very often we'll you know when kids come home we'll say, "Oh, how was school?" and we'll kind of just halfway listen. So this is really like sitting down and being curious because kids really won't tell us too much
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: unless they really think that we're listening.
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: I have never talked to an adolescent who doesn't say to me, my parents don't listen to me. Now I know that her that
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: his or her parents do listen to them. But that's how adolescents see parents, they don't think they don't think we listen.
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: So on the importance of putting things down, putting the phone down, putting work down, and really setting up like regular time. And we can do this now because
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: we're home more with each other. So sitting down for regular sessions and you can do that as part of your scheduling during the day. Here's what we're going - oh, here's our time together, we get
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: to talk and ask each other questions. So really being genuinely curious about what's going on in that kid's life and just listening without judgment. "Oh really. Tell me more about that."
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: Those kinds of things. So that kind of support. I can't tell you how important more than any ado adolescents
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: see their peer groups, of course, as very important. But truly the most important person in a people in the in an adolescent's life are still their parents. So being able to be there,
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: really knowing your kid and and knowing who they are, and you know what their needs are and stuff like that. But, um,
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: yeah, I'm not sure that answers the whole question about how to support them in school, certainly getting to know who their teachers are, getting to know who their peers are,
Suzanne Nicholas, PhD: who their peers' parents are, all those things. So you can coordinate those kinds of things. So if you do have a concern, you can check in with people that you've already got a connection with.
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: Alright, good advice and there was a comment there, too which I, I should have jumped in around the online tutoring. The library, long before COVID,
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: has been offering a service called Brainfuse, which provides free tutoring for children and it's worked very successfully and it also provides resources for adults to who are
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: trying to advance their career or go back to school as well. I want to thank all of you - Lauren looks like you have something you want to say.
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : I was just going to add on that. I just thought that DigitalNest, which is a nonprofit in Watsonville is doing small group tutoring as well, in person. I think they have some
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : safety protocols around that but I just saw that they're they're opening up to do more tutoring as well to support students. So just want to put that plug out there.
Lauren Fein, Children's Behavioral Health : Thank you.
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: I want to thank all of you again very, very much. You've been very generous with your time. It's been a great discussion some really good advice and we'll continue this conversation online as well.
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: We're introducing a new blog. So we're going to dive deeper into this topic and others. So please visit visit us online. Call us.
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: We have curbside service still going on. So you can get it if you're uncomfortable downloading an ebook, you can call us and learn how to do that or if you want to visit us at our curbside locations you can pick up a book there as well. But thank you again very, very much.
Eric Howard - Assistant Director Santa Cruz Public Libraries: Take care.
