Prevention -> Best S.E.L.F. (Social-Emotional Learning is Fun)

Best S.E.L.F. (Social-Emotional Learning is Fun)

If you have a preschool through eighth-grade child on Vashon, it is likely that your family has been reached by the Best S.E.L.F. (Social-Emotional Learning is Fun) Program! In cooperation with Island schools, Vashon Youth & Family Services works to nurture the social and emotional well-being of your child. These programs promote compassion, communication and responsible choice-making, reaching close to 600 students each year in Island schools, including 20 classrooms at Chautauqua.

Chautauqua Best S.E.L.F.

Social-emotional learning is an area of learning that requires specific skills -- skills which are sometime overlooked. This is the realm where children learn how to understand and manage their feelings, how to make friends and be a friend, and how to solve social problems. Learning takes place throughout the day—in the classroom, on the playground, and at home. Children learn by watching and listening to how teachers, family members, and friends interact with one another.

Vashon Youth & Family Services is now in it’s eighth year of partnership with Chautauqua implementing a program now called “Best SELF “ (Social Emotional Learning is Fun!). Through regularly scheduled classroom meetings, VYFS counselors work along side classroom teachers to help students think about, develop, and practice positive social skills. Research tells us the children who learn and use these skills are more likely to get along with others and to succeed academically.

Over the course of the school year Best SELF classroom meetings will address:

• Empathy. Children learn about feelings and ways to show understanding and caring toward others. Classroom meetings help to build a positive and cooperative classroom climate.
• Impulse Control and Problem Solving. Children learn ways to solve problems and practice skills such as calming down, apologizing, interrupting politely, and making new friends.
• Anger Management. Children learn to manage their anger in ways that do not hurt others.
• Dealing with Bullying Behavior. Bullying behavior is clearly defined, and students learn how to handle respond with the 3R’s: Recognize, Refuse and Report.

These topics are introduced in a variety of ways and include interactive/team-building games, stories, group discussion, and role play. We incorporate activities and lessons from two great sources: Second Step, a violence-prevention and social skills curriculum, and Steps to Respect, a bullying prevention program.

If you have questions, please feel free to contact our Prevention Team at dmacca@vyfs.org

McMurray Best S.E.L.F.

We are happy to announce that the Vashon Youth and Family Services Best S.E.L.F. Program is returning to McMurray again this year. For seven years VYFS has been implementing a Prevention Program at Chautauqua Elementary School as a part of Chautauqua’s Comprehensive Guidance activities, and five years ago began programs with 6th and 8th grade students at McMurray. VYFS’s Best S.E.L.F. Program is funded through a grant from United Way of King County. The program focuses on developing Emotional Intelligence, that is skills in managing oneself and managing relationships with others.

VYFS will be working in the 8th grade health classes one period a week for three weeks. We are fortunate to have an outstanding group of high school students who will have received 9 hours of training in preparation to work with 8th grade students. The topics to be explored are transitioning to high school, refusal skills, being assertive, managing strong uncomfortable feelings, and dealing with school and social pressures.

These topics are to be examined through presentations by high school students, group discussion and some role-play. The high school students will be sharing stories related to these topics and their personal challenges and successes.

We encourage families of McMurray 8th graders to take some time to talk with their children about this program. Ask your son or daughter to tell you about a story shared by a high school student that was meaningful to them during this program. Think back to when you were thirteen and share your own story!

If you have any questions about the program, wish to see it in action, or do not want your student to participate, please call Carolyn Zike, school counselor, or VYFS Prevention at 463-5511 or feel free to email yzick@vyfs.org.

Empowerment Programs

VYFS offers school based boys and girls empowerment groups. Contact jtipp@vyfs.org for high school aged children, yzick@vyfs.org for middle school aged children, and dmacca@vyfs.org for elementary school aged children.

To mail applications or job orders to VYFS, send here:
Vashon Youth & Family Services
PO Box 237
Vashon, WA 98070

To drop off your information in person, stop by here: 20200 Vashon Hwy SW (on the VHS campus)