UPK social workers chosen to present at conference for their success in building early childhood mental health program

Social workers in the Universal Prekindergarten (UPK) Department were chosen to present at the Division for Early Childhood’s International Conference for Young Children with Disabilities and Their Families this October. Social workers Andrea Marano and Elena Lupo will discuss pre-K mental health initiatives in the Mount Vernon City School District with a presentation titled “Creating a Comprehensive Early Childhood Mental Health Program.”

(Reminder: Pre-K lottery registration closes on June 27, visit https://www.mtvernoncsd.org/family-community/registration/online-registration to learn more)

“Prekindergarten is solely based on supporting the whole child,” said UPK Director Dr. Gayle White Wallace. “Social emotional learning is the foundation of which a child's success is built.”

They will discuss the early childhood mental health program that has been built in the District for pre-K students, overseen by Dr. White Wallace. The program is centered around tier-1 of the multi-tiered system of supports, which focuses on universal and preventative social-emotional and behavioral supports. They also use tier 2 interventions, or targeted group work, and tier 3, intensive and individualized interventions.

“In the past several years, we have built a pretty comprehensive, wraparound mental health program for every UPK student,” said Ms. Marano. “We do social emotional learning, we do counseling, small groups, and we work closely with families. We also do a lot of screening for kids who might need special education. So, our presentation will be about supporting other districts who want to build a more hands-on mental health program for the younger learners.”

Ms. Lupo and Ms. Marano work with all pre-K students in the District. Ms. Marano works with students at Graham, Cecil H. Parker, Edward Williams and Rebecca Turner, and Ms. Lupo works with students at Pennington, Nelson Mandela/Hosea Zollicoffer, Leadership Academy, Honor Academy and Traphagen.

They work closely with teachers at each school, helping to set up mental health supports such as calm corners and providing extra support in the classroom so teachers can focus on their instruction. Implementing tier 1 preventative support also helps teachers manage their classrooms, since they are addressing potential issues before they arise. 

By working with every student, Ms. Lupo and Ms. Marano hope to break the stigma of getting help from professionals and working on mental health. They also make sure to collaborate with families so they know that they are there to support their students and work together with them. 

“We’re very hands on,” said Ms. Lupo “We’re in the classrooms and very visible to the children, which is something that I think is different from some of the older children. We’re not just in an office space; we are in the classrooms working with them.”

They also work individually with students or in small groups inside and outside of the classroom. For social emotional learning, they do fun lessons about different social-emotional needs and lead students through activities. For example, when students learned about stress, the social workers read a book about it and led them through activities such as breathing exercises and glitter jars. This way, students can learn about the different tools and techniques to manage their emotions in a fun and engaging way.

Ms. Lupo and Ms. Marano submitted a proposal through their membership in the Division of Early Childhood and were invited to present at the conference this year. They plan to share their strategies for early childhood mental health with other districts, specifically the universal tier 1 strategies and their parent outreach. An important aspect of their work is tailoring their mental health strategies to the community they work in and engaging with parents to find what is best for their children. They also plan to learn about new strategies from the other presenters at the conference. 

“Pre-K is very centered around social-emotional learning, and our students really make a lot of gains,” said Ms. Marano. “You can see from the beginning to the end of the year, they are able to manage conflict, they’re able to regulate themselves when they’re upset and learn social skills. These are skills that people notice when they go into the upper grades, that they come in with a little more of an ability to manage themselves. Especially because in kindergarten, they need to be a lot more independent.”