Inspiring Calm

Funded Jun 21, 2019

The staff and students of Hopkins Lloyd Community School appreciate all your support in funding our "Inspiring Calm" project. We have used our resources to create a de-escalation room in our school that we lovingly call the "Eagle's Nest". We are the Hopkins Lloyd Community School Eagles and we hope students who are experiencing stress and negative emotions can view this space as safe and supportive, like a nest!

So far this school year our Eagles Nest has been utilized over twenty times! The protocol for this space is as follows. Upon entering the room, students will be asked to identify the level of stress they are experiencing. 1- I can handle it! 2- I am upset, but in control! 3- I'm getting angry and need to use a coping skill. 4- I need a safe space. I don't have control! 5- I am going to explode, I need an adult's help! They then can choose from a visual menu of coping and calming tools. They will then have some time exploring and practicing using the coping and calming strategies of their choice. At the end they are asked to reassess their stress level and once they are at a level 1 or 2, they can be returned to class. If they choose a coping skill that can be done in the classroom, they may be returned at a level 3. Many of our strategies can be done in the classroom, after being taught in the Eagles Nest. For example, mindfulness practice, deep breathing, and movement breaks.

When students have walked into this space for the first time, they are often filled with awe. The space is immediately welcoming, inviting, and engaging. The students have responded in a very positive way and felt empowered to manage their stress and negative emotions. Many students have explored the sensory and calming strategies with curiosity. The Eagles Nest provides access to opportunities they do not have in tradition classroom environments. As the year goes on, students who have returned show progress by being able to identify the strategies that work best. We are also getting to know our students better as individuals and their favorite coping tool. Students have also been able to identify their triggers in the classrooms, by figuring out what is calming to them. For example, students have enjoyed the sound canceling headphones and recognize that a loud classroom can cause them to become distressed.

As a staff we are learning from the Eagles Nest and identifying how to translate this into our classroom environments to create a universal level of support. As of now, we are in the planning stages of our next project. Our vision is to have "Vacation Stations" in every classroom. These will be smaller versions of the Eagles Nest, where they use the same process and many of the same strategies. These would provide students more opportunity to practice and maximize their readiness for instruction within the classroom setting. In addition, our Eagles Nest has been sparking interest in various district departments and outside agencies. People have come to tour and learn about how we use this space, with the idea of recreating it at other schools.”

With gratitude,

Ms. Stevenson