THERAPEUTIC PROGRAM
Mental Health Services: Outpatient services which include individual therapy and collateral services are available for ERMHS (Educationally Related Mental Health Services) and MediCal eligible students. These services are provided through a contract between The Phillips Academy and Alameda County Mental Health or between The Phillips Academy and the school districts. The Academy has 4.5 licensed and associate mental health providers to provide services to our students and their families and to work closely with our teachers to ensure that students are receiving a consistent and integrated service. Therapeutic modalities include cognitive behavior therapy, mindfulness, dialectical behavior therapy, art and music therapy, and somatic therapy.
Support Staff: The Dean of Student Affairs and the Head of Student Support Services provide behavioral, social and emotional support to our students. The Support Staff develop positive relationships with students and are available to provide in the moment support. They conduct peer conflict resolution meetings, check ins with students, and may run classroom groups to discuss school related issues. They help students create restorative justice projects as part of their repair process when they have made a behavioral mistake or caused harm.
The Clinical Director in collaboration with the support staff and the teaching staff, conducts functional behavior assessments and develops Behavior Support and Positive Behavior Intervention Plans for students as needed. The support staff assists the classroom teachers in integrating new students and in training new staff. These supports allow us to be proactive, providing students with what they need, and prompting their use of coping strategies so that they may develop self-regulation skills.
Student Socio-Emotional Development: Middle school students are acknowledged for engaging in appropriate classroom behaviors, exhibiting prosocial behaviors, and being good community members through an incentive system. They acquire increasing levels of self-management and trust, as they make gains in exhibiting responsible behavior. Both middle school and high school students participate in community building restorative justice circles within which the 5 elements of the social-emotional learning curriculum developed by CASEL are taught.
These include self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, responsible decision making, and relationship skills.
In addition, all students participate in an end of the day exercise in which they acknowledge themselves or their peers for demonstrating one of the expected schoolwide learner outcomes (ESLR’s). Students post a note which describes what the peer did and which ESLR it exemplified, on the ESLR board. The ESLR”S align with the CASEL SEL goals and include becoming a good self-manager, being interpersonally effective, being a good community member, being a critical thinker and being a lifelong learner. The students celebrate these achievements with a monthly ESLR community building event.