When the Children Return to School: A Message From Dr. Patricia Newman

Students of all ages will be restarting their education this fall having experienced the impact of a worldwide pandemic that will likely continue with many questions unanswered. Our best information tells us that mental health questions and concerns for students of all ages have been impacted by this experience. Many students have experienced anxiety and depression in some form. Some have been exposed to identity based bullying and cruelty. In some homes child abuse and domestic violence are provoked by traumas such as this crisis. Our work related to Big Emotions is more valuable than ever.
RESPECT is working diligently and creatively to put a core of our programming on media that will allow us to reach out to students in their classrooms and share information and resources AS WELL as to interact with them in role play and improvisation activities and respond to their questions.
Additionally, healthy relationships now have a an emphasis related to physical safety as related to boundaries and social distancing, communicating without physical connections, managing big emotions safely, self-care – and more! RESPECT’s catalogue will have new programming specifically designed to help students be safe in still more ways in a world that feels and looks a little different than it did when we left them in the spring.
The mission of RESPECT has never been more important than it is now and when kids return to school. OmahaGives! is coming up next week. Now more than ever we need your support to ensure that children have access to the information, skills, and resources that they need to stay not only physically safe, but mentally and emotionally safe as well. Your donation during OmahaGives! will enable educators and school counselors to continue to rely on RESPECT’s interactive theatre-based methods to give their students they support that they need.
Please mark your calendar to give on May 20th! Or you can schedule your donation online today at www.omahagives.org/respect.