Creating Safe Spaces for Adolescent Girls

1. Creating Safe Spaces for Adolescent Girls Julie Wood Josephine Ramage The Young Women’s Leadership School of Brooklyn

2. Emotional Wellness Programsat TYWLS Brooklyn

3. Welcoming Goodie Bag • Turn and Talk • Share Out

4. Advisory Safe Space • a place where the physical, social, emotional, and academic developmental needs of our girls are addressed. • Each year our students are known as a “whole girl” by at least one adult – their advisor • a place where our girls can come together and support the full inclusion and celebration of GLBTQ and other marginalized populations of our school.

5. AdvisorySafe Space • Meets two or three times/week • Has a curriculum • Every student participates • Changes yearly • Meets once a week • Discussions topics are chosen by both staff and students • Voluntary, changing group of participants • Available to the same students every year

6. Strategies for Building Strong Relationships

7. Staff • Starts with the hiring process • Attendance at yearly training required for both Advisory and Safe Space • United vision around school’s mission statement • Common language around expectations – Habits of Being - C2OP3R2 – Confident, compassionate, open-minded, present, prompt, prepared, respectful, responsible

8. MISSION STATEMENT The Young Women’s Leadership School of Brooklyn (TYWLS, Brooklyn) was established to nurture the intellectual curiosity and creativity of young women and to address their developmental needs. Learning is dynamic and participatory, enabling students to experience great success on many levels, especially in science, mathematics, and technology. At TWYLS, Brooklyn, students are encouraged to achieve their personal bestin and out of the classroom. Teachers will deliberately make connections to students’ lives, prior knowledge, and the world. Through advisory, small class size, and ongoing assessments, students will be known well by the adults in the building. Thus, learning will be tailored to students’ interests, needs, and strengths. Students will be challenged and supported so that they will be prepared for higher level courses throughout middle and high school.

9. Every TYWLS student is college bound. The Young Women’s Leadership School of Brooklyn will graduate 100% of its students in seven years and each young woman will be accepted into a four year college or university. Students of TYWLS, Brooklyn, will grow academically and emotionally into leaders of their school, community, and the world. TYWLS strives to work with families to instill in the students a sense of community, responsibility, and ethical principles of behavior-characteristics that will help to make them leaders of their generation. Through exposure to technology, engagement in community service, and participation in action-research and interdisciplinary projects, students will find their voice and take responsibility for their community. At TYWLS, Brooklyn, parents are partners and together will support the experience as each leader grows in Brooklyn.

10. Ingrained in the school’s culture • Time built into the school day for Advisory connections • Safe Space stickers on classroom doors (teachers who feel comfortable talking with students about issues around bullying) • Staff supports one another, hence students support one another • Explicit commitment to “No Bullying” • Whole school Pledge Day every other week • Acknowledgment of Bullying • Reminders, Read Alouds, Video Clips

11. Safe Space • Out of 200 students, about 60 different students have attended at least once. • Core group of 15 students that have come almost every week since we started • Mostly older students (8th and 9th) • Focus on relationships – friendships, family, romantic partners • Focus on internal dynamics – not on impacting surrounding community (outside of our school building)

12. Safe Space Launch • Use of GLSEN Safe Space kit (manual, signs, stickers) • Mandatory staff training, although stickers not mandatory • Launch in Pledge Day (whole school meeting) each year with a video

13. What Students Value About Safe Space and Advisory • Confidentiality • Not feeling judged • Others sharing their joys and struggles • Consistency of group • Knowing adults care deeply

14. How to Establish Safety We have three rules in Safe Space: • There’s no attendance requirement; come as often or as little as you want. • What happens here, stays here. Don’t talk about the group outside of the space unless you’re only talking with people who were there with you. • There are no labels. Being here doesn’t mean you identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or straight. It means you care about making our school safe for all students. You can identify, but you don’t have to.

15. How to Establish Safety in Advisory • Being responsive to the needs of our girls • Creating a feeling of “coming home” • Advisory House Rules – “Circle of Trust” • What is said here, stays here • Understand others’ perspectives • Discussions around C2OP3R2 behavior • What does it mean? • How do we achieve this • What does it look like

16. How do we Turnkey these Strategies to our Students?

17. Teambuilding Activities • Self-esteem building Activities • Problem solving – academic, social, relational • Role play – practice conversations that may be difficult • Explicit Conversations • Goal setting/Self Reflection • Student Led Conferences • Communication skills • Listening vs. Hearing

18. Advisory Activities • The following foster a sense of camaraderie amongst the students: • Holiday Door Decorating Contest • Advisory Banner Contest • Holiday and Birthday Celebrations • Community Service – food drives, Shoeboxes for Soldiers, toy drive, book drive, breast cancer walk, Penny Harvest, etc. • Advisory Trips

20. Resources • GLSEN link: www.glsen.org • http://www.makeitbetterproject.org • One by Kathryn Otashi • Bullying and Me : Schoolyard Stories by Ouisie Shapiro • Handout of advisory resources from The Young Women’s Leadership Network