The Case for Long-term Psychoanalytic Therapy

By Alexandra Papa, Intern Training Program Co-Director & Collaborative Counseling Program Psychotherapist

I began working for Acknowledge Alliance as a psychotherapist in 2019 after being drawn to the organization’s approach of serving at-risk youth from a psychoanalytic treatment approach. When you hear that term, you might imagine Sigmund Freud, cigars, and lying on a couch with a therapist nodding and holding a blank expression while you discuss your childhood. Of course, this depiction does not match reality- psychology has had to endure an image that does not represent the present-day, true essence and technique of the work. In contrast, no one believes that surgeons are still practicing bloodletting with leeches or using arsenic to treat headaches. With increased testing, technology and modern interventions, we now know that those past medical interventions do not work and have found humane and effective alternatives. The same is true for psychoanalysis; it has evolved in the last 100 years and today’s treatments are evidence-based, have been tested, retested and proven to be effective with a variety of mental health disorders (de Maat, de Jonghe, Schoevers & Dekker, 2009).

Not a Quick-fix, but a Highly Effective Solution

In contrast to psychoanalytic therapy, you may have heard of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), an extremely popular approach that centers around using strategies to change thinking patterns and helping individuals to “learn to be their own therapists.” This type of treatment is beneficial and effective in many cases, but it is unfortunately often touted as the “best” and only “right” treatment for mental health disorders. It may be surprising to hear that psychoanalytic interventions can be just as, if not more, effective at treating a wide range of mental health concerns. In fact, long-term psychoanalytic therapy has been shown to be more effective in treating complex mental health concerns, and that for general depression, a psychoanalytic treatment provides equivalent outcomes to CBT (Leichsenring & Rabung, 2011; Thase, 2013).

There has been a recent shift to provide people with “quick-fixes” for long–term, pervasive issues. This shift may be due to a common misconception that it is more cost-effective to offer 8-10 sessions, when in reality, it actually costs less to treat the whole person’s underlying issues than to prescribe them lists of techniques or exercises. According to The Harvard Review of Psychiatry, “data suggests that long-term psychoanalytic therapy substantially reduces health care use and sick leave” and that “the benefits seem to endure for years after termination and reach the point of counterbalancing the costs of treatment approximately three years after treatment termination” (de Maat, Philipszoon, Schoevers, Dekker & De Jonghe, 2007). This is certainly not to say that tools, skills and worksheets cannot be helpful for some people in certain circumstances and for certain psychological issues. However, there is no shortage of these shorter-term, cognitive behavioral skills-based therapies around, and they are typically the therapies covered by most insurance providers, including Medi-Cal. In other words, individuals who cannot pay a typical private practice hourly fee are often only offered cognitive behavioral type therapies on a short-term basis. 

Equitable Access to a Variety of Therapeutic Treatments

With such an abundance of CBT offerings, it is especially relevant to provide an alternative approach to the high-need population Acknowledge Alliance serves. We believe that all people, regardless of their income status, ethnicity or inclusion in any other social group, should be given the opportunity to partake in longer-term, depth-oriented psychological treatments so they may explore the therapeutic approach that best suits them. This decision should be based on their unique and complex psychological state, and what will most help them as an individual, dyad, or family unit. What many people really need is an exploration as to why they are unable to reduce their suffering alone, and how their therapist can support reductions in suffering by building trust, attunement and collaboration to be able to uncover the sometimes painful realities in someone’s mind.

In my past experience working in insurance-based systems, I was faced with severe limitations in terms of what diagnoses I could treat, what type of therapy I could provide, and even treatment length. Because of this, when someone no longer met the criteria for a diagnosis, I would have to close their case. No longer meeting criteria for a diagnosis is of course a positive outcome, but in and of itself, is not an indicator that someone is free of pain and suffering or that they have built up enough inner resources to discontinue therapy. Imagine an adolescent who lives under constant fear that a parent could be deported or that there will not be enough money for rent, all while attending high school, caring for siblings, and attempting to deal with past and present traumas like physical abuse, poverty and traumatic separation from family members. Now imagine that youth was only given access to therapy for three months or less. 

Helping Adolescents Make Meaning Out of Suffering 

Adolescence is a time when many people begin to inquire and wonder about their meaning, purpose, and existence. This is developmentally appropriate, and a positive milestone for teens. When a young person is struggling with economic and cultural hardships on top of life’s routine demands, it may be difficult to imagine how such an adolescent could have the capacity to ponder existential issues over surviving day-to-day challenges. That may be true for some, but many therapists in the psychoanalytic tradition have found the opposite- when people are struggling so intensely that their lives feel like a daily fight for survival, they need to be nourished by gaining greater access to their psyche and make meaning out of their suffering. As psychiatrist Viktor Frankle said, “challenging the meaning of life is the truest expression of being human.” At Acknowledge Alliance, I feel honored to have the opportunity to help at-risk youth to discover that meaning and connect to the humanness Frankle spoke of. It is a privilege to be allowed into someone’s inner world, to be a witness to their life, and to help them develop their minds and emotions into useful tools that will propel them ahead in their lives.   

Citations

1. Saskia de Maat, Frans de Jonghe, Robert Schoevers & Jack Dekker. 2009. The Effectiveness of Long-Term Psychoanalytic Therapy: A Systematic Review of Empirical Studies, Harvard Review of Psychiatry, 17:1, 1-23, DOI: 10.1080/10673220902742476

2. Leichsenring, F., & Rabung, S. (2011). Long-term psychoanalytic psychotherapy in complex mental disorders: Update of a meta-analysis. British Journal of Psychiatry, 199(1), 15-22. doi:10.1192/bjp.bp.110.082776

3. Thase, M. 2013. Comparative Effectiveness of psychoanalytic Psychotherapy and Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy: It’s About Time, and What’s Next? American Journal of Psychiatry, Vol 1, issue 9.

4. de Maat S, Philipszoon F, Schoevers R, Dekker J, De Jonghe F. Costs and benefits of long-term psychoanalytic therapy: changes in health care use and work impairment. Harv Rev Psychiatry. 2007 Nov-Dec;15(6):289-300. doi: 10.1080/10673220701811654. PMID: 18097839.

Back to School: A Hopeful Start Amidst Continued Challenges

As our students and teachers are welcomed back to start the new school year, Acknowledge Alliance  recognizes that along with all the excitement and hopes for the upcoming year, there are still many lingering challenges that remain from the pandemic. Most of the teachers we work with are happy to be teaching in the classroom again, with the challenges of facilitating virtual learning behind them. However, our teachers now find themselves dealing with the unfortunate consequences of a year of virtual learning. Many students struggled with the online learning format and as a result, there are now more students than usual that are struggling to perform at grade level. As educators who are passionate about achieving the best learning outcomes for all their students, many teachers are placing additional pressure on themselves to help these students catch up. With new covid-19 variants arising seemingly every few weeks and case rates constantly ebbing and flowing, our educators are faced with the additional challenge of creating dual lesson plans. Dual lesson plans allow students to complete independent study work while quarantining at home due to illness or exposure, which is critical to their ability to keep up with their peers during prolonged absences. Of course, students are not the only ones susceptible to illness or exposure- our educators must also prepare contingency lesson plans for substitute teachers in case they themselves are forced to quarantine at home.

With the many obstacles our students and teachers are facing, Acknowledge Alliance is ready to provide the support needed to have a successful and fulfilling school year. Our Collaborative Counseling Program therapists are providing on-site counseling to the most at-risk students, healing through the power of judgment-free, long term therapeutic relationships. Our therapists working with the Boys and Girls Club of the Peninsula’s College Success program are providing telehealth counseling to college students returning to campus. Educators continue to get social emotional wellness support from our Resilience Consultation Program’s on-site services and resilience groups for teachers. When our resilience groups were forced to go virtual during the early days of the pandemic, we were pleasantly surprised to see attendance actually increase with virtual sessions. We learned that teachers prefer the flexibility of being able to attend these support group meetings at home or in their classrooms as it suits their schedules.  

The pandemic has brought an increase in demand for counseling and support services across the board, and our team is doing all it can to meet the growing need. Acknowledge Alliance and our community of supporters is here with you - let’s make this school year the best one yet!

Teachers Teach With Open Hearts

Today is Teacher Appreciation Day and Acknowledge Alliance would like to recognize all the dedicated teachers, educators, and school staff in our community! Every day is a good day to give them thanks for all they do.

Our Forget-Me-Not honorees are extraordinary examples of outstanding educators and school partners. They teach with open hearts to strengthen resilience and relationships. They understand that learning is about students' hearts, as well as their minds. Because they genuinely believe in all students and build on their strengths, children and youth feel more connected to school and become inspired to reach their full potential. We invite you to celebrate Priscilla Taylor, Debbie Wiseth, and our school community heroes next Thursday, May 12 at our virtual Forget-Me-Not event.

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PRINCIPAL OF THE YEAR
Priscilla Taylor
Principal
Beechwood School

Priscilla Taylor has worked in education for over 27 years. Her initial teaching position involved technology education, volunteer coordination, and library instruction with students in grades kindergarten through eighth. Building relationships within the community took time and these initial years were invaluable. With a desire to shift to core subject instruction, she took a 6th grade teaching position at Beechwood School for several years. After a short break, she returned in 2000 in a new position as the 6th-8th math instructor and Vice Principal of Beechwood School. The opportunity to engage with the community in a leadership role was life-changing. Three years later, she assumed the role of Principal, a position she held for approximately five years. In 2007, with shifting priorities at home, she made the decision to return to teaching and rejoined the staff as the middle school math instructor. She held that position for twelve years, finding joy in fostering a love of learning in her students while encouraging them to identify their individual strengths and use them to achieve their goals. In the spring of 2020, she was invited to return to administration, and in August, she resumed the role of Principal of Beechwood School. Priscilla strives to balance strong leadership with compassion. She is surrounded by a talented group of professionals and a warm community of students and families. In partnership, they continue to foster the growth of resilient students who can face the challenges of today and thrive in their tomorrows.
 

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TEACHER OF THE YEAR
Debbie Wiseth
Third Grade Teacher
San Miguel Elementary School
 

Debbie Wiseth earned her AA degree at Mt. San Antonio College in Southern California while working full-time at Chick Sporting Goods. After attending Mt. SAC, she graduated from CSUF with her degree in Liberal Studies. Wanting to continue her education, she moved to San Jose and got a second degree in Environmental Studies with an emphasis in Environmental Education at SJSU and earned her Multiple Subject Teaching Credential and CLAD Certificate there as well. While in the teaching credential program, Debbie was placed at San Miguel School for student teaching and was then hired to teach fourth grade. Debbie has been living the dream at San Miguel ever since. This is her 26th year of teaching and she has no plans on retiring anytime soon. One of the greatest rewards of having worked in the same community for so many years is now having her former students’ children and extended family. She said that it is wonderful to have people come back to visit and see families grow. Debbie is honored to receive the Forget-Me-Not Teacher of the Year Award from Acknowledge Alliance. Debbie feels there is no other path for her and still loves the path that she is on…teaching future generations that will one day be the leaders in our communities and world. Teaching young children has always been a passion. Their kind, loving, generous hearts, and their love of learning are what draws her to elementary-age children - seeing their faces light up at the idea of learning something new, overcoming struggles, and seeing the lightbulb shine when they accomplish a task or goal. She thanks her parents for sacrificing and affording her the education she has been given so she can live her passion.

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SCHOOL COMMUNITY HEROES
Front Office Staff
 

Front office staff play a central role in the running of a school. These school community heroes model the social-emotional resilience which Acknowledge Alliance knows to be foundational to building and strengthening a positive school culture. We especially appreciate and acknowledge all the heroes who work with us through our Resilience Consultation Program at these schools:

Adelante Selby School
Beechwood School
Bishop Elementary
Cherry Chase Elementary
Columbia Middle School
Cumberland Elementary
Ellis Elementary
Fairwood Explorer Elementary
Kennedy Middle School (Cupertino)
Kennedy Middle School (Redwood City)
Lakewood Elementary
North Star Academy
Redwood Middle School
San Miguel Elementary
Sunnyvale Middle School
Vargas Elementary

Jean Hamilton Honored With DKG Public Service to the Community Award

We are proud to announce that Jean Hamilton, Acknowledge Alliance Resilience Consultant, has been honored with the Public Service to the Community Award from the Delta Kappa Gamma (DKG) International Society for Key Women Educators of Area IV (Southern San Francisco Bay Area). Congratulations, Jean! Educators she works with at San Miguel Elementary School and Fairwood Elementary School in Sunnyvale School District nominated Jean and she was recognized for her dedicated work and community impact. In her 22 years of working at Acknowledge Alliance, Jean has made a profound difference in the lives of many teachers, principals, administrators, district leaders, and students. She shares some inspiring lessons she learned from the field below. Her reflections come from her experience in facilitating many Teacher and Principal Resilience Groups and from being a therapist.

1. People come first.

What would decisions look like if we put people first? What would educational policies be like if we started from how they impact people? How do we use this as a guiding principle in our work in schools? People are human and humans have certain inherent characteristics: we want connection. We are caring and we want to work together. We also have feelings, whether good or painful. We’ve all experienced hurt of some kind: loss or grief, fear, loneliness, being left out, physical injury or pain, embarrassment or shame, trauma, and the list could go on.

In making the connection between mental health and academic learning, it’s important to remember that there’s a connection between feelings and thoughts. How we are feeling affects our thinking and how we learn. How we are thinking affects our feelings. They are intertwined.

Young people learn when they are feeling good about themselves. Teachers teach best when they are feeling good about themselves. This is where we want to put our attention if we are to help young people be successful in school: learning how to deal with our own feelings so we can better help young people deal with theirs.

2. Relationships matter.

Our work at Acknowledge Alliance was founded on the belief that, next to parents and families, teachers spend the most time with young people and that if we support teachers and the other adults in schools, this would directly impact the lives of young people in positive ways.

One of the protective factors highlighted in the resilience theory is that if a young person has at least one caring adult who knows them, has high expectations for them, communicates a sense of belonging, recognizes their strengths, and gives them opportunities to be themselves, this builds resilience and the capacity to face challenges with self-awareness and confidence.

We took this theory and applied it to building relationships with the adults who work in schools. As a Resilience Consultant, this is what I do: I get to know teachers. I listen to them. I acknowledge their strengths. I tell them what I see that they’re doing well. I value them, I appreciate them, and perhaps most importantly, I like them.

3. Listening is a healing act.

Listening brings about change. Listening is a collaborative act. It is an act of empathy. I believe that if we truly learn how to listen to each other, that’s when healing can begin to take place. Listening communicates that you trust the person you’re listening to, that you respect them, and that you care.

What if we taught others to listen, to be fully present with, and to give aware attention to each other? Classrooms would look different. And so would our schools.

Here’s a note from one of the teachers I’ve worked with in a teacher group. It illustrates the power of listening, connection, caring, and resilience:

"The most beneficial part of the group was building relationships with my colleagues. There is something very important about teachers connecting with other teachers since very few people truly understand what we go through as teachers during the school year. Therefore, being listened to and heard by those who live it and get it was very beneficial for me.

I built resilience and realized that I was not alone in my struggles. I learned that I needed to take care of MYSELF, too, in order to take care of my students at school. I learned that whatever feeling I was feeling was OKAY and should be recognized and addressed. I use this on a daily basis with my students."

Happy Valentine's Day

On this day of love, we’d like to say thank you for making sure that our students and teachers are surrounded by love every day.

For many of the youth we serve through our Collaborative Counseling Program, it is often their first time having someone in their lives who respects them and believes in them.

Your unconditional support helps them build healthy and trusting relationships with our counselors, school staff, peers, family, friends, and community.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Empathy Builds Connection and Resilience

As the new year begins and all of us are affected by the still-emerging long-term toll of the pandemic, we’d like to remind everyone that empathy can help strengthen resilience and deepen connections.

In our Project Resilience social emotional learning lessons, we explain to students and teachers: “Empathy is the ability to recognize what someone is feeling because you have had that emotion, too. It helps you imagine what they might be thinking and feeling.” Being able to walk in another person’s shoes is a fundamental part of human connection.

Empathetic people are able to listen, communicate, help others, and respond more appropriately to the people they share relationships with. Most often, empathy is associated with responding to others who are struggling with feelings of fear, isolation, anger, and loneliness. However, empathy can also equally apply to responding to positive feelings people experience, such as joy and success.

When we cultivate empathy in school communities, everyone benefits. A teacher shares how the school climate has improved through our services: “I feel that there is a general sense of increased compassion and empathy for everyone as we have gone through unprecedented ways to have students learn. I'm very happy about the focus on the whole person, starting from social emotional well-being, which can then allow academic learning.“

Likewise, students found empathy to be a valuable resilience skill:

“The most useful resilience skill was empathy because it helped me understand how others feel in different situations (good or bad). It also helped me understand that others react to a situation differently than you do, so you have to look at it in their perspective, to understand where they are coming from.”

“Empathy has been the most useful for me because it leads to patience and self-control when communicating with others.”

Imagine how our relationships and community can be strengthened if each of us practiced empathy in all of our interactions and daily approaches to work and life. This can inspire more kindness and connection with everyone around us.

1440 Foundation Awards $100,000 Grant

We’re excited to ring in the New Year with a big celebratory announcement! We are honored to share that Acknowledge Alliance has recently received a $100,000 grant from 1440 Foundation that will enable us to expand our reach to more students in need of our mental health counseling services at schools and youth development organizations.

With the intent to build compassionate communities that thrive on trust, 1440 Foundation aligns with nonprofit leaders who plant seeds of hope in places underestimated by most of society, but are ripe with potential. This resonates with the work we do at Acknowledge Alliance, as the students we serve in our Collaborative Counseling Program learn to cope with repeated emotional trauma after facing adverse life events, poverty, and oppression.

“I am proud to partner with 1440 Foundation. Together, we can deliver critical and life-changing services to our community’s most vulnerable youth, and foster an emotionally safe environment where teachers want to teach and students want to learn,” said Acknowledge Alliance’s Executive Director, Sharon Navarro.

By providing students with reliable support and access to our counseling services, youth can engage in school, reach their full potential, become more resilient, and experience renewed hope with a future of new possibilities. Acknowledge Alliance program services are made possible through funding partnerships, grants, and donations. Hence, we are deeply grateful for the generous support we receive from 1440 Foundation and our whole community.

As one year closes and another begins, Joanie Kriens, co-founder of 1440 Foundation, shares this inspirational message to carry forward: “There are 1440 minutes in each day. That's 1440 opportunities for everyone, no matter who we are, to be more aware and mindful of how we're spending our time.” 

Big Impact: Spreading Holiday Cheer and Hope

In this season of gratitude, our thoughts turn gratefully to you with warm appreciation. This past school year alone, through the second year of the global pandemic, we served 29 schools and community organizations, 2,320 students, and 437 educators. Here are some of the outcomes we achieved together:

• 91% of Collaborative Counseling Program students we served remained in school or had graduated over the year.
  

• Youth working with an Acknowledge Alliance counselor experienced improved family and social functioning, more enjoyment of recreational activities, better sleep, deeper community connections, increased optimism, decreased depression and anxiety, and enhanced trauma integration.
  

• 94% of educators working with Acknowledge Alliance staff reported using strategies, such as self-care, to promote personal and professional resilience.
  

• The most valuable aspect of Project Resilience social emotional learning lessons, according to students and teachers, were the lessons focused on mindfulness. Learning new coping skills helped students choose healthier ways of managing their anger and stress.
  

We here at Acknowledge Alliance remember that relationships and community connection are at the heart of our mission. Your contribution and encouragement allow us to touch many lives and make a big impact! 

As a reminder, there is still time to make a gift before the year ends.

Your support helps us build resilient school communities where students and educators feel connected, valued, engaged, and hopeful. Thank you. We wish you happiness, health, and peace into the New Year!

Special Thank You to the Morgan Family Foundation

Since 2008, the Morgan Family Foundation has supported Acknowledge Alliance as an outstanding anchor funder and partner in their efforts to change lives and transform communities. Although the Morgan Family Foundation will be winding down, closing the foundation operations as of December 31, 2021, their impact will continue to grow and they will be deep-rooted in our work for many generations to come.

Over these last 13 years, they have made it possible for our Resilience Consultation Program to expand our reach from 6 schools and 75 students to 19 schools and district offices, reaching as many as 3,000 students. With the Foundation’s support, we were able to pilot the first Resilience Group for educators in Sunnyvale in 2011. Today, we reach approximately 500 educators each year, and over 80 teachers and principals participate in Resilience Groups, which many view as “essential.” These examples are a glimpse of the tremendous ways they have partnered with our organization. We are forever grateful for the Foundation’s strategic vision, and for seeding our emerging idea to support entire school communities and create classrooms where teachers want to teach and students want to learn. Thank you.

As the Morgan Family Foundation passes the torch to the next generation of philanthropists, they hope to inspire others to give generously of their time, talent, and treasure for the benefit of others. 

An Inspiring Student Story

This Giving Tuesday, we’d like to give thanks to you for supporting our work in strengthening the resilience of students and educators through meaningful relationships.

The students we see in our Collaborative Counseling Program have experienced repeated emotional trauma after facing adverse life events, poverty, and oppression. While we live in a fast-paced society that wants to create quick fixes for human suffering, we do the opposite here at Acknowledge Alliance. We take time to make a connection with these youth, and help them unpack what has happened to them. They heal from the inside out so that they can re-engage in positive, lasting change.

We hope you take a moment today to listen to this powerful student story below, as shared by Raquel Villa Linares, our Asst. Director of Clinical Training and Collaborative Counseling Program Psychotherapist, at our recent Appreciation Event.

Monica* was referred to therapy because she had been missing school for the previous two years. She felt overwhelmed by anxiety and unwanted negative thoughts and feelings that made it very difficult for her to go to school. Although the initial efforts to re-engage Monica in school were unsuccessful, our therapist, Raquel, did not give up and consistently reached out.

Over time, Monica built trust, opened up, and made progress: 

• First, she experienced being treated with dignity, compassion and respect, which helped her to see herself with new eyes and recover confidence in herself.
  

• She understood the impact of trauma and grief in her life, and finally made sense of her feelings, thoughts and behavior.
  

• The school worked with her to make sure that she felt safe coming to school, so her anxiety about school diminished over time.
  

• She learned to communicate better with her teachers and her parents.
  

• She got better at controlling her impulses and making better choices. She proudly shared how she had managed to stay away from someone trying to fight her. “Now I know better,” she said with a huge smile on her face.
  

• Eventually, she understood the value of education. She wanted to be a good role model for her younger siblings. She graduated high school and was considering attending community college and working in the medical field.

At the last therapy session, Monica said to Raquel, “Thanks so much for not giving up on me.”

We wholeheartedly extend this student’s message of gratitude to you. Your support allows us to help youth like Monica change their paths towards a better and hopeful future. Thank you!

*Student's name has been changed to protect confidentiality.

Community Gratitude Journal

Dear Acknowledge Alliance Family,

“Thank you so much. I was in a pretty dark place at the beginning of Project Resilience, and you brought me up. The coping skills you taught us really helped me when I was dealing with my own problems.” –7th Grade Student

I am so inspired by this student’s expression of gratitude to Acknowledge Alliance’s social emotional learning facilitator. I see it as a powerful reminder of the importance of resilience and mental health support during the pandemic. As the Board Chair, I’ll follow this student’s lead and extend my deep appreciation to you, for shining a light on the well-being of students and educators through your support.

You may already know that this year has been especially difficult for students and educators alike. And through it all, every mental health professional on our team has been on the frontline, caring for students and educators who feel isolated, burnt out, stressed, and grief-stricken. Students have experienced additional trauma from the pandemic that has taken a particularly large toll on vulnerable families. Teachers, who are already under the pressure of addressing students’ learning losses, have been tasked with acknowledging students’ shared trauma and navigating new, multi-layered challenges in virtual and in-person classrooms.

When students and educators were asked about their experience with Acknowledge Alliance, a common theme that emerged was gratitude for support, connection, and the reminder that one is not struggling alone. You’ll see some of their reflections in our “community gratitude journal" below. I hope you realize how much your incredible generosity means to our organization and those we serve. We rely on your support to continue our vital work. Because of you, students and educators feel valued, validated, empowered, resilient, hopeful, and grateful.

Please join me in making a gift today to ensure that local educators and students like “Sammie” have the necessary tools to be successful throughout the school year and beyond. Before counseling, Sammie did not attend school for a whole year and believed that the school system was against him. He felt like an outcast until counseling helped him build positive relationships. He expressed gratitude for having a counselor he could connect with and talk about his inner world. He went from feeling depressed and hopeless to feeling confident. He now relates to his teachers, uses resources to meet his needs, and feels motivated to attend school. He is passing all of his classes with A’s and is on track to graduate on time!

Together, we are creating engaging school communities for students like Sammie, where mental health matters and relationships come first. This is what our founder, Cleo Eulau, had always envisioned. Thank you for furthering our mission to promote lifelong resilience in children and youth, and strengthen the caring capacity of the adults who influence their lives.

With gratitude,
Steve Hope
Board Chair

Helping Students Cope With Feelings and Stress

Emotions are a normal and important part of our lives. Some emotions we enjoy experiencing, while others - like sadness, anger, loneliness, or fear - are more unpleasant and harder to deal with. Understanding how to cope with difficult emotions in a healthy and productive way can increase resilience, reduce stress, and help you live a happier life.

One of the topics in our Project Resilience social emotional learning curriculum is “Coping With Feelings.” We describe to students and teachers that coping skills are how you take care of yourself when you have a strong emotion. Learning about coping skills and managing emotions has been critical to many students:

“For me, the most useful resilience skill so far has been coping with feelings because recently, something tragic happened to one of my friends. It really affected all of us. My coping skills helped during that time, and I am still using them.” -Student

“I learned how to cope with different emotions during these hard times. Sometimes I get so mad, I can hardly control my anger, and it leads to me losing control. The tips I learned for coping skills really helped me learn how to control my emotions better.” -Student

In our Collaborative Counseling Program, students gain the ability to cope with trauma and stress through therapy. Our long-term, strengths-based therapeutic approach focuses on building trusting relationships that strengthens resilience and leads to lasting change:

 “Counseling has been helpful because my counselor always checks on me at all times. She understands what I'm going through and doesn't ever judge me for the person I am. I’ve learned how to cope with things when feeling stressed.” -Student

“The student entered therapy feeling stressed, sad, and fearful. They increased self-understanding and learned coping strategies through therapy, which significantly reduced distress. The student completed the school year and is now focused on participating in meaningful activities and supporting others.” -Counselor

The First Days Back: Building Reconnection

Acknowledge Alliance is honored to start the new school year back on school campuses. During these first days back to school, we are helping school communities and youth development organizations establish a welcoming environment for students to feel fully engaged and reconnected. With the disruptions from COVID-19, schools are seeing a high level of stress and anxiety among many students. Some students will be eager to reconnect and others will need more time to settle in. Returning teachers and students need additional support to build connections to school, to each other, and to the learning process. After experiencing more than a year of isolation, it is especially important to create a sense of belonging and center relationships at the heart of learning.

Most educators feel the pressure to attend to “learning loss” from the pandemic year. Acknowledge Alliance Resilience Consultants are meeting with teachers in K-8 schools to provide any support they need, while also helping them prioritize reconnection in their classrooms. When teachers become better attuned to their own needs, they can meet their students’ needs with more empathy and understanding. We created a resource for teachers with ideas that encourage them to practice self-reflection, focus on the social connection before academic content, make time for regular social emotional learning opportunities, and ask for help. Click here to read this teacher resource.

Beyond the classroom, many students need help processing trauma and grief from the pandemic that has cost lives and livelihoods in families that were already vulnerable. Acknowledge Alliance Psychotherapists are meeting with youth to provide on-site mental health counseling at Sequoia Union High School District high schools, Peninsula Bridge, and Boys & Girls Clubs. To engage students, we continue to show up consistently and dedicate as much time as needed to build trusting relationships. We connect with students through open hearts and open minds without judgment, in order to get to know who they really are as individuals. Only then can the therapeutic process begin to help students manage trauma and create lasting change in their lives.

The transition back to school will bring new challenges, but Acknowledge Alliance will be here to strengthen the resilience of students and educators every step of the way, starting with what matters most: human connection.

Forget-Me-Not 2021 Highlights

Dear Acknowledge Alliance Family,

Thank you to everyone who participated in our annual gala, Forget-Me-Not: Fields of Hope 2021! We are truly grateful for all the meaningful work and dedication our honorees put towards serving our education community. Below, we have compiled the words of our program staff to share with you, why our honorees are so deserving of recognition during such a tumultuous year. We are also proud to share the humble and encouraging words of Sara Shackel and John Haynes II here: https://bit.ly/3bKpLjG. As many of our attendees echoed, we are fortunate to have passionate, caring, and wonderful role models who encourage and support the students, educators, and parents in our community.

Thank you for believing in our mission, for believing in our teachers, and for believing in our youth.

With hope,
Sharon Navarro
Executive Director

Huge Thank You to Our Event Partners

“Blooming Empathy” Diamond Sponsor

Growing Resilience” Gold Sponsor

“Planting Empathy” Silver Sponsor

Announcing Our First Founding Member of the Cleo Eulau Legacy Society

We were deeply touched when community member Linda Keegan informed us that Acknowledge Alliance is in her estate plans. Linda has been an Acknowledge Alliance board member for the past 8 years, and now she will forever be a member of our Cleo Eulau Legacy Society. We are moved by the legacy Linda wants to leave with us. As an Executive Fellow for the Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship, a Leadership Coach for the Center for Excellence in Nonprofits (CEN), as well as through her services to a variety of organizations as a leadership consultant, Linda is committed to making the world a better place. We recently sat down with her to learn more about her charitable activities and motivations for giving.

1. How did you first become involved in Acknowledge Alliance and what attracted you to the cause?
I was introduced to Acknowledge Alliance in 2013 by my colleague, George Clark, and his wife, Susan Williams-Clark, who was the Executive Director at the time. My whole career has been dedicated to teaching leaders how to lead in corporate and nonprofit environments. A huge part of my job involves teaching communication skills to adults. That’s why I was especially fascinated by Acknowledge Alliance’s mission and your social emotional learning curriculum for young students.

2. Why do you think that the organization’s work is important?
I can clearly see the value of students learning social emotional skills, like how to communicate, how to manage feelings, how to work with others, and how to problem-solve. If kids can develop them early on, they can use these resilience tools to navigate life, establish positive relationships, overcome challenges, and make good choices. I also think Acknowledge Alliance is unique in its mental health services to support entire school communities, including teachers and principals.

3. Why did you choose to provide a legacy gift to Acknowledge Alliance?
As a board member, Acknowledge Alliance is the organization I’m most closely affiliated with. I really believe that the work the agency does will make the world a better place. It makes me feel good that I’m making a lasting impact.

4. Would you encourage others to include Acknowledge Alliance in their estate plans?
Absolutely! It is something every responsible adult, regardless of age or means, can attend to now. There are many ways to give that can fulfill one’s charitable wishes and honor loved ones at the same time. A legacy gift will grow indefinitely and help shape our community for years to come. I fully trust that Acknowledge Alliance will thoughtfully carry through the intention of each gift with the highest standards.

5. What do you hope your legacy gift will accomplish?
I would hope that Acknowledge Alliance be replicated in every state in the U.S. and other places in the world...if not in my lifetime, then the next! The students today will be our future leaders. If we can work with more educators and counselors to support their social emotional well-being now and help them build lifelong resilience, they are better equipped for a brighter tomorrow.

Please join community leaders like Linda and become one of the Founding Members of the Cleo Eulau Legacy Society. You’ll receive a certificate of recognition, the opportunity to honor a loved one, and be a part of a shared vision with others who want to invest in the youth of our community. To learn more about planned giving options, please click here or contact Sharon Navarro, Executive Director, at sharon@acknowledgealliance.org.

COVID-19: One Year Later Reflection Questions

Now that we're a year into the coronavirus pandemic, Acknowledge Alliance has put together some reflection questions to help explore feelings about loss, growth, transformation, and hope.

In Solidarity With the Asian American and Pacific Islander Community

Dear Acknowledge Alliance Family,

We are saddened and outraged by the rise in anti-Asian hate crimes that have affected the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community, both locally and nationwide. Since COVID-19 began to spread, many in the AAPI community have been victims of racist comments, bullying, and violent attacks. Acknowledge Alliance stands with the victims of these crimes and their families against anti-Asian violence and racism. We are committed to racial equity in all of our services.

Anti-Asian hate crimes have increased 1900% in New York City in the last year. More than 2,808 anti-Asian violence incidents have been reported across the United States since March 2020, and over 700 of these occurred in the Bay Area. In recent weeks, there have been a slew of violent attacks targeting elderly individuals in our local community. In San Francisco, an 84-year-old Thai man, Vicha Ratanapakdee, was attacked while walking around his neighborhood and died from his injuries. In San Jose, a 64-year-old Vietnamese woman was robbed in broad daylight ahead of Lunar New Year celebrations. Many of the violent crimes towards Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders go unreported and do not make headlines.

Because our values include building healthy school communities, we recognize that systemic racism is the root of many unsafe environments for the students and educators we serve. Close to 82% of Asian youth reported being bullied or harassed in 2020. One way to condemn anti-Asian racism and violence is to amplify the voices of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, and provide room for them to share their experiences. We understand the importance of acknowledging and listening to those who have been marginalized and silenced. We will continue creating safe places for our community’s youth and educators to receive this crucial support through access to our mental health services, social emotional learning, resilience groups, and trauma-informed psychotherapy.

As the author Coshandra Dillard noted in the article, Speaking Up Against Racism Around the New Coronavirus, “The spread of the coronavirus has become racialized, so it’s critical that educators understand the historical context and confront racist tropes and xenophobia from students and colleagues.” Resources to help educators and students have conversations about bias and stereotypes in a welcoming and hate-free environment are included here.

For ways to help the AAPI community fight anti-Asian racism, report hate crimes, and advance justice, please visit: Stop AAPI Hate, Asian Americans Advancing Justice, Asian Law Caucus, API Equality NorCal.

Thank you for your support of Acknowledge Alliance’s work and for your dedication to standing in unity.

Together in community,
Sharon Navarro
Executive Director

Celebrate the Value of Friendships

With Valentine’s Day and Random Acts of Kindness Day around the corner, we’d like to take some time to celebrate and honor the value of friendships. Friendships are important at almost every age, but making friends doesn’t come naturally for everyone. Some children and youth struggle socially and have trouble making and keeping friends. At Acknowledge Alliance, we help students learn how to make friends and be a good friend through our social emotional learning lessons. Learning these skills is a vital part of a student’s social and emotional development that will endure throughout their lives.

Being a good friend is connected to many other social emotional skills, such as communicating effectively, understanding strengths, being able to resolve conflicts, and showing empathy toward others. Students shared:

“Before I participated in social emotional learning, I used to fight with my sister. I used to not like solving with teamwork. I used to barely make any friends.”

“I learned what empathy means. I learned how to be a better friend, and that my friend and I are great friends by being empathetic.”

Empathy is the ability to understand how someone else is feeling and allows others to feel understood and cared for. Empathy helps deepen connections and build lasting relationships. Friends who understand each other are able to give more support during tough times, remind each other of their strengths, and are more equipped to resolve conflicts when they arise.

Friends also help each other build resilience. Healthy friendships can increase our sense of belonging, boost our happiness, reduce stress, gain more confidence, motivate us to achieve our goals, and help us cope with our struggles. Being connected with friends is a way we feel closer to others, which in turn can inspire us to be more kind and help other people outside of our inner circle. Can you think of how your friendships impacted you?

Here are some creative ideas to show appreciation to your friends while being physically distanced, but socially connected:

1. Send someone a handwritten letter or homemade card in the mail. This could turn into a fun pen-pal exchange.
   
   

2. Put artwork in the window so that friends, families, or neighbors can see when they walk or drive by.
   
   

3. Create online hangouts like organized movie nights, virtual sleepovers, trivia games, scavenger hunts, and book clubs.
   
   

4. Host a virtual dinner party and eat “together” by cooking the same dish or having a themed cuisine night.
   
   

5. Write a chain letter story with friends through text, email, or Google Docs - each takes a turn writing one sentence at a time until you have an entire story written.
   
   

6. Draw an encouraging message or something you’re thankful for. Take a picture of it (or a selfie with you and the note) and send it to your friend. Continue the conversation with a call.
   
   

Whichever way you choose to connect and celebrate with your friends, we hope you cherish the quality time together with lots of love and kindness!

Embrace Yourself With Self-Compassion and Kindness

The start of a new year is typically an opportunity to set goals and commit to new resolutions with optimism. Yet last week’s violence at the U.S. Capitol building left many of us feeling uncertain, angry, and sad. We are outraged by the racial disparities and hate symbols that were on display. And at the same time, our work has never been more important. At Acknowledge Alliance, we’re dedicated to lifelong resilience and are committed to meeting the new year with renewal and hope for change. We can all help restore our collective sense of community and our social fabric so that the disturbing events we witnessed last week never happen again. 

We believe that self-reflection is one of the many tools and actions within our control. With all that's going on right now, we want to validate that it’s normal to feel overwhelmed at times, and if you feel unsure about the future, you’re not alone. We’d like to encourage everyone to practice self-compassion - to treat yourself with kindness, the way you would a good friend, when facing a setback or disappointment.

Self-compassion is the ability to respond to and support yourself with understanding, acceptance, and love. Mindfulness can help turn compassion inwards by acknowledging your thoughts and feelings without trying to suppress or deny them. Instead of beating yourself up and engaging in negative self-talk, be gentle and refrain from harsh criticism. The recognition of our shared common humanity, the fact that all people are imperfect and experience pain, serves as a reminder that we’re not alone in this and that life’s challenges are all a part of being human.

When people treat themselves with compassion rather than criticism, they are more likely to experience greater physical and mental health. Research shows that people who are more self-compassionate are happier, less stressed, more confident, and more resilient. Self-compassion has been connected with helping people experience less anxiety, shame, and depression. Practicing self-compassion also leads to more gratitude and better relationships with others.

Self-compassion is an important part of having a strengths-based outlook, which is a core value here at Acknowledge Alliance. Recently we had the opportunity to lead a self-compassion session for Sunnyvale School District educators. We also create a safe space to focus on self-compassion in our Teacher and Principal Resilience Groups. A teacher shared how this helped her grow professionally: “I learned how to be more self-compassionate at work. This has helped me let go and reflect more effectively without getting down on myself. I have noticed myself having more self-confidence, which has allowed me to support my students and my colleagues better.”

What self-compassion practices can you add into regular routines? One self-compassion exercise we ask students to do in Project Resilience, our social emotional learning lessons, is to create a gratitude journal. In addition to writing 3 things you’re grateful for, can you also name a bonus thing you are grateful for about yourself? You can also take a self-compassion break or simply ask yourself, “What do I need right now?” Then, do something simple but nice for yourself like listen to your favorite song, video chat with friends, or go for a walk. Remember that we get stronger when we’re kinder to ourselves, and every day is a new chance to have a fresh start.

Reasons to Smile This Holiday Season

Your compassion and care brought hope to many students and educators in 2020, and helped us find new ways to connect with entire school communities. Some bright spots this year include:

• Teachers and principals had overwhelmingly positive experiences in Resilience Groups. They reported feeling less isolated, and found the groups to be a safe place to process their emotions, share challenges and gain strategies for supporting themselves and students.
  
  

• 91% of teachers reported that Project Resilience, our social emotional learning lessons, helped increase their awareness of students' social and emotional needs.
  
  

• 95% of Collaborative Counseling Program students we served are currently still enrolled in high school, graduated in June, or began college.
  
  

• 100% of youth working with an Acknowledge Alliance Counselor reported that their counselor was someone they could trust to listen to them without judgment.
  
  

Soon after the stay-at-home order was imposed in the spring, our staff created a care package, complete with mindfulness tips and uplifting messages, that continues to be a widely used resource.

The resilience we built together as a community will help us emerge stronger and make the New Year shine brighter.

We'd like to especially thank everyone who made a gift and reached out to us with encouraging messages, too! As a reminder, there is still time to donate before the year ends.

Thank you for supporting Acknowledge Alliance. We wish you good health and happiness, always.