Back to School Tips with School Psychologists Reena Rabovksy & Dr. Susan London

Dear Parents, 

In just a few days we will be welcoming your children back to school. While there is certainly excitement for our children to reunite with their peers either physically or virtually, we are sure that this is also a time of great unease.  We recognize that the last six months have been completely unprecedented and have added new levels of stress and strain on our families.  Some of our children have adapted with ease, others have shown greater difficulty, and some have vacillated between these two extremes.  As we continue through this period of unknown and unpredictability, we hope that your children will continue to build their resilience and adapt to our ever changing environments.  We also hope you find comfort in knowing that your children's social emotional needs will be the main focus of our time and attention this year. 

With that in mind, we believe that our focus on social emotional learning will be vital.  We plan to provide a program for our students that meets the zeitgeist of our times, covering some of the following topics: coping and stress management through mindfulness, emotional regulation, anxiety and anxiety reduction, executive functioning, and grit and perseverance. As always, we will continue to meet with students for counseling and emotional support, whether we are in school or learning remotely from home.

In order to help support your needs, we have created a website and welcome back video with useful information to help you at home and to support your children’s  transition back to school. Parent feedback is always welcome, so please let us know if there is anything that we can do to help or if there is anything you would like us to offer this year.  We have also created a survey to help us gauge the social emotional needs of our students. Please complete the survey here. While we still have many unknowns for this upcoming year, we are committed to remaining constants in your children's lives throughout this experience and we eagerly await their arrival at school. 

Sending our virtual best wishes, 

Mrs. Reena Rabovsky (Elementary)  and Dr. Susie London (Middle and High School)
Hebrew Academy School Psychologists