Social Emotional Competencies- Essential Components to Mental Health and Wellbeing
The 5 Social Emotional Competencies-How we can support their development through group therapy.
The CASEL (Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning) social emotional competencies are a set of skills and abilities that are essential for children's social, emotional, and academic development. These competencies include:
Self-awareness: The ability to recognize and understand one's own emotions, thoughts, and values.
Self-management: The ability to regulate one's own emotions, behaviors, and thoughts in order to achieve personal and academic goals.
Social awareness: The ability to understand the perspectives and emotions of others, and to show empathy and concern for others.
Relationship skills: The ability to establish and maintain positive relationships with others, including communication, cooperation, and conflict resolution.
Responsible decision-making: The ability to make responsible and ethical decisions, considering the consequences of one's actions on oneself and others.
Developing these competencies can help neurodivergent children succeed in school and in their personal relationships, and can also contribute to improved mental health and well-being. Therapeutic support can help neurodivergent children develop these competencies by providing a safe and structured environment for them to practice and learn new skills. This can include activities such as role-playing, problem-solving exercises, and emotional regulation strategies.
To support the development of these competencies, Therapywell is offering groups for children and young people. Group therapy can be an effective way to support children's social and emotional development by providing a safe and supportive environment for them to explore their thoughts and feelings and to practice social skills. Some potential benefits of group therapy for children include:
Developing social skills: Group therapy provides an opportunity for children to interact with their peers and practice social skills such as communication, cooperation, and problem-solving.
Building self-esteem: Group therapy can help children develop a sense of self-worth and confidence by providing a supportive and accepting environment where they can express themselves and feel accepted.
Improving emotional regulation: Group therapy can help children learn to identify and manage their emotions in healthy ways, as well as cope with difficult emotions such as anger, sadness, and anxiety.
Reducing feelings of isolation: Group therapy can help children feel less alone and isolated by providing a sense of community and connection with others who may be facing similar challenges.
Enhancing problem-solving skills: Group therapy provides an opportunity for children to brainstorm and problem-solve with their peers and to learn from one another's experiences and insights.
Excitingly, our Director and Speech and Language Pathologist, Kym Robinson, is the only Social Thinking, professionally Endorsed Clinically Trainee in Queesnland and one of only 13 in Australia! Kym will be facilitating our groups along with other clinicians and therapy assistants from Therapywell.
Michelle Garcia Winner is a speech-language pathologist and the founder of Social Thinking, a model for teaching social skills and perspective taking to individuals with social cognitive challenges. The benefits of Social Thinking interventions for children are intertwined with those of effective group therapy and may include:
Improved social skills: Social Thinking interventions aim to teach children the skills they need to navigate social interactions and relationships, such as how to initiate and maintain conversations, take turns in conversation, and understand and respond to the thoughts and feelings of others.
Enhanced perspective taking: Social Thinking interventions focus on helping children develop the ability to take the perspective of others and understand how their own actions and behaviors can affect others.
Improved communication skills: Social Thinking interventions can help children develop their language and communication skills by teaching them how to express themselves effectively and understand the social context of communication.
Increased self-awareness: Social Thinking interventions can help children become more aware of their own thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, as well as how they are perceived by others.
Enhanced social-emotional learning: Social Thinking interventions can support children's overall social-emotional development by helping them learn to recognize and manage their emotions and to build positive relationships with other people.