Lawrence Middle School launches safe space

Lawrence Middle School’s new safe space — the Social Emotional Learning Headquarters — was just an idea last year, but is now taking off, helping students through middle school and pre-teen difficulties.

Returning to school during Covid, Lawrence School District psychologist Karen Mackler noticed that many students had a difficult time acclimating socially compared to past school years. 

“A lot of the kids have missed out on socialization with peers,” she said, noting the social distancing during Covid. “So we were finding that there were kids who were skittish about eating in the cafeteria, you know, kind of finding their place with a social peer group.”

Lian Lisnoff, an intern in the middle school's psychology program since September thought of creating a safe space within the school to address the student anxiety. 

“This was a place where it wasn't something that was demanding of our students,” Lisnoff said, describing the initial idea. “It was still a structured space where they can learn skills, but in a more relaxed setting.”

Lisnoff pitched the idea to Mackler, who approved, and Lisnoff brought two other psychology interns — Isaac Thkifati and Danielle Tesoriero — on board to refine the idea and write a proposal.

The proposal was based upon a room in the school already used for students with socialization difficulties to eat lunch or take a break.

“Typically students that frequent this room are students that have severe anxiety and do not really feel comfortable in large groups,” Lisnoff said. “Here, they have more quiet space where they can make bonds and relationships with others who are similar to them.”

In early November, “We decided to do a DonorsChoose and ask for donations to kind of get more things in the room to make it feel homey and clubby,” so that even more students would use it to wind down, Mackler said. Many parents donated to create the safe space.

"To have a place where they can go and chill, because there's so much stress right now,” Mackler said, “not only with the pandemic, but also just middle school age has traditionally been anxiety [prone].” 

By late November, the project for the safe space was approved and by the following month, it was fully funded with $999 in donations, which bought ceiling panels that look like the sky, window decals of positive affirmations, bean bag chairs, yoga mats, games, fidgets, craft materials and more for the safe space, which is currently “taking off,” Mackler said.

Students can use the safe space during lunch or during times of stress to decompress, listen in on a specially programmed lesson, interact with fewer people or catch up on work. They can also work with clinical support staff to reinforce pro-social skills. “It's become a really nice part of our middle school where kids feel safe,” Mackler said. 

The room’s upgrade to a SEL HQ has been a smart and helpful investment since it was implemented. “We had kids who came at the beginning of the year who no longer come because they feel safe and secure and they've made some friends,” Mackler said. Other students still come because they enjoy it, whether they are inherently introverted or just need a place to relax. 

Lisnoff also saw major improvement in some students, which she credits to the SEL lessons taught in the room. “Some of our students prior to joining would not speak up at all because they're coming out of the pandemic,” she said. 

“I believe that part of their growth is due to the SEL room — they started to feel more comfortable, they started to speak out and build resilience. I think that it’s helped them make connections to feel comfortable again — or feel comfortable for the first time,” Lisnoff added

Middle school psychologist Michael Amorgianos thinks that implementing social and emotional learning was much needed, and has helped the students find an alternative place to socialize, find support, create positive relationships and cope with the stress of re-adapting to in-person school.

“We see it becoming more inclusive and we see that there's a lot more tolerance and more discussions being had in those rooms, in those settings, that are unable to be had in the lunchroom,” he said, crediting the interns with creating the safe space. “I don't know how we would have supported the students, especially during this time with the transition back to school. ”