Psychosocial Skills

What is Psychosocial Skills Training?

The reality is that educators have been teaching and reinforcing psychosocial skills for centuries. It is how they have always managed and maintained order in their classroom stay in line – raise your hand – do your own work – be on time – be respectful.

In recent years, many schools and school districts have begun to explore and implement very basic social-emotional learning (SEL) programs as a means of addressing more than just the academic needs of their students. Public policy and research organizations have repeatedly validated the benefits of quality programs. But Leaps is different. We go beyond the basic social skills that are covered by most programs.  Leaps was developed and tested in a clinical setting, providing lesson plans and assessments to measure each student’s strengths and where there is room for improvement. 

Every educator desires to see their students succeed in life. Sure, they want them to learn to read and write, to understand math, and ultimately to graduate. But more than that, educators want to see their students go on and complete whatever advanced education they decide to pursue, get a quality job, get and keep a home, and have friendships that last a lifetime.

To most educators and parents, it is more than reasonable to conclude that children and adolescents who have strong psychosocial skills will perform better in school, will have healthy relationships with both adults and peers and will be emotionally strong and healthy.

This is not about teaching values or character. These are basic life skills that we all need to make friends and keep them. To find a job and keep it. To have a life that is meaningful and productive.

The development of these skills begins at an early age and continues throughout childhood and into adolescence and even adulthood. They are influenced by their home environment, their relationships, and their social circles. Schools provide a major component of a child’s social and emotional development whether that is intentional or by default.

Leaps was developed using more than 25 years of research and real world application in both mental health and education as a foundation. We take the broad concepts of social and emotional wellbeing, as well as good mental health and bring a practical implementation of psychosocial skills development to the table with very specific, easily identifiable skills.