Life of a Fellow: Al-Tiyanah
Al-Tiyanah is an aspiring social worker who has long since worked with underserved youth, particularly in the nonprofit sector. This year, she brings to the Penn Treaty Plus Center her experience and commitment to community and social services. Despite the present circumstances, she’s remained steadfast in her role as a 12+ Fellow for her students, going above and beyond to provide ongoing support, and we couldn’t be more inspired!
41 days. 41 days since I last stepped foot inside the Plus Center. First day of April, I recall getting an email from our social media coordinator, reminding me about it being my turn on the Fellows Blog Post. I have spent much of the month trying to figure out what I should write about. It has been a struggle. I am truly at a loss for words. Every time I try to brainstorm a few ideas, recall snippets of conversations I have had with students, coworkers and other HQ members, my brain feels foggy. I know I am probably not alone in this feeling. We are all trying to make sense of our new reality.
“Now more than ever, students need to see consistency and feel supported.”
Now more than ever, students need to see consistency and feel supported. Their routines have been disrupted and the support systems they developed at school and within the Plus Center have disappeared. Understand how challenging this transition must be for them. As a counselor, I have had to adjust my own expectations and be more thoughtful in how I communicate to students. One Tuesday morning, I spent time texting every student on my caseload; for those whose numbers weren’t on file, I reached out to their guardians to forward my messages to the student. I was met with 8 immediate responses! That might be a low number to some, but I was overcome with joy. All you can do is try your best and hope the message gets to the students. You may not have much to show for it, but students will find their way to you when they need help. Be patient. My Penn Treaty team has found other ways to get creative by creating an Instagram account. We are fortunate to be a part of a school where students and their families engage with the school’s social media handles. It is not ideal but showing students that we are willing to meet them at their level will go a long way.
The way we interact and communicate with students will look a lot different from pre-COVID19. Understandably so given how people react differently when they feel stressed and scared - some are more vocal about needing help; others retreat inside themselves. The only thing we can do at the moment is to remain available, let them know you are still there for them. One of my students reached out to me and said “I’m sorry I didn’t respond to your emails. My email is just full of work my teachers are assigning. Yes I do still need help thank you so much for reaching out to me”. Students are probably feeling quite overwhelmed. Not only do we have to practice social distancing in a physical sense, but also in a virtual sense. To be consistent does not mean to bombard students with messages. We have to be strategic and do it in a way that we are getting information out to them effectively. Is an email blast the best way to send out scholarship links or will an Instagram post that can be shared across the school’s social media accounts be better? Do I need to message a student 3x a week or can I schedule one day out of the week to reach out to all students who I have not already been in touch with consistently? We have found ourselves in an unprecedented situation and to expect everyone, let alone kids, to know how to deal and respond to this is quite unreasonable. Lower your expectations. Understand that students and their families have other responsibilities besides school stuff like taking care of sick family, their own health and making sure they have enough supplies to get by. We have to figure out other ways to make ourselves useful to our students and school communities.
Be kind to yourself. Stay safe.
