Emotional Experiences of Middle School Students During COVID: An Interactive Focus Group

Overview: In this workshop, social work students interested in child and adolescent mental health with prior teaching experience will lead participants in a focus group activity that can be used as an intervention to help youth process their emotions surrounding COVID-19 and begin to heal from the trauma of the pandemic.Proposal text: Many middle school students struggled emotionally when schools shuttered due to COVID-19. Social distancing and virtual school increased feelings of loneliness and isolation for many middle school students (Fegert et al., 2020). When students returned to in-person instruction, school social workers and teachers noted a pandemic of another variety–a substantial increase in symptoms of anxiety, depression, and suicide ideation in their students, impacting friendships and academics (Fegert et al., 2020; Kapetanovic et al., 2021; Lee et al., 2020; Sillman Cohen et al., 2020; Vestal, 2021). This problem is not unique to students in the United States (O’Sullivan et al., 2021; Ravens-Sieberer et al., 2020). Researchers have found that this is affecting students globally (O’Sullivan et al., 2021; Ravens-Sieberer et al., 2020). Surveys and interviews with youth from Asia, Europe, and North America report an increase in anxiety and depression compared to pre-pandemic levels (O’Sullivan et al., 2021; Ravens-Sieberer et al., 2020).

Led by two social work students who previously taught in schools, this workshop will engage participants in an interactive focus group that explores strategies for creating emotionally authentic spaces for middle school students to process both the personal and collective trauma of COVID-19 as a way to increase both social-emotional and academic learning.

The ongoing toxic stress of the pandemic has significantly impacted the mental health of youth (Center on the Developing Child: Harvard University (CDCHU), (n.d.); Fegert et al., 2020). Toxic stress often leads to an individual operating out of their survival state as a means of ensuring safety (Conscious Discipline, n.d.). Prolonged periods of toxic stress rewires the brain, impacting one’s cognition, learning, and ability to regulate their emotions (CDCHU, n.d.; Damico et al., 2022; Fegert et al., 2020).

Given the ongoing pandemic and the impact on students’ mental health needs, social work educators have a responsibility to consider what paradigms may be employed to address these mental health needs (Vestal, 2021). This presentation will offer opportunities for participants to think critically about how to engage students in safe, emotionally authentic spaces. Participants will discuss the importance of resiliency and build a capacity to help students process trauma (Conscious Discipline, n.d.).

One way to address these problems is to provide a safe space for middle school students to unpack and acknowledge their emotions with their peers (Reese et al., 2021). Teachers, social workers, guidance counselors, and administrators should provide such safe spaces for students to share openly and work collectively to persevere through the challenges of COVID-19 (Marques et al., 2021).

This workshop will model how social workers can create safe spaces for middle school students to process their emotions. Presenters will facilitate an interactive focus-group where participants will share and respond to common COVID scenarios as a way to facilitate student processing of collective COVID-19 trauma. Participants will reflect on how to guide students through these emotions. This workshop will prepare participants to create safer and more authentic school environments that promote resiliency through pandemic experiences.