self care lab I Young Audiences of Houston

self care lab

The Young Audiences of Houston Self Care Lab is a transformative Healing Arts program on campus where students are involved in creating and transforming a physical space into a haven for Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) programs. The Self Care Lab is an inclusive space where students and staff experience Healing Arts with YAH Teaching Artists through mediation, sensory activities, group discussion, self-exploration, writing and reflection, poetry, visual art, music, movement, and other restorative practices. Class goals are curated through a collaboration with campus support staff and YAH Programs Team. The Self Care Lab provides each campus with a long-term residency in the form of a dedicated physical space where students are either sent by referral or attend during or after school in collaboration with campus teachers and YAH Teaching Artists year-round. Workshops and Residencies are aligned with TEKS through YAH's SEL Curriculum.

The ability to manage emotions and establish and maintain positive relationships with others is an integral part of a student’s development process and impacts their school performance. Involvement in the arts has been correlated to positive effects on students’ social and emotional skills. Arts processes provide students with an alternate channel for experiencing, expressing, and managing emotions and relationships. The five competencies of social-emotional learning (self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship management, and responsible decision-making) are a natural part of creating, collaborating, revising, and performing in the arts. Young Audiences’ artists are experienced in utilizing artistic processes to practice and hone students’ SEL skills in non-threatening and engaging ways. These experiences can be tied to curricular content or focus solely on the five competencies.