Health, Wellness, and Prevention

We empower schools with resources to improve the well-being of students and staff. By fostering a supportive community of peers and mentors, we equip learning communities with tools to help students thrive in the classroom and beyond.

Bullying Prevention

Program Lead | Olivia Bachicha

GSN supports schools in addressing bullying holistically. We collaborate with communities to improve social-emotional learning competencies such as communication, self-management, relationship skills, and social awareness.

We follow these research-based practices:

Creating Healthy Schools

Program Lead | CJ Roberts

Generation Schools Network (GSN) works alongside districts to promote healthy behaviors in schools. Using the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) Model, our coaches involve all stakeholders in improving student health & wellness.

Together with school staff, students, and community members, we examine how each of the factors below impacts student wellbeing:

  • Physical activity

  • Nutrition

  • Student and staff wellness

  • Health education & services

  • Social-emotional climate 

  • Student behavioral health needs

  • Family engagement

Dropout Prevention

Program Lead | Anna Hogberg and Donna Trujillo

GSN supports student re-engagement by providing academic and behavioral support to families. This program improves educational experiences for students that experience high mobility, including children in out-of-home care, homeless/unaccompanied youth, and migrant students.

Using personalized case management, GSN breaks down barriers for students at-risk by:

  • Standardizing a system for academic and behavioral supports

  • Providing social-emotional learning (SEL) in small groups 

  • Acting as a liaison between schools, communities, and families 

  • Creating personalized learning solutions for students at-risk

Restorative Practices

Program Lead | Zac Hess

Our Restorative Practices (RP) programming offers customizable professional development, consultation, and coaching/mentoring to meet your school or district’s specific goals and needs.

Our RP Program has three main outcomes:

  • Conflict Resolution

  • Policy Development

  • Reduced Disciplinary Actions (ex: office referrals, suspensions, and expulsions)

Social-Emotional Learning Curriculum and Programming

Program Lead | CJ Roberts

Empowering Education (EE) is GSN's social-emotional learning curriculum for building happy, mindful and successful schools. This EE curriculum, alongside GSN's Advocacy Program, provides a wide range of interventions guided by GSN’s five goals of Advocacy:

  • Build relationships

  • Support academic success

  • Overcome barriers

  • Develop essential life skills 

  • Plan for college and career 

Our SEL programming has been reviewed in an academic peer review journal showing the effectiveness of our curriculum, implementation support, and teacher trainings!

Substance Use Prevention

Program Lead | Steve Martinez

GSN utilizes best practices for substance use prevention and youth empowerment to support schools and communities with youth substance misuse prevention. Our prevention specialists, led by program director Steve Martinez, utilize evidence-based prevention practices to effectively provide support to communities addressing youth substance use. We utilize a shared risk and protective factor (SRPF) approach, acknowledging that risk and protective factors are interconnected, and have a number of impacts on youth populations. SRPF occurs at a range of levels from individual to societal and influences many health and quality-of-life outcomes.

Through partnerships with Drug Free Communities (DFC) Support Program and Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), our work and commitment to empowering local communities is ongoing.

When you’re ready, we can support your school or community with:

  • Student-Led Summits

  • Substance Use Prevention

  • Community Mobilization

  • Strategic and Sustainability Planning

  • Program Development

  • Positive Youth Development

  • Professional Development

  • Grant Applications

Tribal Partnerships

Program Lead | Stacy Smith-Ledford

GSN, in partnership with Cherokee Central Schools (CCS) and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, has been selected as one of 21 recipients of the Garrett Lee Smith (GLS) grant.

This five-year grant will fund the implementation, resources, and support needed to reduce youth suicide rates within the Cherokee community. GSN will serve as the primary lead on all projects, working closely with CCS and engaging cultural experts to ensure that every program is culturally accurate and aligned with the 7 Cherokee Core Values.

Are you interested in partnering with GSN in this area of work? GSN is looking to collaborate with tribal schools, districts, and communities around:

  • Health and Wellness Initiatives

  • Restorative Practices

  • Suicide Prevention

Contact our Program Lead to learn more!

Your Team

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