Michigan Virtual - Michigan Cares program - Free Resources
During times of crisis, children need extra support to process their emotions. Beyond academic resources, one of the most challenging areas for many educators supporting students remotely is emotional and mental health.
Our newly launched Michigan Cares program offers educators and Michigan families — children, teachers, and parents alike — free digital lessons focused on developing social, emotional, and mental well-being skills, which have become especially important in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis.
The lessons included in our Michigan Cares program cover a variety of topics that help children in grades K-12 learn how to:
- Understand and manage their emotions
- Set and achieve positive goals
- Feel and show empathy for others
- Establish and maintain positive relationships
- Make responsible decisions
- Recognize signs of poor mental health in themselves and others
- Develop healthy coping techniques
Please share this resource with parents in your school community to help them support their children through this difficult time. Each student lesson is accompanied by a parent lesson that offers tips that will help them have smart conversations with their children on these tricky topics.
Educators can also benefit from this portal, which contains lessons specifically designed for school staff. In addition, school staff can view all lessons available to both parents and students to help facilitate the social emotional learning process among families.
This resource may be helpful for you to include in your school's Learning Continuity Plan (even if you've already submitted it!) as this portal may help you address the “whole child” and offer SEL support to your students during this period of remote instruction.
The Michigan Cares program will be freely available to parents, students, and educators in Michigan until the end of the 20-21 school year to provide continued emotional and mental support to students as we all recover from this crisis together.
For educators, another resource you might explore is our series of FREE professional development courses on social emotional learning created in partnership with MDE.
For school administrators, there is also a paid version of this SEL program, which offers robust reporting options for schools and districts as well as resources for setting up in-school suspension programs rooted in restorative practices.
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