HG Behavioral Health Mission Statement

The Mission of the Higher Ground Strong Behavior Project is to provide students, their families and the adults that work with them access to the tools and skills needed to assist in their academic success and ability to become well-adjusted and successful people.

Higher Ground comprehensive day time services work alongside teachers, parents, schools, and the professionals who serve them providing services that increase a child’s ability to remain on task in the classroom, equips teachers to manage behavior, and increases the capacities of the adults who work with children.Mr. Mr. Dyer (aka "Coach Dyer") and the students in his boys behavioral health group having a "teamwork" moment at the end of session!

Higher Ground provides In-Class Support 

In class support as a targeted intervention in the classroom and school setting helps students remain on task in class during some of the most important academic times of the day.  Constant monitoring and regulation of participant behavior is standard operating procedure and serves as an effective tool for maintaining appropriate behaviors.  While working alongside classroom teachers capturing teachable moments, In class support services provides schools and teachers with intervention mentors that model and coach teachers and students increasing opportunities to reach every child.   
Mr. Dyer (aka "Coach Dyer") and the boys holding a behavioral health session.

Higher Ground provide individual, small, and large group tutorial services.  

Our services help students whose social/emotional learning challenges are getting in the way of being fully engaged in their regular education classes and for children whose habitual school failure is triggering to larger behaviors.   Small group social/emotional learning communities build the skills needed to bounce back from negative emotions.  Teaching children to be resilient is the learning target embedded in every lesson.  We also work with children through our after-school programs and Saturday programming.  In this environment, we can assist with their social/emotional learning and support children while they are learning new material. 

Yard support is another modality that supports schools, children, and teachers.  We increase opportunities for children to experience more success than failure when functioning in low structured time frames like recess, assemblies, and out of the classroom learning experiences.  Often times the loose nature of these activities cause problems for children whose choices make them vulnerable.  Yard support also increases opportunities for enhanced physical fitness and cooperative gaming that teaches children responsible play.  Providing support and alternative nontraditional fitness activities help children problem solve, make friends, and learn the spirit of team work.   Higher Ground teaches appropriate vocabulary to communicate effectively when children are trying to get their needs met in the moment.  This area of support is a major part of the scaffolding we provide to our youth and the adults who serve, plan and prepare for students who need additional social/emotional ques.  Children receiving yard support, voice that HG support helps them stay strong and in control when they are feeling weak and out of control.  Parents report noticing an increase in empathy and communication when problems arise in the home among peers and siblings.

Higher Ground provides school based group counseling designed to teach strong behavior practices while building comrodary and solidarity among participants and families. 

The purpose of this modality is to teach the children how to effectively work and communicate in a group.  Working on themes of respectful communication, problem solving, anger management, social competence through working on peer conflict, building healthy friendships, and self-esteem contribute to students’ successful sojourn in middle school.  Group counseling services also introduce and train students how to recognize, cope with, and overcome behavioral challenges that stand in the way of optimal success in the school, home, and community settings.  We believe that our program can help impact School Phobia’s experienced by children. 

Parent Correspondence is very important in maintaining the behavioral strides the project makes with children at school.  We create opportunities through weekend and non-school related activities that provide HG team members with additional opportunities to talk to parents and learn more about the children and family needs outside of school.  Communicating with parents around enrollment in the Higher Ground projects and their desired outcomes for their children’s. The process we all must engage to maintain and consistently eliciting the behaviors we want to see takes team work.  We work closely with families advising them on the severity or non-severity of behaviors when deciding consequence that are strength based and we make suggestions when needed to help parent assist in the successful attainment of social/emotional learning targets.   We assist the school in making sure that Strong Behavior parents are consistently aware to the strides and positive behavior outcomes their child is experiencing throughout the school day.  Parent’s often comment on how much they love hearing the positive things their children are doing. 

Developmental Workshops are our final modality.  It works with concepts of restorative justice for children and replaces out of school suspensions as the only method of behavior modification.  Higher Ground uses this behavioral intervention to provoke reflection and to help children figure out ways they can elicit and reinforce their own appropriate behaviors.  Developmental workshops act as a n consequence for inappropriate behaviors by taking away the student’s free time and engaging them in restorative conversations and practices.  This project takes place during school hours on the school site.  The placement of children in this closely monitored modality limits their freedom to make decisions about their free time and encourages higher order thinking.  This project is intended to be a time for children to discuss why they are getting stuck in re-occurring behaviors to understand and recognize stopping points and how to have their behaviors be understood by their peers and the adults around them.  Receiving help from caring adults that have healthy social/emotional ques to assist children in the moment is the outcome of developmental workshops. 

"I truly believe that HG brings a lot to the Oakland Community and hope that this continues. We are so in need of organizations like yours  that are willing to help students learn and grow."

- Michelle Cox Grant, M.Ed.

Principal, East Oakland PRIDE Elementary School

Mrs. Anderson (Third grade teacher) Allendale Elementary 

"Higher Ground provides me with strategies for success in managing the identified behaviors. It helps me identify what we can do to address the challenges in real ways that work, and the behavior plans have reachable goals with easy strategies for the teachers to manage the behavioral progress. Higher Ground intervention mentors also provide the teacher with the needed support that is required when dealing with hard to handle children. They are there for us as humans not just as teachers.”

-Ms. Anderson

Ms. Salcedo (third grade Teacher) Allendale Elementary 

“…they [higher ground staff] help the kids build pride in themselves and in their work. The children become proud of the work they produce after working with Higher Ground programs.” 
-Ms. Salcedo