The Victoria Independent School District is proud to be partnering with the Gulf Bend Center on “Bend the Trend,” a school-based mental health community collaborative. This program strives to identify and provide early intervention mental health services for students who attend Torres Elementary at no cost to families.
Bend the Trend is a proactive approach that provides early intervention and support to students who show signs of social and emotional needs. If these needs are not met at an early age, children can develop unhealthy coping habits that often impact their learning and their ability to function in society. By proactively identifying these students and building a continuum of support around the student and their families, our goal is to empower students with healthy coping mechanisms that will lead to students finding their genius.
The Gulf Bend Center currently provides mental health services to students in VISD schools to help improve their quality of life. This partnership with VISD for Bend the Trend is an innovative next step to supporting and helping to meet the needs of our students, families, and schools.
We believe that collaboration between community resources is vital to the success of the people in our community.
Bend the Trend will be available to students and families at Torres Elementary when they return from Winter Break beginning January 4, 2023. At Torres, Bend the Trend will aim to increase mental health services to students and create a partnership between the school, family, and community to encourage student success in life.
Torres Elementary serves approximately 400 students in grades PK-5. Torres has long been a pioneer in championing restorative practices, where students are engaged in conflict resolution and community building with a focus on teaching students how to repair the harm their actions may have caused.
Restorative practices are about learning how to deal with situations in a way that all parties are honored. Torres staff has learned how traumatic stress impacts the needs of students to understand the why behind student behavior and how to better support students. A trauma-sensitive focus on education fosters a school climate where students feel safe and confident in their ability to learn, can differentiate between trauma-induced behavior and appropriate behavior, and connect with adults and peers in a positive manner.
The Torres core beliefs:
We believe that every attempt should be made to maintain the dignity of both the adult and the student.
We believe that students should be guided and expected to solve the problems they create without making problems for anyone else.
We believe that students should be given the opportunity to make decisions and live with the results, whether the consequences are good or bad.
We believe that students should have the opportunity to tell their side of the story (due process hearing) when consequences appear unfair.
We believe that misbehavior should be viewed as an opportunity for individual problem-solving and preparation for the real world, as opposed to a personal attack on the school or staff.
We believe it is best if a student does most of the thinking.
We believe there should be a logical connection between misbehavior and resulting consequences.
Bend the Trend is a pilot program between VISD and Gulf Bend Center. The goal of the pilot is to develop possible future sites for the program in other VISD schools in partnership with Gulf Bend Center.
Parents of Torres Elementary students interested to learn more or take advantage of the Bend the Trend program may contact Social Emotional Behavioral Specialist (SEBS) Brandy Garcia at brandy.garcia@visd.net and/or Counselor Kayla Henery at kayla.henery@visd.net.
Cindy Salinas is the Multi-Tiered System of Support Coordinator for Victoria ISD.