Partnering with Schools to Improve Student Wellness
Partnering with Schools to Improve Student Wellness
Live Well Schools, an initiative of the County's Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA), is an integral part of Live Well San Diego, the County’s dynamic vision to create a healthy, safe, and thriving region. Live Well San Diego builds collective impact by partnering with organizations that support its core strategic approaches. Schools and school districts are key partners in creating healthy environments for children to learn, grow, and reach their full potential.
A key strategy of Live Well Schools is to build and strengthen relationships between schools, districts, HHSA staff, and community partners. Progess in building more trusting relationships allowed all parties to more quickly and effectively react to the many challenges presented by school disruptions due to COVID-19, and find practical solutions together.
Moving forward, these connections can help us address health disparities and move us closer to the goal of health equity for all children in San Diego County.
Live Well Schools frames its work with a recognition that children’s health behaviors are influenced by the choices and opportunities available in the places where they spend most of their time: home, neighborhood, and school.
Live Well Schools developed the Tools for Schools toolkit to highlight innovative and effective ways for school policymakers and other key stakeholders to meet the unique health and wellness needs of every student.
Tools for Schools is now online and provides a wider
array of resources based on a broader definition of wellness that
includes health equity and a focus on addressing health
disparities.
The
Tools for Schools searchable database was created at the
request of schools to make it easier to find the local, and locally
used, resources that have been identified as most effective.
Watch a short overview of the Live Well Schools website with the searchable Tools for Schools resource database:
Live Well Schools centers its analysis on three key areas, gathering data and sharing results with school districts:
Beginning in 2016, Live Well Schools has partnered with the San Diego County Office of Education to present the Summit on Student Engagement and Attendance, now an integral part of Live Well San Diego’s annual Live Well Advance.
This event is an opportunity to make connections with County and community resources and learn about best practices to address many of the root causes of absenteeism.
SDCOE and LIve Well Schools continue to collaborate on ways to support healthy school environments and provide resources to schools and districts.
Kids cannot change their environments, so it is incumbent upon academic leaders to create settings where kids can eat nutritious food, be active, and learn lifelong healthy habits. Strong partnerships, such as those being forged through the work of Live Well Schools, are key to helping children thrive.
