EVERYWHERE THERE ARE CHILDREN — Most of us have heard of IQ, which stands for “Intelligence Quotient.” It’s a number that represents someone’s reasoning ability and problem solving skills, compared to an average standard. We often think of people with a high IQ to be very smart, very intelligent.

While those with higher IQs might be the engineers, innovators and inventors of the world, it’s not actually the IQ that determines good leadership, mental health, job performance or the quality of someone’s life and relationships. Rather, said Pearl Zayas, a certified advanced life-skills coach, the common denominator determining the success rate and health in these areas has been the level of emotional intelligence someone possesses, measured by the EQ, or “Emotional Quotient.” (Learn more about EQ in “So what is emotional intelligence?,” at the bottom of this page.)

The beautiful thing about life, observers and philosophers say, is how much progress humans continue to make in advancing our understanding of the human experience, systems and reactions, including the impact improved connection to, and regulation of, emotions can have on one’s general well-being.

And the beautiful thing about Sullivan County is how dedicated so many people are to help create healthier generations by teaching these concepts in schools in different ways.

When kids learn healthier ways of living

When Liberty Middle School implemented the theme “Building a Culture of Health,” Jill Parks, the librarian at Liberty Middle School, and Rachel McLean-Rieber, a Liberty English teacher, created the Healthy Habits Club.

Parks and McLean-Rieber are co-advisors for Sullivan 180’s Empowering a Healthier Generation program, meant to help educate and empower youth to make healthier, more sustainable choices. Sullivan 180, a community-health nonprofit, offers grant funding and other support to school advisors who have identified wellness needs through applied grant proposals.

Given the idea that small changes can have ripple effects, the Healthy Habits Club is a way to help interested students practice healthier life habits, increase movement and exercise, better understand mental health, learn how to make healthier food with easy recipes and more.

Zayas was asked to host the first workshop for a new Healthy Habits wellness series, which offers even more strategies through workshops taught by guest speakers. “It was such an honor,” she said.

Zayas’ workshop was spent teaching the students about emotional intelligence, and ultimately how to identify and process their feelings and emotions “like we do food,” she said. “Ingesting it, processing it and then eliminating it and releasing what’s left. If we’re not processing our emotions, then we’re not taking in all the lessons, growth and nutrients from them. The good stuff.”

And in turn, we’re also holding onto all the “bad” stuff. That needs to change.

Transformation happens

In 2022, the principal of Fallsburg Junior/Senior High School connected with Bethel Woods Center for the Arts’ program Bethel Woods on Main, to see if there was a way to better support the school’s in-school-suspension (ISS) students in their mental health and overall well-being.

Bethel Woods on Main holds creative arts classes and workshops in schools and for other organizations.

“The principal and other Fallsburg administrators wanted to be proactive in not only addressing the behaviors that lead to student suspensions, but preventing them in the future,” said Candace Rivela, the senior program manager and lead teaching artist at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts. “[The principal] wondered if art therapy would be a beneficial integration, with the hope that interventions like this will help guide at-risk students toward a path of success.”

Rivela is also a licensed, board-certified arts therapist, and she designed the curriculum, which incorporates art therapy with dialectical behavioral therapy, or DBT, for 90 minutes twice a week.

“DBT is a kind of talk therapy that teaches core mindfulness skills and strategies to reduce stress and regulate intense emotions, something many young people struggle with,” said Rivela. “The activities I selected—a combination of simple breathing techniques and expressive arts activities—aim to help students gain insight into their emotional triggers and empower them to take control of their minds and bodies in those moments.”

Both the Bethel Woods on Main ISS program and the Healthy Habits emotional intelligence workshop aim to help empower students to find ways to modify maladaptive behaviors, express themselves effectively without reacting or blaming, “and to walk away with at least one tool to help them ride the waves of emotion,” said Rivela.

“My goal is to help them know they’re in the driver’s seat,” Zayas said. “Taking responsibility means to respond with ability in knowing their feelings are OK and valid. ‘OK, I’m feeling this way. What is that telling me? After I process these feelings, where do I want to go with them?’ And really take ownership, taking their feelings into their own hands and moving forward with them instead of being held back by them and feeling stuck.”

Because they have power

Children and students might not realize when they’re giving their power away—or that they have any at all—and can often be left feeling like helpless victims. But these in-school emotional intelligence programs help students know that they have the power within them to make different choices. When applied across a lifetime, the impact is huge.

“Middle school is right around when puberty hits, when hormones are starting up, all of these emotions start coming out,” Zayas said. “They don’t know what to do with the emotions or how to process them, and it tends to be where the most bullying happens, so getting them at this age helps smooth the process into puberty.”

“At Bethel Woods, we believe that art has the power to heal individuals and communities,” Rivela added. “Adolescents and teens—especially those who have had adverse childhood experiences and trauma—are especially in need of healing but are not typically eager to talk about their feelings. The process-oriented and symbolic nature of art creates access to difficult thoughts and feelings that might otherwise go unexpressed. I am continually amazed by the depth of artistic expression we’re seeing from Fallsburg students in just a single session.”

And why it matters

Both Zayas and Rivela grew up in Sullivan County and have expressed gratitude for being able to give back to their community.

“This workshop was special to me because Liberty is where I grew up,” Zayas said. “I was always very sensitive and felt a lot.  However, I didn’t feel safe expressing my feelings [about] the bullying I experienced and what I was taught at home. So this was full circle for me, coming back and teaching kids EI, the education I was yearning for as a child.”

“I’m grateful to be in a position at Bethel Woods where I can mentor young people and give back to the community that shaped me,” said Rivela. “I remember the Monticello teachers who positively impacted me through their genuine, heartfelt interactions. I believe that even a single positive interaction has the power to shift one’s perspective and emotional state. That is what we’re hoping to achieve with students in this program.”

It is their hope that as the long-term benefits of programs like these are seen, more school districts will be proactive in the implementation process of these healthy, creative alternatives.

For more information about Sullivan 180’s Empowering a Healthier Generation initiative, visit sullivan180.org/empowering-a-healthier-generation.

For more information about Bethel Woods Center for the Arts’ Bethel Woods on Main program, visit www.bethelwoodscenter.org/programs/community/on-main.

What is emotional intelligence (EI)?

It can be very simply defined as “the ability to perceive, use, understand, manage and handle emotions.”

The magazine Psychology Today says that someone with a higher EI would be able to distinguish the difference between their own emotions versus those of others, could accurately name the different feelings that might be fueling those emotions, and can use this information to guide their thinking and behavior in a potentially challenging situation. It lets those people adjust and adapt to the present circumstance and environment.

This ability creates more social, emotional and relational competence, both with the self and with other individuals as a family member, friend, employee, co-worker, boss and beyond.

HelpGuide.org offers a list of benefits to enhanced EI, such as better academic achievement due to the ability to build better relationships with teachers and peers, better self-perception of social ability, higher life satisfaction and self esteem, more positive perception from others, better self-awareness, self-regulation and motivation, fewer issues with addiction and substance abuse, and the list goes on.

We all come into the world with a certain EI base, but have the ability to learn different tools to help increase the capacity for this skill, experts note. Most of us weren’t taught this information growing up, and have had to unlearn the defense and coping mechanisms that allowed for the daily survival of the trials and tribulations of life, but that no longer create a healthy present-day living environment.

Think toxic or abusive relationship patterns and dynamics, low self-esteem, addiction and substance abuse, bullying, the inability to hold conversations, anxiety or depression.

Learn more about EI at helpguide.org.