About this project

The SEL Resource Finder is designed as a “one-stop” site for educators and anyone who works with children and youth to learn about how to foster social-emotional learning (SEL) and mental well-being in any educational setting.  As research and practice continue to build a strong case for the value and necessity of SEL and mental health for academic and life success, it becomes important to recognize the many different ways to promote SEL and create safe, respectful, and caring learning environments that maximize potential and optimize well-being in the next generation.

How to use the site

The SEL Resource Finder provides access to view and rate resources that have been reviewed and added to the collection.  You can browse for resources by starting from the SEL resource page or the Mental Health resource page. Alternately, you can search for resources throughout the site. Each resource page provides a brief overview of the resource and a link to view publicly available SEL and Mental Health resources. You are encouraged to participate in the project by rating resources once you have visited the links or by contributing to our collection.

You can submit suggestions for resources or contribute resources that you have developed, be it a book, lesson, activity, video, website, etc. All submitted resources are reviewed before being added to the collection.  General inquiries may be submitted via our Contact page.

Please note that by accessing the information on this site you are agreeing to our terms of use.

Acknowledgements

Promoting Social – Emotional Learning

The SEL Resource Finder could not have been developed without the generous support and encouragement of the Edith Lando Charitable Foundation whose vision of using social media to promote social-emotional learning in Canada and around the world served as an impetus for this resource.

Edith Lando was a true philanthropist and visionary, with a goal of helping people, especially children, develop to their fullest and always believing in their potential. Since her passing, her four children have continued the work of her Foundation and continue to look for new and effective ways of giving young people in all walks of life a more positive self-image. Through the University of British Columbia (UBC), the Lando Foundation has supported the promotion of social-emotional learning in children and youth for nearly two decades, through research and graduate training, summer camps and inner city programs, teacher training, and now a unique online resource.

Project Team

With the support of the Lando Foundation, the SEL Resource Finder was developed by Dr. Shelley Hymel, in the Faculty of Education at UBC and her Social-Emotional Education and Development (SEED) Research Team.  We are especially grateful to Dr. Rina Bonanno and graduate students, Angela Low, Lindsay Starosta and Jane Chipman for initial content development, and to graduate students Molly Lawlor, Miriam Miller, Lauren Dolente and Jessica Moore for their initial scan of SEL information online.  Thanks also to Voci Communications and Codename Design for their work on the design and creation of the site itself.

We also extend our thanks to an anonymous donor whose support made possible the further development, evaluation and promotion of this site across Canada and beyond.

Further support for the development and initial evaluation of the SEL Resource Finder was provided by a grant from the Jacqueline Farquhar Endowment for Children’s Mental Health through the Faculty of Education at UBC. As a school counsellor in Vancouver, British Columbia, Jacqueline Farquhar recognized the importance of promoting positive mental health in children and youth and that social-emotional learning served as a foundation for mental health in educational settings. The SEL Resource Finder, including resources on both mental health and social-emotional learning, reflects this vision.

Promoting Mental Health Literacy In Education

We are grateful for the support of Dean Blye Frank of the Faculty of Education at UBC, and Dr. Wendy Carr, Associate Dean of Teacher Education, for their support in developing the Mental Health section of this website.

The Mental Health section was developed as part of the Pre-Service Teachers Mental Health Literacy Curriculum Resource Development Project, lead by Dr. Stan Kutcher at Dalhousie University. This initiative is a collaboration among educators at Dalhousie University, Western University, St. Francis Xavier University and the University of British Columbia that is aimed at developing mental health literacy resources for pre-service teachers in teacher education programs across Canada.  The focus of this project is on the developing knowledge about mental health and mental illness, reducing stigma, and increasing self-help efficacy among pre-service teachers and their students.