The Rainbow Project is an early intervention program for children who are having mild adjustment problems at school. Students are referred for a variety of reasons, such as: new to school, having difficulty making friends, extreme shyness, divorce, death of a family member, or needing help in developing better social skills.
The Rainbow Project launched at Greenbrook Elementary starting in 1989. Over 600 students have directly benefited from our intervention program and hundreds of others have benefited indirectly.
With the help of a grant from the State Department of Mental Health, the Rainbow Project is able to offer three programs under the Early Mental Health Initiative. The first program provides individual time with a trained professional to help the child develop confidence and a more positive self-image, as well as a supportive relationship with another adult at school. The second program is the Second Step program that offers small group sessions to teach social skills of empathy, problem-solving, and emotion management. The third program is the Steps To Respect program, a literature based social skills program for Third Grade students. The lessons in the Steps To Respect program teach students to take responsibility for creating a caring school by: developing vocabulary to express feelings and use empathy, using friendship skills to treat others with respect, encouraging others to join in group activities along with practicing ways to join in, and learning ways to become more assertive.
In addition to time spent in the Rainbow room, the Rainbow Aides are able to assist K-3 students with conflict resolution skills during recess time, 4 days a week. The aides supervise a game table where kids can play board games, cards, draw, etc. as another way to socialize with friends on Monday and Thursday’s during the 1-3 students lunch recess. Once a month, the aides also read and discuss a “friendship building” based book to all Third Grade classes.
Grants from the Early Mental Health Initiative are always “matching funds” grants and our portion is to pay for our aid’s salary. Community support through purchases at our annual Cookie Dough fundraiser or other donations are very important for our project to continue. In addition, The Eagle Fund has also supported The Rainbow Project at Greenbrook and made generous donations to help.
Please look for our Cookie Dough fundraiser in the fall. We appreciate your support of the Rainbow Program. You will help us make a difference!
If you have any questions about the Rainbow Project, contact our Rainbow School Based Mental Health Professional, Chrsitina Giannini cgianni01@srvusd.net
