Hello Parents!

We are so happy to be working with Milwaukee Academy of Science. Our first few months went great in our pilot program. Your kids have been terrific with our program and they have been receptive to the information. STRYV365 thought it would be helpful to let you in on what we are teaching your children.  Below is a scenario where we use the five skills taught in our program. Catch Yourself, Relax, Assess, Focus, and Think, Decide & Act makes up our program term CRAFT. It allows students to understand their emotions, handle their stress, and skills to manage stressors to make better choices.

CRAFT Scenario Example:

Jamal has had a bad day. At Gym class he was picked last for kickball and a couple of classmates made fun of him for the shirt we wore to school. He was on his way home when suddenly, he was struck by a basketball. Jamal became really upset and frustrated with the boys who were playing. His fists began to curl up and his forehead became hot. However, instead of taking his frustration out on the boys he remembered the CRAFT process. 

He first Caught himself, the first step in the CRAFT process. Jamal was undoubtedly angry and upset but he took a moment to catch himself. He then moved to the second step of CRAFT, Relax. Jamal counted to 10 in his head while taking deep breaths. Jamal’s fists began to uncurl, and his forehead began to be less hot. 

Jamal then did the third step of CRAFT, Access. Jamal thought about the boys playing. They did not go to his school and Jamal was right under a basketball hoop. He then did the fourth step of CRAFT, Focus. He thought about the boys playing and realized the basketball hit him on accident. 

He then did the final step of CRAFT, Think, Decide & Act, Jamal acted by bouncing the ball back to the boys and accepted their apologies. Jamal had completed the CRAFT process. Jamal was still upset about his bad day, but he did not make his day worse by making an impulsive decision after the basketball hit him. He instead caught himself, relaxed, accessed the situation, focused, and thought on his decisions and acted on them. It led to Jamal making the best decision by realizing the boys were just playing and he accepted their apologies. 

CRAFT allows students to handle their stress to make better decisions. CRAFT teaches you to assess the situation before acting on the situation. This subtle difference will allow students to react better to high stressful situations. We hope you learned more about our program and if you have any questions feel free to ask them! You can contact us at info@stryv365.org.