Caring adult connections to kids build a sense of belonging and social emotional learning through the increasingly stressful teen years so that no one falls through the cracks or becomes chronically absent. See article below.
“More holistically, though, social and emotional learning shouldn’t be seen as an add-on in high school, or be equated with a loss of academic rigor and instructional minutes: Self-care can actually become part of the curriculum—as some schools are recognizing. After losing a student to suicide in his third year of teaching, Roni Habib committed himself to improving the emotional health of teachers and students. Habib said that schools need to make sure that every single kid in a school knows that at least one adult in the school “really sees them” because “it’s very easy for kids to fall through the cracks,” especially as they progress through school and academics take priority.”