Scale App
The Top Social and Emotional Communication Tool for School Communities
With the #SameHere Scale, we have worked with school professionals, graphic designers, world-renowned psychiatrists, psychologists, psychotherapists, and social workers (as well as focus groups of students and parents) to create an easy-to-understand (mental health continuum, or) “scale” that puts everyone in the school community on the same page with respect to a non-diagnostic common language that can be used to express how our mental health may change over time. The scale is a visual representation of long-studied, evidence-based Polyvagal Science developed by Dr. Stephen Porges.
Students in your entire school are easily able to use the #SameHere Scale Apps to share their responses with your teachers and/or your school professionals – daily, weekly, monthly, and engage in private, secured chats related to those responses.
This proprietary scale is different from all other social and emotional tools available because it allows for schools to track, in a linear way, the cumulative impacts of life events and how they affect our students. They can then tie together those answers on the scale to track how they are related to: events taking place in their lives, sensations they are noticing in their brains/bodies, and self-care exercises they are doing/can be doing to work on their social and emotional health. Teachers and school professionals, as well as administrators can then notice trends related to each student and communicate efficiently about the best SEL game plan for students, all on the same platform.
Download the App
The "SameHere Teacher" and "SameHere Student" Apps are both available in the Apple App Store and Google Play
All apps may be used on personal devices, iPads, chrome books, and desktops. If you are interested in a deep dive into how the app works, watch this tutorial video here.
Fill out this form below for access to the app, to have your school’s information uploaded. That access is gated, and downloading the apps alone will not enable usage:
SameHere Teacher
SameHere Student
For more information or to sign-up your school or district, so that we may upload your info for use, and provide you with passwords, fill-out the form above, or contact us at schools@samehereglobal.org
How To Use the #SameHere Scale App
Additional App Functionality
Key Features
- Through a simple Excel or CSV file, you are able to upload a list to match each teacher (or school professional) with each of their students, so that these connections are preloaded into each app
- Schools may choose for students to only be able to download the app to their school-issued devices
- The privacy of all stakeholders in your school or district is important to us; all responses and communication that takes place on the app is pro-tected and we are COPPA and FERPA compliant
- Communication is secure and only a teacher or school professional you assign, can view students’ responses – no student is able to view any other student’s responses
- Teachers can request that students send their response as to where they are at on the scale, as frequently as they would like
- Special features allow teachers to send the request to one, some, or all of their students at once; and teachers can choose (if they are comfort-able) sharing their own placement on the #SameHere Scale to their stu-dents, to facilitate more open communication
- Students have the ability to respond with just their feeling, or with commentary related to their feeling
- Students may also “safebox” their commentary – so that you can get students used to writing down how they are feeling, even before they are comfortable sharing it publicly with their teacher or school professional
- A Chat feature in the app allows teachers and students to have a
back-and-forth about any particular feeling or commentary shared - Teachers, school professionals (and even schools and districts) can track student response trends over time – both in the app, and more formally through a secured back-end website
- #SameHere Scale Posters and FATHEAD are available by going to samehereglobal.org and clicking on SHOP in the navigation bar (search for educational tools)
FAQs
Frequently Asked Questions
The SameHere Teacher and SameHere Student apps facilitate and enhance vital mental health conversations in schools by asking students to privately share their feelings with a designated teacher, on a daily basis. The apps offer schools an easy to use social and emotional tool, designed to help students open up and foster communication through the practice of actively requesting and sharing feelings.
Functioning similarly to a messenger platform, the apps utilize the #SameHere Scale – an easy to understand visual that mental health is fluid and lives on a continuum stretching from “thriving” to “sinking” – to give teachers and students the opportunity to connect from anywhere. Developed with school professionals, graphic designers, and world-renowned psychiatrists, psychologists, psychotherapists, and social workers, the #SameHere Scale establishes a common language to express current feelings and track how they may change over time.
1. Through what device can teachers/school professionals and students access the app?
Teachers and school professionals can utilize their personal device (mobile phone or tablet) to access the app. Individual schools can determine their preferred student access, depending on technology capabilities. Schools may choose for students to download the app to their school-issued device or to their personal devices. Alternatively, if there is only one shared school device provided to a classroom, each student may log-in/log-out to respond.
2. What personal information is collected from the students?
To log-in to the app, students are given a personal identification number, username and password. The only personal information they must enter is their first name and last name, and a nickname if they prefer.
3. What safety measures are in place to protect students?
The privacy of all stakeholders is important to us; all responses and communication that takes place through the apps is protected. Only a teacher or school professional assigned to each student can view that student’s response. No student is able to view any other student’s responses. Further, the apps are COPPA and FERPA compliant.
4. Are the apps only available to schools as a whole, or can one teacher buy and use the app for his/her classroom?
The apps are designed for flexibility and scalability, depending on the need of each user. They can be utilized by a singular classroom, designated grade level(s), an entire school or even a school district.
5. How much is the app and how can I purchase the apps for my school?
Downloading is free, to get your classroom, school or district signed up, email schools@weareallalittlecrazy.org.
6. Do you have a template for teachers and educators to follow as they start using the app in the classroom?
Yes. For more information, email schools@weareallalittlecrazy.org.
7. As a teacher, I’m interested in utilizing the apps, but already use other methods to communicate with my class. How much time extra time should I expect to devote to this additional tool?
The apps are designed with teachers in mind; intentionally built to maximize efficiency and not add to their already full plates. Teachers can send the scale notification to one, some or all of their students – and review their responses – in a few minutes time. Teachers can decide when and how frequently they would like to send the notification, though once per school day is recommended.
8. If I notice a student has been consistently struggling for an extended period of time, what should I, as the teacher, do?
The apps act simply as a conduit to finding out how a student is feeling, giving teachers more tools to better understand what’s going on with their students, overall. As administrators of the app, teachers are not intended to analyze their students or take on an additional role of counselor or therapist. Teachers can make a referral – to the principal, school psychologist, etc. – as deemed appropriate.
9. Is there an automatic referral form built into the app?
A pre-determined threshold of when a referral should be made is not built into the app, as we feel it is best for each school to decide how and when a referral is made. Our team can help schools build and customize the right model for their needs, which can also be reevaluated over time as more trend data is received. Once the criteria are determined, the app will ping a teacher when the designated pattern arises (for example, five straight days of a “struggling” response).
10. Did you perform a pilot of the apps?
Yes, we completed a pilot through a web-based version of the apps. The pilot reinforced our approach of flexibility and customization based on each school’s specific needs. The apps are purposefully not one-size-fits-all as we understand leniency to fit into each school’s culture is critical for the greatest possibility of success. Teachers sending the scale to their students and students responding with their desired emoji are the only standardized elements of the apps.
Optional/customizable elements are as follows:
- Teachers can share their own placement on the scale to facilitate more open communication
- Teachers can change the general notification (‘how are you feeling today?’) to something more specific, such as ‘how are you feeling related to the topic we’re learning today?’
- Students can share commentary related to their submitted feeling
- Students can “safebox” their commentary if they are not comfortable sharing it publicly with their teacher just yet
- Students and teachers can engage in a secure discussion via the chat feature
- All users can track trends based on responses over time
FERPA, COPPA, HIPPA Compliant