Emily Wicks with UConn’s Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry noticed the pandemic-era disruptions to kids’ social-emotional learning and development, and reached out to Sandy Chafouleas at the university’s Neag School of Education. Together they developed Feel Your Best Self, a puppet-centered program aimed at helping “strengthen the emotional well-being of elementary-aged children.”

Interdisciplinary collaboration between the Neag School and Ballard Institute goes high tech with the help of the UConn Tech Park, to the benefit of children across the state.

Interdisciplinary collaboration between the Neag School and Ballard Institute goes high tech with the help of the UConn Tech Park, to the benefit of children across the state.

Enduring the turmoil of a global pandemic for more than two years now, many of us have struggled. We can recognize the importance of self-care and wellness, but not everyone has necessarily adopted a daily meditation practice or quit their late-night doomscrolling. By now, though, perhaps we can admit to ourselves one thing: It’s OK to not be OK in every moment.