Research on social emotional learning (SEL) programs with at-risk adolescents is scant, resulting in limited available literature to inform educational professionals on how to best deliver SEL to this population. The intention of SEL programs is to foster social and emotional development within educational curricula at a universal level. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effectiveness of the implementation of an SEL program on knowledge retainment and behavior modification following brief (i.e., 45-minute) lessons on anger and stress management. The intervention was delivered to 7 at-risk adolescents participating in a credit recovery/GED program in the community. The lessons were delivered over eight weeks, and were derived from Merrell’s Strong Teens, an evidence based SEL program for adolescents, and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) principles. The lessons aimed to increase students’ emotional and behavioral awareness on the two topics using a pre- and post- survey design. Results were mixed, with findings suggesting that emotional and behavioral awareness increased for some participants but not others. In addition, t-tests revealed improvements across some, but not all, outcome variables. Discussion focuses on the implementation of SEL programs with this population and how program developers might enhance SEL models in future iterations.
