Public health emergencies like the Covid-19 pandemic may affect the mental health of the general population which translates into emotional distress and isolation, substance use, domestic violence, and the increased likelihood of developing anxiety or depressive disorders (Pfefferbaum and North, 2020). The youth population is a particularly at-risk population due to the closure of schools, and the potential impact  such adversities may have on their developing brains (Holmes et al, 2020.) Since March 2020, schools in Mexico have been tasked with the challenge of transferring to distance learning and taking care of the health and wellbeing of their students (CEPAL-UNESCO, 2020). 

In August 2020, we were given a grant by the "Ponte la Verde por el Covid" initiative, an emergency fund aimed at solving problems in Mexico related to the pandemic, to test how the delivery of our prebuilt courses in 5 schools from the National Preparatory School (an institution of the National Autonomous University of Mexico) would give teachers the means to promote anxiety coping and time management skills in their students, with minimal training, and in a timely way. 

Between September and October 2020, a total of 19 teachers participated in 4 brief training sessions which consisted in: participation in both prebuilt courses as students, basic use of Zoom videoconferencing software, good socioemotional learning practices, and a short guide to intervening in case a student requires referral to a mental health professional.  The intervention ended in December 2020, and a total of 120 courses were delivered (63 for anxiety coping and 57 for time management skills), reaching 3020 students ranging from the 7th to the 12th grade. 

An independent consultant conducted focus group interviews with a sample of students that received both courses and they reported feeling taken care of and accompanied by their schools, feeling that the courses were a positive learning environment and acquiring new skills to cope with their emotions and organizing their school work. Data from a posttest survey found that 17 of the teachers feel better prepared to work on the socioemotional skills of their students, an increase of at least 10% in the knowledge of the course content and report are more ready to cope with their own anxiety and organize their school and work time.