Lori LeChien is a singer-songwriter who combines her love of music with her professional goals: teaching children how to manage their emotions.
Steppin’ Stone
By: Lori LeChien
I’ll be a steppin stone
Away from all pain
I’ll keep on singing
And find the strength
To be a steppin stone
And help others grow
Into a steppin stone
I’ve always been interested in how diverse and incredibly complex humans are. Studying psychology helps me understand society, others, and myself in ways no other subject allows. Building healthy, fulfilling relationships is the most meaningful part of life to me.
Social Emotional Learning
A graduate student at our Los Angeles Campus, Lori is pursuing her M.A. in Marriage, Couples and Family Therapy. Additionally, she works at the Magnolia Science Academy 7. There, using Social Emotional Learning (SEL), Lori teaches elementary school students how to identify and regulate their negative feelings through music. SEL is a curriculum that teaches students from Pre-K to 12 grades how to understand, validate, and manage emotions, and ultimately students learn to develop healthy relationships and a healthy lifestyle. The lyrics to “Steppin’ Stone,” written by Lori, help students understand how to channel negative emotions into positive feelings.
She knows from personal experience about the healing power of music.
“Music is part of how I have survived in this world. It’s been the thing that makes me feel like I’m okay. I saw how powerful music was for me, and I thought it can do the same for others.”
The Healing Power of Music
Lori is white, and she grew up in a predominantly Black neighborhood in the Southern Illinois town of Belleville. She began singing gospel songs in her high school choir, where she was the lead alto singer. “Our choir was strong and soulful,” she said. Lori also had the opportunity to study and become certified in the Kingian Nonviolence curriculum written by Dr. Bernard Lafayette, who is a civil rights activist and founding member of The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (AKA, SNCC).
Lori points out that music was an integral part of the civil rights movement. Civil rights activists of that era often sang and used music to cope with the violent reactions they encountered during their peaceful protests.
Before graduating, Lori plans to design an SEL curriculum that adapts to other creative forms such as writing, painting, and dancing. She will remain in LA to pursue music, her first love, while keeping the door open to teaching SEL, which she believes has positively impacted the students.
If you’re ever feeling shy,
Hurt, sad, depressed, or tired
There’s one thing you gotta do
Check in with yourself,
See if you’re feeling blue
Then you gotta regulate,
Tell yourself it’ll be okay.
Take a deep breathe, it’ll be okay
That’s just what you do when you’re feeling blue
Lyrics by Lori LeChien