Based out of the Beach, Captains & Poets helps students find their identities through learning resources for schools

By CHRIS ZDRAVKO

Captains & Poets is a social emotional learning (SEL) program, originating in the Beach, that is dedicated to helping kids discover their identities.

For the past half-decade, Captains & Poets has provided learning resources to schools that help teach children how to find their “inner captain” and their “inner poet”.

Everybody has a captain and poet inside of them, helping them navigate their worlds and connect with their surroundings, said Jennifer Johnson of Captains & Poets.

Johnson and Jan Frolic are the founders of Captains & Poets.

A person’s captain is the part of the self in charge of leading their lives. The captain decides how to handle obstacles, and is in charge of showing courage when necessary, explained Johnson. A person’s poet is the part of the self that expresses and communicates deep feelings held within. The poet shows vulnerability when necessary, and helps connect with others on a deeper level when necessary.

“When you heighten your own sense of self awareness, you are able to then understand other people better, as well, so we want to bridge those differences with this human curriculum” said Johnson.

Captains & Poets offers teaching resources for students in kindergarten to Grade 12. Along with Canada, the company also provides resources to the United States, the United Kingdom, Costa Rica, Australia, Malaysia, and is planning to expand to the Philippines. Frolic and Johnson also showcased their work to the United Nations before the start of COVID-19 pandemic. The resources they offer are tailored to the needs of the schools they are working with.

“We are not going in with a blanket solution to any schools. We are going in, building, in collaboration with teachers and principals, really focusing on what their pain points are, and building out a program that fits their community, specifically,” said Frolic.

She said the SEL method offers immense value to children. “This is stuff that adults go to therapy and counselling for all the time, because they are feeling out of balance. If we are giving this to kids early, they won’t need that. They will have it inside them.”

Johnson said Captains & Poets help “anchor” children. “That can help them navigate peer pressure and challenges. The fundamental message is that you have everything you need inside you.”

Frolic, who grew up in Oshawa, has lived in the Beach for the past 20 years. She went to Bishop’s University in Quebec to study music and sociology, and moved to Toronto after graduation. She first lived in the west end before moving to the Beach with her family including her three children.

“I’m a water baby. If I was going to stay in the city, I needed to be close to the water,” said Frolic on why her family chose to live in the Beach neighbourhood.

“I wanted my kids to grow up feeling like part of a neighbourhood, and in a community.”

Before Captains & Poets, Frolic was senior vice-president of a women’s organization called Women of Influence, which aims to promote women’s rights in the workplace. She decided to move to education, and co-found Captains & Poets with Johnson to make even more positive change in the world.

Johnson lives in the Roncesvalles area of Toronto. She studied English and psychology at McMaster University for a year, then transferred to the University of Toronto.

After her undergraduate degree, she studied at U of T’s Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) for her teaching degree.

For more information on Captains & Poets, please go to https://captainsandpoets.com/