Make Well-Being Your Focus This Year
Welcome back to new hopes, new challenges and fresh students.
To support you in setting up your year powerfully, especially with the current concerns with Covid, I am posting an article from Susan Ciminelli. who trains schools in dealing with truama. This will support you with your students.
As well, SmARTS for Well-Being workshops are in demand. Let me know your preferred booking times if you are interested in teacher, student or parent/child workshops for your school, board or district, live or virtual.
Students who Lose Control at School
Many of you have been communicating a significant increase in student outbursts so I spoke to my friend and colleague, Susan Ciminelli, who responded by writing this article for you. Susan is a "retired" principal with a certification in mentoring principals. Currently, she is a workshop leader, researcher and writer with a wealth of practical experience. I know her article will support you with your students.
Susan writes:
What Educators Can Do to Mitigate Mental Health Concerns
Educators should not despair that these dire statistics are the new normal for our youth. The major mitigating factor that fosters resilience and reduces the impact of trauma on our children and youth is a caring, self-regulated adult who builds a positive developmental relationship. Based on over fifty years of research, The Search Institute provides teachers, principals, youth leaders, and parents a list of specific and appropriate actions that help all students become more resilient.
Where there is a caring heart, there is hope for tomorrow.
The Developmental Relationships Framework articulates actionable insights for adults through five elements of relationships that contribute to a young person’s growth, learning, and thriving. These are: expressing care, challenge growth, provide support, share power, and expand possibilities. Expressing care includes actions such as really listening, being warm, encouraging, and dependable. Sharing power means being respect them, take them seriously and involve them in decisions that affect them. and principals see first-hand the impact of violence that shows up in children as emotional dysregulation. I hesitate to use the term “mental health problems” as only a professional licensed in mental health has the training and authority to make a diagnosis of a mental health problem. What we educators see are behaviours that are not conducive to learning and norms of behaviour at school – so I prefer to use the word “dysregulated”. Children’s behaviours are initiated from within their thinking processes and arise in response to a stimulus around them. These statistics from the CDC indicating the level of violence and trauma experienced by children confirm what we educators witness in student behaviours ranging from withdrawal, social awkwardness, learning difficulties, anxiety, disruptive and disrespectful behaviours and even destructive outbursts. Read more here.
In this article, readers learn the actionable insights through five elements of relationships in developmental relationships that contribute to a young person’s growth, learning, and thriving.
For the full article entitled, Never Underestimate the Power of Teachers to Mitigate Childhood Mental Health Difficulties, visit https://whitewaveseducation.com/blog/
SmARTS for Well-Being
Workshops for Staff (1-3 hours); Workshops for Students ages 9-18 (1 1/2 - 3 hours); Workshop for parents and children (1 - 1 1/2 hours)
Inquiry:
How can we de-escalate a conflict?
How can we eliminate the emotional reaction and respond thoughtfully instead?
How can we re-establish relationships so they work?
What Participants Will Do?
Using a Socratic approach and experiential learning, participants engage in individual and cooperative activities to build Social and Emotional Learning skills and community. Teach these essential skills to your students and transform learning. Participants will…
“Separate the Story” Detach the story from the event so it loses its grip.
“Make it Right Formula” Re-establish relationships so they work.
“Through Your Lenses” Assimilate perspective training to eliminate the emotional reaction and respond thoughtfully instead.
Participants leave the workshop able to have students
Eliminate the emotional reaction and respond instead
De-escalate a conflict
Implement the “Make-it-Right” formula
Bring down the stress level
Start your year off with a strong foundation and have your school thrive. Click here for downloadable flyers for Teacher Workshops and for Parent/Child Workshops.
Book now for fall and winter.
Look forward to working with you this year.