December 20, 2021 | Volume 2, Number 6 |
|
Bringing Compassion and Gratitude into the New Year |
|
By Dana Asby, Education Coordinator,
New England MHTTC
During the second holiday season of the COVID-19 pandemic, many of us approach this time carrying immense burdens. Educators, families, and young people are exhausted from balancing heavy workloads and personal stressors, grieving lost loved ones or routines, and feeling a sense of uncertainty about the future. As we reach the height of the holiday season, we can increase our resiliency and buffer against depression and stress by practicing gratitude. We can give the young people we care for this gift of gratitude by creating opportunities for them to show appreciation for their own tenacity and the efforts of the community and family that helped them weather the storms of this year.
|
|
|
 |
By Dana Asby, Education Coordinator, New England MHTTC
The holidays are full of excitement, joy, and togetherness. The rushing to and from holiday events, shopping for last minute gifts, and preparing the house for guests can be a source of fun and stress. When we’re in a heightened state of stress, especially for a long period of time, we may find ourselves getting into conflicts more frequently. If we use positive communication and emotional regulation skills, we can reduce the amount of conflict we experience this holiday season. If we learn healthy conflict resolution skills, we won’t be able to avoid conflict, but we can resolve it compassionately and even learn from our differences with others.
When we experience extreme stress or have a prolonged period of stress, our brains don’t function as well. You may have noticed that it’s harder to make wise decisions, remember important tasks, or plan your day efficiently when you’re feeling stressed. That’s because the part of the brain in charge of these executive functions shuts down in periods of crisis so that the “lizard brain” can take over and ensure survival. This means that our fight, flight, or freeze response is more sensitive, and we may respond to even neutral situations as if we are being attacked. Understanding this about our brain can empower us to interrupt this stress response cycle to bring us back to a state of calm and presence. Practicing mindfulness regularly to find that calm through breathwork, meditation, or yoga can help us restore our executive functions, slow the stress response cycle, reduce our level of stress in general, and engage in conflict from a place of wisdom and neutrality.
|
|
|
|
By Martha Staeheli, Director, School Mental Health Initiative, New England MHTTC
In the early 1980s, my mother, who comes from a long line of Quakers, became an expert on having a more joyful Christmas. Though she has long since retired from offering advice on the Christmas Machine, I thought it would be fun to ask her how the ideas of joy and connection might apply in our challenging, modern era, whether you celebrate Christmas or not.
Why did you write this book?
I was teaching a class in 1979 at a Catholic college on Simple Living, and at the last session, someone said, “Yeah yeah. This is great, but what about Christmas? Everything goes out the window at Christmas, and nothing can be done about it.” My writing partner and I asked, “Is that really true, that nothing can be done about it?” We started talking to children, psychologists, parents, and churches to explore that question: How can we make Christmas simpler, more joyful, and filled with love?
What is the book’s central message?
Christmas is an excellent opportunity to think about your values and use the elements of Christmas to help you express those values. Instead of thinking of this time as a burden, there are many parts of the season you can tailor to your own needs and your family’s. If your main goal or value is showing kids a good time and having fun, strengthening your relationships, supporting local or folk artisans, or showing off your baking skills, you can do all of that during this time. The book is about reframing this time as something you don’t have to dread; this is an opportunity. The book walks you through that.
|
|
|
|
By Hailey Jordan, Research Assistant, New England MHTTC
Elisy Blanco-Mercado and Ashley Tavarez are social workers at elementary schools in Providence, RI and members of the Childhood-Trauma Learning Collaborative (C-TLC) Fellowship program. Both women share the same profession and the same family tree. Elisy (mother) and Ashley (daughter) are committed to creating effective programming and systems in schools that foster children’s social emotional development. These C-TLC Fellows also strive to collaborate with families to make school-based mental health more inclusive and culturally responsive.
For Elisy and Ashley, trauma-skilled practices have always been at the forefront of their profession. Their background in social work has allowed them to highlight the connection between trauma-responsive, healing practices and academic outcomes among students. From promoting mindfulness in the classroom to showcasing the importance of social emotional learning by providing evidence-based resources to staff and families, Elisy and Ashley are well-positioned to offer valuable insight to their schools and district.
|
|
|
Events, Resources, and Program Updates |
|
Register now for our virtual events. |
|
Join us for this bimonthly webinar series and community of practice to learn how to overcome barriers to effective collaboration around improving comprehensive and inclusive school-based mental health.
1st Thursdays: Webinars to teach evidence-based practices to enhance efficacy
3rd Thursdays: Peer support hours to learn from each other and receive technical assistance
|
|
Date/Time: Thu., 1/6 @ 4 p.m. EST
In this session, we will hear from the women who led the development process for the Comprehensive Behavioral Health Model, a gold standard example of how schools can collaborate with healthcare institutions to provide effective, trauma-responsive mental health support to students. Join us to hear Andria and Shella’s journey towards effective school mental health collaboration and learn about the importance of:
- Person-centered communication
- Active and reflective listening skills
- Defining roles and responsibilities
- Forming relationships
- Establishing infrastructure
|
|
Learn more about our online learning course. |
|
Selling Mental Health and Social Emotional Learning to Decision-Makers
Date/Time: Thu., 1/13 @ 10 a.m. EST
|
|
Access our free online course and learn how to:
- cultivate a compassionate school community that will buffer against the negative effects of trauma,
- build resilience for all students, and
- provide stress-relief and enhanced well-being for teachers and other school personnel as well as students.
Gain an understanding of how a compassionate school mental health support system can help schools create systems, policies, and protocols to prevent, address, and recover from tragedies and crises including staff or student suicide, school violence, natural disasters, and global pandemics.
|
Stay posted to our Events page for updates and announcements of new virtual trainings.
|
|
Explore the ways you can access and share the C-TLC's training and technical assistance resources and events:
|
|
The C-TLC develops training materials to enhance school culture and prepare professionals in education and mental health to improve and support the mental health and resiliency of school-aged youth.
Access our featured publications below and view a topical directory of all our learning resources.
Whether you are returning to school in-person, virtually, or in a hybrid format, apply a trauma-informed, equitable, and compassionate lens to providing mental health supports to every member of the school community. Because we will all return to school as different people than when we left, our suite of resources is designed to help school staff understand the need for and nature of becoming more trauma-sensitive and considerations for working with trauma-impacted communities.
Classroom WISE is a FREE three-part training package that assists K-12 educators in supporting the mental health of students in the classroom. This package offers evidence-based strategies and skills to engage and support students with mental health concerns in the classroom. In addition to a free online course on mental health literacy for educators and school personnel, a video library and resource collection are also available! Learn more.
|
|
2021 C-TLC Webinars
Access and share webinars from this year:
|
|
|
Announcement: Recent News on Youth Mental Health |
Surgeon General's Advisory on
Protecting Youth Mental Health
This month, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy issued a Surgeon General’s Advisory Protecting Youth Mental Health to outline the pandemic’s unprecedented impacts on the mental health of America’s youth and families and calls for a swift and coordinated response to this crisis.
View the full advisory and review key points from the release below:
|
|
-
Recognize that mental health is an essential part of overall health.
-
Empower youth and their families to recognize, manage, and learn from difficult emotions.
-
Ensure that every child has access to high-quality, affordable, and culturally competent mental health care.
-
Support the mental health of children and youth in educational, community, and childcare settings. And expand and support the early childhood and education workforce.
-
Address the economic and social barriers that contribute to poor mental health for young people, families, and caregivers.
-
Increase timely data collection and research to identify and respond to youth mental health needs more rapidly. This includes more research on the relationship between technology and youth mental health, and technology companies should be more transparent with data and algorithmic processes to enable this research.
|
|
During these turbulent times, staff at the Center for Educational Improvement send our thanks to the many steadfast and courageous school teachers, leaders, and support staff for all you do for our children. May your holidays be filled with joy! |
|
Christine Mason
Executive Director
|
|
|
The C-TLC is funded by the Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and is the School Mental Health Initiative of the New England Mental Health Technology Transfer Center. |
|
|
STAY CONNECTED
New England MHTTC
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
