The January Bulletin

THE BULLETIN

We deliver social, emotional, mental and health services to students, parents & educators to promote wellness in the academic and professional setting.

Hello & Happy January!

We hope you enjoyed a restful and healthy holiday season! We too took last month off but we are back in your inbox and thrilled to announce a new workshops and share our recent partnerships with schools.

We really want this monthly newsletter to be valuable to you, so your feedback is appreciated! What would you like to see more or less of? Helpful articles, mental health skills for educators to use in the classroom (or personally), more on our events at schools, current PD Presentations and Workshops available, etc.

Please feel free to drop a quick word to our Manager of Community Education, Kate Kelley, with your ideas and/or needs.

Wishing you a great start to the new year!

Happening This Month

Warren Township High School

Growing A Resilient Mind

Virtual Workshop for Educators

January 12, 2022

In our keynote PD Workshop Audrey Grunst, LCSW & Simply Bee CEO shares her five-step Growth & Resiliency Model©. This goal of this workshop is to increase self regulation and emotional self-care skills alongside how to have a growth mindset, even during challenging or stressful times.

Audrey provides skills for educators to navigate their mental wellness, both in and out of the classroom, as well as learn tips for borrowed regulation when working with students experiencing challenges with their mental wellness in the classroom.

Learn More About GARM PD Presentation

Lake Bluff Middle School

Becoming Aware of The Big 4 Workshop for Students & Parents

January 26, 2022

Becoming Aware Of The Big 4 is our newest workshop that gives students (parents and educators too!) an opportunity to develop their knowledge about the relationships between thoughts, emotions, physical sensations and urges. This allows students to quickly leverage their existing SEL training to improve their coping skills while inspiring them to simply bee-come the best versions of themselves inside and outside of the classroom.

Our goal is to focus on the whole student in an effort to decrease the stress and anxiety levels of students, so they are able to learn and grow in the academic setting.

Learn More About The Big 4 Workshop

For more information, or to schedule any of these PD workshops

for your school, please contact Manager of Community Education,

Kate Kelley for more details.

Schedule 15-Minute Call

2021 Simply Bee Classroom Highlights

Our team spent a lot of time in December reviewing 2021: what went well, where can we grow and improve, what new services or initiatives we want to tackle in 2022... As we reflect, we wanted to share a few highlights with you from the year!

Feedback & Testimonies

I learned [from Growing A Resilient Mind PD] how to take a step back from triggering situations and identify my thoughts, feelings, physical sensations, and urges. This will help me respond in the best manner, and will actually save me time and energy in the end.

~Madeline K.

_______________________

I appreciated how it [Better Than Fine Workshop] felt informal and unintimidating. It was professional, but Audrey's style makes you feel comfortable engaging virtually.

~Heather E.

_______________________

I loved the metaphors used [in Growing A Resilient Mind: Parent Edition] such as “Bird’s Eye view”, “Floating over the trees”, “Firefighter”, “bridge or a rainbow” made it so much more clear. Most memorable skill for me was how to observe and become more mindful of the feelings and thoughts, how to create a space needed to have a better control of your urges.

~Vida P.

We are so grateful for our partnerships with schools, community organizations, our clients, our team and all who support us here at Simply Bee! You are always at the heart of our mission and who we think of when we envision new programs and services, so thank you for being on this journey with us.

New Illinois Laws Supporting

Mental Health In Schools

Illinois lawmakers passed a new bill that supports student mental health starting January 1, 2022. Mental health has been a rising issues a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the CDC, between March and May of 2021 hospitals across the country saw a 24% increase in the number of mental health emergency visits by kids aged 5 to 11 years old, and a 31% increase for kids 12 to 17.

These new laws include:

Five mental or behavioral health days to be taken as excused absences without a doctor's note if you are age 7-17. Once a second day is requested, a school counselor is required to follow up with the family and a referral for local resources may be made.
The state is required to offer educator training “on the physical and mental health needs of students, student safety, educator ethics, professional conduct, and other topics that address the well-being of students and improve the academic and social-emotional outcomes of students."
Educators, who are mandated reporters of child abuse or neglect, must complete implicit bias training.

There are additional laws cited in the article being put in place to provide equitable instruction during history lessons, the inability to discriminate against hairstyles associated with cultural, racial or ethnic conditions, and more.

We applaud the state for putting these new laws in place with the belief that breaking the stigma and bringing awareness to student mental health will have long-term benefits for their overall health and well-being.

Read Article