Habit:  Play and Create                  Disposition: Courage

Creativity and play unlock inner resources for dealing with stress, solving problems, and enjoying life.  When we are creative, we are resourceful, and we problem-solve in new and original ways, which fuels our courage.  Our thinking expands, and our connections with ourselves and others deepen.  Spring Break brings an opportunity to explore play and creativity so that you can integrate these activities into daily life.  Resilience arises from creation. (Aguilar, 2018)
Chapter Reflection
What’s the first thing you feel like doing after finishing this chapter?
How might you boost your own courage?
How could you explore and expand your creative self?
We encourage you to discuss the chapter, share your thoughts, and even explore some of the exercises in the workbook at your staff meetings and/or school based team meetings.

The Well Teacher Group is a free program that focuses on developing tools and skills related to improving teachers‘ vitality and resiliency. This holistic approach to wellness will equip teachers to make lifestyle changes that will positively affect their physical, mental, and emotional well-being. All groups are virtual, confidential, and facilitated by trained health consultants who are located in communities across the province. Groups typically run weekly for six weeks after school or in the evening, and contain 10 to 15 participants.

Counsellor meeting for all counsellors in GVSD.  Save the date calendar reminder has been sent and zoom invite will be sent the week prior.

Summary and Conclusions:

Teens have experienced significant social and academic losses in the past 20 months
• Students (12-18) self-reported developmentally, psychologically, and socially appropriate responses to the social effects of COVID-19

Thursday, March 3 3:15-4:15 via Zoom.
Whether you have not quite started with your implementation of MHL or you are well on your way with the material, this will be a good opportunity to be able to collaborate and share out our experiences with the MHL curriculum. Please follow this link to register. Please feel free to share this link with other MHL trained colleagues who might be interested in participating in the session. A zoom link will be sent out prior to the meeting. If you have questions specific to the March 3 session, please reach out to Tanya Ross.

In addition, if your team has a plan in your school around MHL implementation and/or how you hope to move forward with this work and are looking for support (e.g. possibly some TTOC release time or a member of our team coming in to support/join in collaborative planning), please reach out to me to share your plan and discuss your support request.

Links to the recorded webinars for Second Step have been shared with elementary/middle P/VPs.  If you have not received and are interested, please reach out to Monique Moore.  Also, Monique Moore and Maureen Von Tigerstrom are contacts if you have any implementation questions.

We are working in partnership with the Foundry, to offer students a Frist Aid opportunity: training in administering Noloxone.  The goal is to offer it at all our Secondary schools, and give an opportunity for interested middle school aged students to receive the training as well. 

We are startingl with Spectrum, SJB and Lambrick, then will expand to the other schools in the next months.  For more information, please contact Jen Chambers.

This is a resource hub for educators to help address youth dating violence and promote healthy relationships in the classroom, PREVNet has created the Resource Hub for Educators. This hub is your one-stop source for evidence-informed resources on dating violence and strategies you can apply in your classroom.

Young people aged 12-24 and their caregivers can use the app to drop-in or schedule a virtual counselling appointment, find peer support, join a youth group or caregiver group or browse our library of tools and resources.

DOWNLOAD THE APP on the App Store.

Foundry Integrated Support Services for Youth: Foundry centres and Foundry‘s provincial virtual services offer drop-in and scheduled counselling and peer support, primary care, employment support and groups for young people aged 12-24 and their caregivers across B.C. No referrals are required and all services are free and confidential. Please distribute information about Foundry services to your students as needed and support them with accessing a centre or registering for an account on the Foundry BC App.

The California Healthy Minds, Thriving Kids Project features a series of free videos and print resources for parents, educators and students, all available in English and Spanish. Developed in partnership with the state of California, this project promotes children’s emotional health and teaches essential coping skills through five topics.

The first topic in the series is Understanding Feelings. These videos can help kids learn to better understand and recognize their emotions — an important first step toward healthy coping and deeper relationships.

A collection of social and emotional learning (SEL) resources for educators and other adults who work with children and youth.

January 24, February 24 & April 4, 12:00pm – 1:00pm

The BC Children's Hospital Compass Mental Health program, in partnership with the BC School Counsellors Association, invites BC School Counsellors to join a 3-part lunch & learn series.

Supporting schools and families with students who have complex emotional, behavioural, mental health and substance use needs. 

Youth and Family  support for schools without a school- based YFC counsellor.

District Team for supporting Children in Care Plans and partnership with Ministry of Children and Families.

As District Indigenous Counsellor,  Joanne is passionate about incorporating authentic learning about Indigenous issues into our schools. She feels it is important to understand a full spectrum of Indigenous perspectives: the history of Indigenous dispossession and trauma; the strength and resiliency of the culture; and, to present the beauty and intricacies of Indigenous worldview. With other members of her team, she strives to wrap our children in the protection of cultural strength and identity, and inform a new generation of learners about the importance of Truth and Reconciliation. The Indigenous team is here to create a vision for our district to move towards reconciliation by providing guidance and support to public educators to seek out authentic voices, unpack colonial theories, and find the confidence to move forward in our vision where reconciliation can be felt both personally and professionally.