Building and Maintaining Healthy Relationships

This month's Wellness Spotlight focuses on Healthy Relationships. The connections we make with other people can have a big impact on our overall mental health. It is important to learn skills and strategies we can use to build and maintain healthy relationships, as well as help us recognize when we are in a relationship that is unhealthy.

Our students will be learning about healthy relationships this month, including boundaries and conflict resolution. Our Mental Health Team - Student Advocacy Counsellors and Wellness Coaches - will be sharing resources with students, staff and families, and supporting activities and initiatives in our classrooms.

RESOURCES FOR FAMILIES

Here are some links that our team recommends for families to support healthy relationships at home:

• Conflict Resolution Dice
  This resource was developed by our Successful Families, Successful Kids team. Cut, paste and roll to help you make a decision about resolving a conflict.
  
  
• Building Healthy Family Relationships (kids help line)
  Healthy family relationships are important for your child’s wellbeing and development. Building strong family relationships supports them to cope with challenges and to learn to be independent.
  
  
• Navigating Teen Life: Healthy Relationships
  
  

Watch for the Counsellor's Connections newsletter from your Student Advocacy Counsellor for more information about what is happening with Building and Maintaining Healthy Relationships at your school! For more curated resources, please visit the Healthy Relationships section of our Mental Health Resources for Families on our website.

HEALTHY RELATIONSHIPS CONTEST

Each month we are offering students, staff and families the opportunity to share their own stories related to our theme on our Engage NLPS website. You can write us a story or poem, make a video, draw or paint a picture, or tell your story in whatever other creative way you can think of. 

For November, here are some things you may want to consider when telling or creating your Healthy Relationships story:

• What are some of the things you do to build healthy family relationships?
• What are some strategies that you use to reduce conflict?
• Is there an activity or book or video that helped you learn about healthy relationships that you would recommend to others?

Everyone who shares a story will be entered into a monthly draw for a prize, may have their story featured in our Wellness Showcase in May, and will be eligible for our year-end grand prize. Staff or students who submit stories will also earn entries for their school. At the end of the year, one of our schools will also win a prize for their whole school!

We will be sharing more ways to win on Facebook and Instagram. Like and follow us so you don't miss our posts.