Happy New Year!
This month’s Wellness Wednesday theme, which our Mental Health Team will be focusing on with students when they return to school on Monday, is Self-Care. This has traditionally been a stressful time for our students as they return to school following the winter break and our high school students wrap up their first semester and write their final exams.
The NLPS Mental Health Team (Wellness Coaches and Student Advocacy Counsellors) has collected activities and resources you can use at home to help your children practice self-care, including stress management strategies.
Self-Care Activities
- Three Good Things (NLPS Successful Families, Successful Kids)
This activity helps you focus on the things in your life that are going well, instead of focusing on what might not be working out so well right now. - Quiz: Am I Practicing Enough Self-Care? (Kids Help Phone)
Students can take this quiz to see if they are taking enough time to focus on caring for themselves. - Mindfulness Quiz (Greater Good Magazine)
Learn more about mindfulness, how much you are already practicing it, and how you can promote more of it in your life. - Pleasant Events Calendar for Students (Greater Good in Education)
Helps student learn to care for themselves by planning enjoyable activities to help them combat stress and anxiety.
Self-Care Resources
- APP: The Shine App
Full of resources and activities focused on self-care, including meditation, connection and reflection. - The Struggle to Juggle: Stress Management Strategies for You and Your Family (The Psychology Foundation of Canada)
Learn more about stress and how to manage it, plus tips for helping your children manage their stress too.
Stories of Hope
Did you hear our Story of Hope from the students and staff at Ecole Plamondon School today? Stories of Hope air on our local Stingray stations (boom 95.3, Hot 101.3, boom 103.5)? Interviews with our staff and students run every second Wednesday at 8:30 a.m. You can also hear our Stories of Hope commercials airing daily on all three stations. This month’s ads feature students and staff from Ecole Plamondon School.
If you would like to be featured in our It Starts with Hope campaign, please contact communications@nlsd.ab.ca.
More Mental Health and Wellness Resources are available on our website, including
- Successful Families, Successful Kids resources for families,
- It Starts with Hope project (including our radio interviews)
- Mindful Minutes and Mindful Movements videos
- And an archive of all our Wellness Wednesday blogs.