June2021 Counsellor Newsletter
 
GVSD COUNSELLOR NEWSLETTER
SUPPORTING COUNSELLORS
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It feels like a great relief to be working on the last Counselling Newsletter for the 2020-21 school year.  I am so proud of our counselling community - we have found the tenacity, resilience and professionalism to support our students and colleagues during these months of turmoil.  We all hope that everyone enjoys a truly well deserved, restorative break this summer!
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 When we mourn together, we heal together.
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community resources:
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Updated Community Resources:

WELLBEING
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Upcoming Heart-Mind Live Webinar: Creative Practices to Spark Connection & Well-Being - June 24

After living through a year like none other, the summer ahead calls us to explore creative opportunities for sparking joy, and renewing energy and focus in our lives.

Our next Heart-Mind Live webinar, Creative Practices to Spark Connection & Well-Being, will take place on June 24. Together we will learn and practice alongside experts in self-compassion and more, fostering a deeper connection to self and others and enhancing our overall well-being. 
We are thrilled that Dr. Kristin Neff is one of our featured panelists at this event!
Dr. Kristin Neff is an Associate Professor of Educational Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. A trailblazer in self-compassion research, she has written numerous academic articles and books, including Fierce Self-Compassion: How Women Can Harness Kindness to Speak Up, Claim Their Power, and Thrive.
Highlighted Resource
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Foundry BC app

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.

 

 

 

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Angela Heaton, is the new Jordan’s Principle Service Coordinator for the south Vancouver Island region out of the Victoria Native Friendship Centre.  She is available to provide support in coordinating services and Jordan’s Principle requests within the region.  

Angela Heaton

Jordan’s Principle Service Coordinator

Victoria Native Friendship Centre

231 Regina Avenue, Victoria, B.C. V8Z 1J6

Office: 250-384-3211 | Cell: 250-589-9040 | Fax: 250-384-1586 | Email: angela.h@vnfc.ca
Her role includes advocating and coordinating health, educational, cultural and social supports and services for First Nations children and youth aged 0-19.  She works with families to identify service and support needs for their child/children and then work to navigate the existing Federal, Provincial and community services.  When a gap or service barrier arises, or when existing services are not culturally appropriate or in the best interest of a specific child/group of children, then she will look into further substantiating the need to build justification for Jordan’s Principle funding and support. 
She is currently providing support to children and families that reside in the Greater Victoria/South Island region.  If there are any children/families that you think may benefit from assistance, please fill out a referral and/or feel free to contact her to discuss further.  
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Referral Form
 “Jordan could not talk, yet people around the world heard his message.  Jordan could not breathe on his own and yet he has given the breath of life to other children.  Jordan could not walk but he has taken steps that governments are now just learning to follow.” – Cindy Blackstock

 

 

 

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Toward the Heart

Harm Reduction Resources for everyone - youth, families and helping professionals.
Professional development:
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BCTF Workshops - Indigenous Education

A wide variety of workshops are offered support infusing Indigenous content into classrooms, teach about residential schools, and much more.

 

 

 

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Indigenous Canada - University of Alberta

About the Course: (No cost)

Indigenous Canada is a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) from the Faculty of Native Studies that explores Indigenous histories and contemporary issues in Canada.
From an Indigenous perspective, this course explores key issues facing Indigenous peoples today from a historical and critical perspective highlighting national and local Indigenous-settler relations.

Indigenous Canada is for students from faculties outside the Faculty of Native Studies with an interest in acquiring a basic familiarity with Indigenous/non-Indigenous relationships.
resources and articles
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FamilySmart has started a new workshop series called Help For The Hard Times. These workshops are for South Island families and caregivers whose child or youth has been a patient in a psychiatric unit or have had repeated hospital ER visits at Victoria General or Ledger House. These will be delivered every month and are facilitated by parents with lived experience and are hosted online.   
Details for 1-hour Workshops
Session 1: How to support a safety plan at home (Part 1)
Session 2: How to support a safety plan at home (Part 2) 
Session 3: How to take care of yourself and your family after a crisis 
Session 4: How to find the resources you need
Cost: Free
Dates & Times: June 7,9, 14 & 16 from 6 pm-7 pm 
July 13, 15, 20 & 22  from 4 pm - 5 pm
August 10, 12, 17, & 19 from 12 pm - 1 pm
For more information and registration: https://familysmart.ca/workshops/

 

 

 

Backpack Buddies

Backpack Buddies is a weekend meal program, working with schools to bridge the weekend hunger gap for kids in our community. Our bags contain 9 meal items plus fresh fruit and snacks, enough to last a child an entire weekend and beyond. Each item is child-friendly and easily consumable, meaning that if an adult is not present, the child is able to prepare the meal for themselves. Some of the food that you will find in the bags would be oatmeal packs, KD, Campbell's soup, goldfish crackers, and more. Please submit your names to Kara before the end of June to support planning for the fall.

Schools on our program select a representative (teacher, principal, counselor) who will relay to us how many kids need bags and will set up a system to distribute them before the weekend each week. Our stellar team of volunteers will then deliver your requested amount of bags each week, on the day of the week that works best for your school (typically a Thursday or Friday, but we are flexible).  Our program is funded by caring community donors and local grants, so it is provided at no cost to you.

If you are interested in knowing more about our program or introducing it at your school, please contact us at kara@backpackbuddies.ca. 

 

 

 

Project of Heart

To find out how your classroom or learning group can honour the memory of the children who died at the Kamloops IRS and at residential schools across Canada, Project of Heart has prepared a 6-step learning module that has been used by educators in thousands of classrooms from coast to coast. Click here to add and customize your text. What do you want to tell your contacts? You can format your text a few different ways - try bolding, underlining or writing in italics to emphasize what you want to say.

Residential Schools and Reconciliation Resources

The Indian Residential Schools and Reconciliation Teacher Resource Guides for grades 5, 10 and 11/12 were developed by the First Nations Education Steering Committee and the First Nations Schools Association. They are our response to the call by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada for education bodies to develop age-appropriate educational materials about Indian residential schools.

 

 

 

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Gladys We Never Knew

This eBook is intended to be an interactive resource leading educators from the story to the 'back story' utilizing links on each page to offer related resources. Throughout this book you will find Project of Heart tiles with an 'aura' which indicates that this is a link. Click on each of these tiles to find additional resources including films, videos, documents, articles, activities and more. 

 

 

 

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An article written by Joanne Mitchell:  May their Spirits Know, We Care

 

 

 

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First Nations Health Authority Indian Residential Schools Program

LINK to the Resource Page

The Indian Residential Schools Resolution Health Support Program provides mental health and emotional supports to eligible former Indian Residential School students and their families. The support is offered before, during and after their participation in Settlement Agreement processes and includes:
common experience payments
the independent assessment process
truth and reconciliation commission events and commemoration activities

 

 

 

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June 2021 Snapshot
Hello Summer!
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Counsellor Collaboration Update

Some feedback on the Counsellor Consultation Process for Teacher-Counsellors:

Dr Duff helped me to:
-Understand two children with complex needs that I am working with and focus my efforts on what was working (TIP, Attachment focus)
-Understand what my responsibility is and what it is not, which in turn reduced my stress level,
-Develop a practical self-care plan that has also reduced my stress and improved my effectiveness,
-Finally, I primarily practice from a Person-Centred and Attachment lens, so I found Dr Duff's CBT-oriented perspective to be refreshing and to expand my awareness

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Meet your Team

District Counselling Team Contact Info:

Secondary District Counsellor:                  Jennifer Chambers              jchambers@sd61.bc.ca            

Middle District Counsellor:                         Monique Moore                     mmoore@sd61.bc.ca               

Elementary District Counsellor:                 Maureen von Tigerstrom     mvontigerstrom@sd61.bc.ca

Youth & Family District Counsellor:           Jen Aston                              jaston@sd61.bc.ca                           
             

Additional Members of the District Mental Health Team:

District Behaviour Consultant:                      Dana Marchant                       dmarchant@sd61.bc.ca

District Principal:                                            Pam Halverson                      phalverson@sd61.bc.ca

Associate Superintendent:                            Harold Caldwell                      hcaldwell@sd61.bc.ca

 

 

 

Jennifer Chambers Secondary

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

SBT support throughout year for Secondary teams

Tri District Collaboration with Community partners for student support (i.e. Discovery, CYMH, Police) and to develop consistent interventions (VTRA, CIRT, Pro D for counsellors)

Mental Health Safety plans

Integrated case management meetings

Collaboration with District levelled Teams (Secondary), Complex Problem Solving Team and District Support Teams

Collaborating and connecting with community agencies to support students

VTRA (Assessments and training), Safer Schools Co-cordinator

Principal Review Committee and Diversion for Secondary

District based team meetings for Secondary (includes any referrals for Alternative Programs)

Collaborate and coordinate with middle/elementary district counsellor for counsellor collaborations and professional development (Refresher Series)

Monthly social emotional wellbeing snapshots for secondary school

Team and District Lead for CIRT including yearly training for staff

Spring Up to High School 

Monique Moore Middle

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

SBT support throughout year for Middle teams

Student observation and creation of student support plans to guide programming needs

Mental Health Safety plans

Integrated case management meetings

Collaboration with District levelled Teams (Middle), Complex Problem Solving Team and District Support Teams

Collaborating and connecting with community agencies to support students

VTRA

Principal Review Committee - Middle

District based team meetings for middle, and grade 9 (grade 9 DBT’s include any transitions to Alternative programs)

Collaborate and coordinate with district counsellors for Counsellor Collaborations and professional development

Monthly social emotional wellbeing snapshots for middle school

Staff professional development in Mental Health Literacy as well as CPI

Member of District CIRT

Spring Up to High School 

Maureen von Tigerstrom
Elementary

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

SBT support throughout year for Elementary teams

Student observation and creation of student support plans to guide programming needs

Mental Health Safety plans

Integrated case management meetings

Collaboration with District levelled Teams (Elementar), Complex Problem Solving Team and District Support Teams

Collaborating and connecting with community agencies to support students

VTRA

Principal Review Committee - Elementary

District based team meetings for elementary

Collaborate and coordinate with district counsellors for Counsellor Collaborations and professional development

Monthly social emotional wellbeing snapshots for elementary school

Staff professional development in Second Step (SEL) 

Member of District CIRT


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Jen Aston
District Youth and Family Counsellor

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.
District lead for facilitation of Y Teen Mindfulness Training for Counsellors and teachers.

Counselling support for youth and families not currently connected to a school or who didn't "land" through DBT processes. 

Co-facillitation of annual Connect Parent Group for parents of secondary students who have accessed District Based Team Supports. 

Individualized transition plans for students moving from elementary to middle or middle to Secondary School.
Integrated case management meetings

Collaborating and connecting with community agencies to support students

Collaboration with District levelled Teams (Elementary, Middle and Secondary), Complex Solving Team and District Support Teams

District Team supporting Social Emotional Wellness Advocates in Schools through professional development and ongoing support

Spring up to High School

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