Please hold the following dates for Counsellor Zoom meetings starting at 8:30am:
                       
                       January 21st        
                        February 25th 
                        April 6th
                        May 19th           

Visit Committee for Children‘s YouTube channel every Monday through the end of January for a short video about mental health, presented by a licensed clinical psychologist. The weekly self-care videos will also include a daily practice grounded in research and SEL. These Winter Well-Being videos are created especially for parents. Share them with your students‘ families or watch them yourself!

This article focusses on increasing your resilience by exploring how you respond to your work. This will help you identify personal protective measures that may help you prevent vicarious trauma and burnout.

Second Step Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) gives students the tools to excel and out of the classroom.  This easy-to-teach program garners outstanding reviews from educators who've noticed schoolwide improvement and individual student progress in emotion management, situational awareness, and academic achievement.  

For teachers and counsellors who have yet to receive professional development with this resource, the following training dates and release time are available.  
Jan.11/18  12:30-3:00
Feb. 8/9  12:30-300

5 Most popular Early Learning and Elementary Snapshots
Click on book to find out!



January Middle and Secondary Posters
The goal is to have our students remember they all possess a super power that can transform lives!

In essence, the first wave was new to us all and some figured how to accommodate it but with the second wave, those we are concerned about know how difficult it was and feel the overwhelm of extended quarantine measures.  The best intervention that schools can provide is to be thoughtful and creative about how to stay connected to our students and their families as much as possible.

Listen, Protect, Connect: An Evidence-Informed ModelIn keeping with best practice guidelines, Psychological First Aid for Schools: Listen Protect Connect - Model and Teach is a model of immediate help focusing on support and assistance provided to students by adults who are employed by a school or school district, specifically, teachers, educational aides, administrators, and staff members.

These guidelines are provided by the authors as a resource for school district leaders, school administrators and community professionals who work with and support students and their families. They provide recommendations for thoughtful trauma-informed planning to prepare for re-entry back into the school setting during the pandemic. 

This Trauma-Sensitive Toolkit is designed as a resource for educators, mental health professionals, and families to help:
Understand ways that trauma may present in children and teens in various settings at home and within the online learning space, including  anxiety, hopelessness, withdrawal, irritability, depression, and exhaustion.  Equip you with accessible 7 yoga and mindfulness tools to support your children and teens through the effects of trauma, and Identify the compounding effects of multiple collective traumas on vulnerable youth, including marginalized, and/or disenfranchised individuals and communities.

In this toolkit, you will find tangible, effective tools to nurture healthy communication and connection as we navigate this uncertain time.  This toolkit is designed as a resource for caregivers in order to: better understand your own mental health needs as well as the needs of the youth in your life, provide ideas for sustaining self-care practices, and create connections between caregivers and youth.

This is a free family program for children aged 8 - 12 years old focused on supporting kids getting on a healthy weight lifestyle program.  It is a virtual, interactive program running from January to March, and is facilitated by a dietician. 


Families can register by visiting https://generationhealth.ca or by calling 1-888-650-3141.   

FREE 30 minute workshop and a toolkit for parenting with emotional intelligence.

Public health measures to fight COVID-19 have forced most of us to isolate more indoors. But for persons living in an abusive home, confinement can have serious consequences. If you‘re isolated with an abuser, use these tips and resources to protect your physical and psychological well-being.

It is a natural thing to have anxiety. It is normal for very young children to be afraid of the dark, or for school-age children to worry about making friends. But sometimes normal childhood anxiety morphs into something more serious. A young girl might be afraid to ever leave her mother‘s side, even to get on the school bus, or an anxious boy may need frequent reassurance over things that happened a month ago.

Kids can develop an anxiety disorder. Eventually the disorder can start interfering with a child‘s friendships, life at home, and work in school. Even so, the anxiety still might not be noticeable to parents and caregivers.

In girls, ADHD is often referred to as a “hidden disorder,” and with good reason. Most girls with ADHD have the inattentive type, which means that they have problems focusing but are not hyperactive and impulsive. But even those who are hyperactive and impulsive present with less obvious symptoms than boys, so it often goes unnoticed or unacknowledged. Instead of a diagnosis, girls with ADHD often get criticism from parents, teachers, and peers, and the fallout takes a serious toll on self-esteem.

Indigenous youth in BC are staying well, even during the pandemic. See their videos and read their pages to find out what they are doing to feel connected. 

Monthly until February.  Register now: https://buff.ly/3qpB6vb

Joanne Mitchell District Indigenous Counsellor
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