Resilience and Mental Wellbeing Workshop Part 2 Wednesday 24th February 2016

Our aims for the session A better understanding of the importance of resilience in preventing mental health issues Strategies to develop resilience for adults and children Welcome Thanks to PTA for refreshments Mobile phones Toilets Interactive session for all to participate

Let’s start with a recap Nationally mental health is fast becoming a concern, particularly in young people Developing resilience can help prevent mental health disorders such as high anxiety and helplessness Our children live in an extremely protected world Our children are becoming less resilient despite our attempts to protect them even more A picture of the current challenges and findings ~ what we need to prepare our children to experience and cope with We are talking about mental health disorders not mental illness

The 2 most important ingredients for resilience Emotional regulation ~ ability to modulate and manage emotions, helps us to stay calm under pressure Impulse control ~ it’s the ability to stop, think through options and find a constructive path, the ability to delay gratification, prioritise and reach goals Can anyone remember? We should still acknowledge emotions but in an appropriate way

The 7 key ingredients to building resilience Emotional regulation Impulse control Flexible thinking Realistic optimism Empathy Self-efficacy Reaching out

Flexible Thinking How we think about a situation affects our feelings Glass ½ empty versus glass ½ full Overly pessimistic leaves people feeling anxious and helpless Step back and look at the bigger picture and then start to look for solutions Help identify the facts and the actual problem Challenge initial reactions Remember when other problems weren’t as bad as initially thought Keep talking don’t get stuck in mind-set The morning group didn’t get this far! Important to be hopeful and not be helpless Drill down into the facts don’t go by ‘Daily Mail’ headlines

Realistic Optimism Expect a good outcome ~ self fulfilling prophecy Having an exploratory mind set Making the best of a situation Optimism is a set of skills which can be learnt It takes effort to work towards a positive outcome Make sure you model this to your child when you encounter failure and setbacks Talk about failure as an opportunity to learn what can be done With person next to you talk about a time when something went wrong but it turned out to be a ‘blessing in disguise’

Empathy This is the key to maintaining relationships Emotional intelligence ~ seeing things through others’ eyes and tailoring your approach and response as a result Responding to others emotional needs with care and understanding Listening carefully and closely Validate feelings ~ helps to understand why others have reacted in a particular way and stops it from feeling so threatening Use play opportunities to develop empathy Verbally reinforce empathetic behaviour ~ ‘I wonder if …’ Empathy is now used through Restorative Justice approaches to help people understand the consequences of their behaviour/actions

Self Efficacy Helping people to feel that they are effective in the world Resilient people believe that they can make a difference and can change things Self efficacy can help prevent Post Traumatic Stress Disorder It gives people the confidence to tackle difficulties It fuels hope, self belief and optimism Help your child by giving them choices ~ allow them to make decisions, DON’T do everything for them, allow them to struggle sometimes ~ we do! Problem solve together ~ build a sense of mastery Keep reflecting on the small successes so far based on their decisions and actions Share with person next to them or within the group the latest difficulty they had to face ~ did they need to have self confidence to do this? Where did it come from.

Reaching Out Taking risks ~ mix it up! Try something new See mistakes as opportunities for learning Model learning from mistakes Model asking for help ~ talk through who can help and that there is always somebody out there to help you Point out how much has been learnt Celebrate how well they coped in unexpected situations Asking for help is not a sign of weakness! When they are challenged who do they reach out to?

Growing resilience It will ebb and flow over time Resilience is grounded in secure attachments with care givers and caring relationships Create a resilient rich environment Modelling is key Talk with pupils and using opportunities to model it

And finally … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CvExk1TVM0 ‘Resilience is accepting your new reality, even if it's less good than the one you had before. You can fight it, you can do nothing but scream about what you've lost, or you can accept that and try to put together something that's good.’ ― Elizabeth Edwards ‘The bend in the road is not the end of the road unless you refuse to take the turn.’ Unknown ‘The strongest oak of the forest is not the one that is protected from the storm and hidden from the sun. It's the one that stands in the open where it is compelled to struggle for its existence against the winds and rains and the scorching sun.’ Napoleon Hill https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CvExk1TVM0 Watch film clip!!!

And the winner is … Draw names for the restaurant voucher