Resilience and Mental Wellbeing Workshop Part 1 Tuesday 19th January 2016

Our aims for the session A better understanding of mental wellbeing 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 some facts In an average class of 15 year olds: 3 pupils could have a mental disorder 10 pupils could have witnessed their parents separate 1 pupil could have experienced the death of a parent 7 pupils are likely to have been bullied 6 pupils may be self harming Increasing numbers of pupils self-harming in primary schools The world has changed ~ mental health is not static but is dependent on circumstances Children are more ‘bubble wrapped’ now than in the past 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

Your turn! In your groups come up with a list of keywords which describe a person with good mental wellbeing Happy Balanced Communicator Open to new ideas Calculated risk taker Good relationships Positive Hopeful ‘Can do’ attitude Co-operative Resilient 5 minutes for discussion Paper and pens for discussion Groups to feedback keywords

Are we protecting our children in the right way? River scene How would you protect your child in this area? Resilience ~ teaching pupils to risk assess, swim and use what they know will help (life jacket) Now link the river as a representation of life ~ how will you protect them now?

How does resilience help? Provides the strength for life’s challenges Helps you to bounce back Solution focused not problem focused Good resilience is strongly correlated with academic achievement Provides the ability to cope with pressure and adversity Useful when learning from failure It develops a belief in own capacity to deal with problems in life Use Resilience Framework ~ give out to parents and talk through coloumns

What helps build resilience? Trusted adults Help with basics Sense of belonging Safe spaces Problem solving practice Learning to manage feelings Celebrating what they are good at Access to positive activities Positive contribution opportunities Sense of self-worth Sense of future ~ developing life skills Understanding what builds resilience ~ adults need to model! Share good something you do with your table group to help build your child’s resilience

Raising a resilient child Research shows that there are 7 key competences which are associated with resilience: Emotional regulation Impulse control Flexible thinking Empathy Self-efficacy Reaching out Focus will be on 2 or 3 (depending on time) the remaining key factors will be focused on in Workshop 2 in the second half of the spring term.

Emotional Regulation Ability to modulate and manage emotions ~ helps us to stay calm under pressure Babies ~ sucking thumb or holding onto a blanket (self- soothing) Not being stuck in an emotion ~ ability to recover and move on Emotions mustn't be ignored, they should be experienced and expressed constructively Help with calming down ~ set firm and caring limits Give choices for expressing feeling Teach them the strategies for calming down so they can apply them independently Model coping with your own emotions effectively Starts from babies Think about the language you and your family are using around problem solving and dealing with their emotional outbursts Ability to cope and come up with a plan of action Don’t give them days off or late mornings to recover from emotional outbursts ~ they won’t be able to do it when they have a job!

Impulse Control This is particularly hard for very young children! It’s the ability to stop , think through options and find a constructive path Ability to delay gratification, prioritise and reach goals Important that adults model impulse control When children start to show control, then praise and comment on it Give examples of when you have controlled your impulses Play games such as ‘Simon Says’ Highlight that emotional regulation and impulse control are the 2 most important components of resilience

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 Important to be hopeful and not be helpless Drill down into the facts don’t go by ‘Daily Mail’ headlines

Remember! ‘Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.’ (Winston Churchill) ‘Successful people are prepared to fail more, and they are more persistent than others.’ (Unknown) ‘Happiness is not the absence of problems but the ability to deal with them.’ (Jackson Brown) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CvExk1TVM0

Coming soon… Thank you for coming!  Resilience Workshop Part 2 in the spring term Thank you for coming! 