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

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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?

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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.

9. 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!

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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)

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