Buddy Bench Ireland: social and emotional learning

Showing posts with label social and emotional learning. Show all posts

7 Ways to help your Child Bloom

Spring is in the air, seven ways to help your child to bloom rather than wilt…the Buddy Bench method.

As parents it’s a key concern to do everything we can to raise a happy, confident and creative child, but it can be difficult to see the difference between what actually works long term and what will eventually become a quick fix that didn’t work or even worse a total myth..

Years of research into how the mind works. The first and most important being that it’s best to start at the beginning! All too often we as a society try to ‘fix’ problems later down the line.

Reacting to what has already gone wrong. Research has indicated that as that old adage says ‘it’s far better to prevent than cure’. With that said, teaching children to identify and manage their emotions, thereby building emotional intelligence skills, resilience and wellbeing at the earliest possible age is certainly the way forward when it comes to preventing mental health issues further down the line. Yes even as young as three in our Little Buddies workshop.

7 top tips are supported by some of the pioneers of our time when it comes to Positive Psychology, Positive Thoughts and Empowering Children.

1.Teach your child to live in the moment! A wandering mind is an unhappy mind… It has often been said the the present is called just that because it is a gift! Matthew Killingsworth and Daniel Gilbert recently conducted an experiment that showed that focus on what we are doing rather than what has happened in the past or may happen in the future produced vastly increased levels of happiness…

2. Encourage positive emotions! Learning to purposely invoke feelings of love, happiness, care and appreciation is now proven to have profound positive effects on both our minds and bodies. Even greater is the ability to notice a negative emotion and choose to shift to a positive one instead.

3.Allow your child to play to their strengths, while learning to grow… Finding the balance between doing what is familiar and easy, with discovering new things and learning strengths we never knew we had is one of the keys to feeling happy and fulfilled.

4.Provide your child plenty of opportunities for love and connection… Research has shown that a child can increase their school grades through simply eating meals with their family and engaging in conversations. Put your devices away and chat.

5.Encourage your child to ask empowering questions… What else is possible? For example will generate completely different answers than What’s wrong with me, why can’t I do this? Asking empowering questions will cause your child’s brain to search for empowering answers, while asking dis-empowering questions will return answers that confirm the question being asked!

6.Encourage your child to build a vision for the future… If you don’t know where you’re going all roads lead there! If a child is able to decide from an early age what they want their future to look like they can engage something called the Reticular Activating System (the part of our brain responsible for seeing more red mini’s on the road than ever before once we either decide that’s what we want to buy or actually get one!). Once engaged the Reticular Activating System (RAS) is designed to seek out and move towards what we have created as a vision. Helping a child set goals, write them down and draw what they will look like will power rocket the RTA into action!

Last but not least, in fact vitally important is to

7.Celebrate Successes… Once a child has set and achieved even the smallest of goals, celebrate, celebrate, celebrate! Look for things to celebrate.

Why not pick up a journal for your child and get them to start with three things they are thankful for each day either written down or drawn on the pages so they can spend vital time feeling good about themselves and their lives.

www.buddybench.ie

Introduce Social and Emotional Learning into a School

Many of you are at the stage of introducing new ideas to the PTA, we found this article on seven suggestions for getting others at your school on board with social and emotional learning. More and more Irish teachers, principals and board members' are embracing the importance of SEL.

For social and emotional learning to become widespread in schools, those already dedicated have to bring in their hesitant colleagues. Award-winning journalist Steve Adubato has studied the process of getting buy-in in his book Lessons in Leadership (Rutgers University Press, 2016).

Seven Tips for Bringing People Around

Although Adubato’s book doesn’t focus specifically on education, I’d like to highlight some of his key ideas about buy-in and relate those to getting folks on board with social and emotional learning at your school. (All quotes are from his book, pp. 136-138.)

1. “Accentuate the positives, but don’t act as if there won’t be challenges,” Adubato advises. Remember, even if a change is challenging or difficult, many school staff and board members will accept it if they believe in you as a leader. Establish credibility and trust by recognizing the obstacles and challenges present, while communicating confidence that those hurdles can be overcome. Communicate that you’re not asking your colleagues to do something brand new. Other educators like them and in schools like theirs have implemented SEL successfully despite facing many of the same initial concerns, such as finding the time for lessons or worries about how to evaluate SEL progress.

2. Explain clearly how the status quo can actually be more dangerous and risky than the change. Change is difficult, so it will often seem easier to continue to do what we’ve been doing. As many of us know from our experiences in schools, overwhelmed educators are often operating in survival mode and resist change, taking the stance of “don’t rock the boat.”

“Really good leaders make it crystal clear that the risks of not changing present concrete and serious problems; make it clear what the payoff or tangible benefits of implementing this change will be.”

So when a school doesn’t adopt social and emotional learning and restorative practices, it may continue to face discipline problems that affect student safety and morale and take up precious instructional time. So SEL leaders must provide evidence and a convincing argument to show how the boat is, in fact, sinking or how some folks below deck are drowning. It has to become apparent why curriculum and class procedures and systems must change.

‘Instead of forcing everyone to fit into a fixed mould, we should be allowed to explore what we’re passionate about’ (Fourth year, female, co-educational school, Co Dublin)

3. Change is personal, not virtual. “Too many organizations try to sell the change through detailed standard-operating procedure manuals or highly detailed descriptions of the steps needed to implement the changes." Extensive online resources, though valuable and well intended, are more likely to be daunting than helpful at the beginning of a change process. This happens in education as well (web searching “best practices in implementing SEL in schools” yields 3.8 million results). Before passing out any curricular materials or resources, an SEL leader must begin with a clear conversation about what the vision is, how things will look and feel once the changes have taken place, and why those changes will be beneficial to all—students and teachers. Buy-in never happens through “compliance, command, and control.” It happens through understanding. Then the details can be better grappled with.

"‘Not all students are the same – one size does not fit all.’ (Third year, male, boys-only school, Co Monaghan)

4. Take the position that making progress on SEL is not negotiable but that you’re open to feedback and suggestions about exactly what happens and how it happens. Change cannot be rushed. Buy-in is like a layaway plan: Ownership comes over time. “Create an environment conducive to an honest dialogue, even if the feedback is difficult to hear.” When implementing a new system or program at their school, administrators must remember this: Don’t allow yourself to think that your way is the only way. Doubts exist, whether you think they’re justified or not. Open dialogue can be created in feedback forums, board meetings, emails, or a one-on-one with SEL leadership.

‘Help teachers to become more open-minded.’ (Second year, female, co-educational school, Co Waterford)

5. Those who are implementing SEL, or related curriculum changes, see things differently from those who are championing those changes. There are no magic or silver bullets in the change business. Successful change agents understand that they must understand and empathize with the position of their colleagues and act accordingly. One thing to be especially aware of is “change fatigue,” which is common in schools as a reaction when several programs are implemented simultaneously or even one program in a short time period. Even well-intentioned and necessary interventions have to be scaled down when they’re coming into a school, especially a school that has experienced a lot of programming changes and leadership or teacher turnover.

‘Make the teachers be happier in the environment not stressed and sad.’ (Fourth year, female, co-educational school, Co Cork)

6. “Celebrate and recognize any success or accomplishment associated with the change effort, no matter how small,” People want to be part of a winning team. Know that major change and victories are not likely to happen quickly. It’s important for leaders to remember that “real change about real problems and issues is a marathon, not a sprint.” Modelling patience, process, and progress will help foster SEL buy-in, especially in schools that link so much staff morale and worth to standardized test scores.

‘Have a proper system for mental health and exam stress... the availability of a designated person to discuss and facilitate issues and discussion.’ (Fifth year, male, co-educational school, Co Leitrim)

7. Don’t shy away from seeing yourself, and your like-minded colleagues, as leaders. Creating buy-in is a leadership activity, even if you’re doing it among your peers. You exercise leadership through your vision, passion, and commitment to students’ social and emotional learning and what it means for their future success in school, college, careers, community, and life.

‘I would appreciate if there was one class a day just to take time out and focus on mindfulness and well-being’ (Fourth year, female, girls-only school, Co Cork)

The inserts are taken from the report Minister Katherine Zappone TD and Minister Richard Bruton TD launched ‘So, how was school today?’ A ground breaking piece of research carried out by young people for young people.
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You are a Hero Programme 10yrs - 12+yrs

Happy Hub Cork City

You are a Hero Age 10yrs - 12+yrs

The school environment can be stressful; in addition to any issues children bring from home, as children grow older they become extremely sensitive to their place in peer groups. At the same time, a greater awareness of the larger world around them can cause children to become vulnerable to anxiety.

At this age, friendships are key to a child’s self image, and the responsibility of becoming a role model to younger children in the school can bring out the best in the senior classes in a school.

The Workshop
You are a Hero!
Friendship: How can you be a good friend to others?

You can’t be there for others if you don’t take care of yourself first!

Children are extraordinarily observant, and as they move outward into the world they want to take responsibility for their own wellbeing and that of other people, animals, the environment and so on.

Through discussion and role-play we introduce the idea that a real hero has self-awareness, can understand their own feelings and cultivate positive habits of thought, cares for their own mental health, knows their own strengths and develops skills to match, asks friends how they are doing, and knows how to listen well.
The You are a Hero! Activity Book gives tools for personal and social resilience, and invites children to become members of our Hero Club, ambassadors for friendship and self-fulfilment as they move towards adolescence.

"There is a page in the back of this workbook we ask the children to fill in and send back to us to receive their You are a Hero badge and a to be chance of winning a bigger prize, this can be done on an individual basis or as a class project. We want to hear the children's' voices we need their feedback."

The feedback from our programmes is very promising – we are currently completing an evaluation with the Mental Health Social Research Unit at NUI Maynooth. According to teachers’ ratings, children show more empathy and kindness and a greater ability to calm themselves down when they feel upset. Their social and emotional development has improved, the children showed improvement in the ability to think flexibly, and had cultivated the life skills that have been linked to health and success in later life.

Combined with the Buddy Bench as a visual tool in times of distress, the children were able to find comfort and support through each other rather than feeling upset and worried. It’s these small changes, spread across classrooms, that could make society more kind—and educate a new generation of more compassionate and connected adults.

In this workshop we ask that there be a small number of pre-chosen Buddy Ambassadors chosen from 6th class approx. 2 per hundred other students in the school., they can alternate. Their role will be to look after the younger children and monitor the Buddy Bench is being used correctly (within reason). Through our own internal evaluation we have found the more responsibility the children are given the better the outcomes.

To book us to come to your school and deliver any of our programmes email: hello@buddybench.ie

or call us on (0560 7702027

Why We Need To Make Mental Health Complusory in All Schools

Friendship & Empathy being key

Schools are where children and young people spend most of their day. It’s where friendships happen and where relationships form. It’s where they find their self-worth – in popularity, in sports, in achievements.
And it’s where mental health issues can become obvious – and exacerbated.
Every child will invariably have to deal with stress. It’s likely they’ll also encounter social exclusion, conflicts, or bullying at some stage throughout their lives.

Little Buddies Programme

It’s incredibly important that schools and parents are working together to prove the coping skills needed to live a hapy health life. It is vital that educating children and young people about mental health as a whole.

There’s a growing emphasis on schools providing mental health support. But in the majority of cases, this comes in the form of support only for children who directly ask for it.

Are we accepting that mental health is as important a part of life as physical health.?
PE lessons are compulsory in schools, because we view physical health as a crucial thing our children need to know about. We teach them about eating healthily, staying fit.

But are we ignoring the mental side of things – and can then lead to the extreme situation were they feel so lost and unable to get help.

Everyone has mental health. Mental health is something that everyone will have to deal with at some point in their life, whether in terms of getting help with mental well-being, helping someone else, or dealing with stressful moments and challenges.

Schools need to be portraying mental health as equally important and crucial as physical health (because it is) – and that starts with making mental health education a compulsory part of education across all schools.

Temple Street Children’s University Hospital's Report

The finding is based on an analysis of the initial assessment forms of 111 children attending the family-based W82GO service at Temple Street Children’s University Hospital in Dublin.

It found that 12% of the children who were bullied were missing days from school. Almost half of those teased were teased by their peers, although a small percentage (2%) were teased by strangers.

Temple Street started its obesity service for children in 2004 and the following year set up the W82GO programme that is delivered by a multidisciplinary team that includes a paediatrician, dietitian, nurse, chartered physiotherapist, and clinical psychologist.

Dr Samantha Doyle, a paediatrician and a member of the W82GO Healthy Lifestyles Programme team, said their analysis revealed a high proportion of emotional and behavioural problems along with bullying.

About 5% of the children were under five years of age, and the average age at initial consultation was around 10 years.

A third (33%) of the children were experiencing emotional difficulties but just under half (46%) were linked to mental health services before starting the programme.

The initial assessment also showed that 26% had behavioural difficulties, with just over half (52%) already attending a mental health service.

Almost a third (30%) of parents said their children had learning difficulties, a figure that is well above the National Council for Special Needs Education estimated prevalence rates of 23% in 2011.

It also emerged that 15% of the children needed some intervention for development delay.
While the degree of developmental delay varied, speech and autistic spectrum disorder made up a large proportion of the difficulties.

The study, published in the latest issue of the Irish Medical Journal, points out that the findings are in contrast to the data collected by The Growing Up in Ireland study, published in 2011.

It showed that most of the nine-year-old children analysed were developing without emotional problems, with 15% to 20% in difficulty.

Early Intervention being Key

Children should learn about mental health from a young age, and wellbeing should also be a fundamental priority in every aspect of the education system. Schools are critical in helping prevent mental health problems escalating, in building wellbeing and resilience and helping young people learn the skills they need to cope in today’s world.’

Lessons need to discuss mental health as something we all have to work on, teaching children relevant skills such as dealing with stress and change, understanding their own moods and thoughts, and recognising when to ask for help.

Wouldn't it be fantastic if all schools were discussing mental health, breaking down stigma and misconceptions, explaining treatment options, showing young people that there’s nothing ‘wrong’ with struggling – that they’re not weak, or stupid, or failing because they’re finding things difficult – and creating an environment where students actually feel able to not only recognise when they’re dealing with mental health issues, but to ask for help, too.

It’s not just about tackling children’s mental health issues. It’s about equipping them for adult life.

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