- What question guided your inquiry and action plan? (HMW?)
How Might we… move towards building a collection of resources for students to reflect upon and self-regulate their well-being as needed depending on their age and stage?
2. What did you do and what impact did it have?
It might sound simple, but I talked to students! Through different Google forms, candid conversations, and intentional focus groups I genuinely wanted to hear what students wanted to do regarding well-being sessions. The aim was to build a bank of resources I could tap into next year and to create a physical well-being station that students could use to help regulate their well-being as needed.
3. What did you learn in the process? (Link to any resources)
I learned that there continues to be no one-size-fits-all solution for addressing the diverse and evolving needs of students as they move through their time at Havergal. Each phase and stage of their journey carries a different challenge. Stressors and issues are unique for every student and thus necessitate a specialized approach to well-being.
For example, younger students might benefit from resources that help promote social skills and emotional vocabulary to help clarify true needs and wants. While older junior school students may benefit more from specific tools and outlets to help manage academic pressure and identity exploration.
4. What is your big takeaway and what questions do you still have?
My big takeaway is that having a comprehensive and student-centric well-being resource collection should be considered an essential element in modern education. Giving students the tools they need to manage their mental health and stress, while at the same time promoting resilience and eventual ability to self-regulate will drastically improve well-being in schools.
I will continue to develop a physical and online resource collection that has the following core components.
- Emotional Literacy Tools: Havergal has invested in the RULER program and I think this is a great place to start.
- Stress Management Techniques: Having a variety of different tools for students to engage in stress management. Change to chill is a great resource.
- Digital Guidelines: Include resources for students to navigate online environments safely. Google’s Be Internet Awesome and Common Sense Media are great places to start!
Next up…creating the same kind of collection for staff!
Michael, you should talk to my colleague Bob Hayes. He is also a Cohort coach this session.
He has built an extensive toolkit/collection of resources to support well-being. I believe his is more geared to adults, but he is also using it with students.
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Kerrie, thank you for your message. I will be sure to catch up with Bob on Friday! I hope all is well on your end and I look forward to connecting with you on Friday. Take care.