Counseling Corner
Mental health is a place of well-being that allows young people to cope with the "stresses of life, realize their abilities, learn and work well, and contribute to their community" (WHO, Mental Health, 2025).
Childhood is a critical time for brain development and a prime time for establishing positive mental health routines (CDC.gov). One aspect of promoting positive mental health routines is living a healthy lifestyle and developing positive relationships. In addition, young people can practice something called, "Behavior Activation". This strategy helps children who might be experiencing low motivation; feeling unmotivated can lead to sadness and depression. "Behavior Activation" has children pick an activity and do it without waiting to feel happy or motivated (kidsmentalhealthfoundation.org).
Engaging in fun and valuable activities, even for a few minutes per day, can prevent depression and other mental health conditions. If a child is experiencing low motivation, set a small goal of going outside for 15 minutes and try something new or go back to an activity a child used to like to do. Try having a conversation with them about how our choices can affect our emotions (kidsmentalhealthfoundation.org).
The link below is a fun way for children to select activities to do to fulfill this goal and to help them feel happier and more accomplished for the day.
*As always, please consult a pediatrician or a member of the counseling team if you are noticing any growing concerns."
As part of our general education social-emotional support, ALL students will receive either weekly or biweekly social-emotional "SOAR" lessons. Kindergarten lessons are taught weekly and grades 1-5 are taught bi-weekly.
These lessons are based on the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) competencies. Some topics we cover include feeling identification and strategies, problem solving and conflict resolution, friendship and bullying, goal setting, exploring differences, and decision making. Each month, we will provide an updated newsletter which previews our lessons for the month ahead.
Ms. Dore will be teaching lessons and working directly with students in 1st, 2nd and 5th grade. Ms. Songin will be teaching lessons and working directly with students in Kindergarten, 3rd, and 4th grade.