New Therapist-Amanda Putnum
About Amanda from Creative Healing Mental Health Center:
Everyone deserves to have a space where they feel they can fully be 100% authentically themselves. However, it can hard to know who that “authentic me” is after spending so much time masking who we are for other people just so we can appear to belong. We never really felt like we fit in no matter how much we tried to squish our sparkly and colorful star shaped selves into that beige round peg that everyone expects us to be.
My office is a space for you to be just who you are, and I can help you find your joy and true self once again. I get it. I spent tons of time masking to cover my ADHD and anxiety and chronic illness. We spend so much time pretending to be okay or to be less so we’re not “too much” for others that we aren’t quite sure how to simply be who we are when we get so damn tired of trying to be all the things everyone else expects. It can feel as though we’re defeated, and we’ll just never be good enough if we show up just as who we really are.
But we can navigate this together! You’re not really alone. As a counselor (and a pretty cool human), I love finding ways to help you get back to you and heal all the hurts that you’ve experienced along the way. I offer a space where you can work through anything, without judgment. There is nothing you can say that I haven’t heard or dealt with personally or professionally. We all have baggage, and I’m here to help you unpack and reorganize.
Cardinal Care Survey Results
Thank you for taking the Cardinal Care Staff Survey during our January PD day. This survey gives us valuable data. Below is the link to the District Results. Each school will be getting an individual school report on a later date (expected to be done in early May).
Here is a link to watch a video of the UW Population Health presenting the results of the survey.
On this survey was a link to be entered to win a prize. 15 people were chosen at random. They have won a stadium chair! These will be delivered next week! Congratulations, and thank you for completing the survey!
Here are the prize winners:
Amy Jarosz
Dave Schaller
Caitlin Foster
Eve Hass
Chloe VanDerLinden
Wendy Hanson
Amy Lauritzen
Dan Schimmel
Sara Ollmann
Barb Beaudette-Nowak
Dylan Haling
Michele Bergeron
Amanda Bjornson
Renee Parrish
Jess Onsager
School Based Mental Health is offered ALL SUMMER LONG at the Middle School!
Coalition for Expanding School-Based Mental Health PODCASTS
Episodes feature Coalition board representatives and invited guests – each bringing a unique perspective and experience within Wisconsin’s systems for supporting school mental health.
Through thoughtful discussions between mental health providers, school professionals and parents representing lived experience, the series explores each of the six components of Wisconsin’s comprehensive school mental health model including: 1) a continuum of mental health supports; 2) collaboration; 3) needs assessment and resource mapping; 4) mental health referral pathways; 5) sustainability; and 6) data.
Click HERE if you are interested in listening to the monthly podcasts! The Chippewa Falls Area Unified School District is featured in episode 3!
DBT Skills in Schools
Chippewa County has recieved a grant to fund our district in getting trained in the DBT STEPS-A program. While originally designed as a comprehensive curriculum, we are hoping to utilize the work as an intervention resource. There are multiple trainings being offered specifically designed for different roles in a school district and each will provide an overview of DBT as well as how you can best support your students.
Unfortunately, many of the students you work with are missing skills to help them overcome personal obstacles and stay on track toward their goals. DBT emphasizes building student skills in the following areas: mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotional regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness. While many of you already have experience in helping these students, we are excited to provide you the opportunity to add even more tools to your toolbox.
Secondary administrators attended training in February.
Pupil Service staff were trained in either March or April.
Classroom teachers will have an opportunity to get trained on August 1st-3rd.
If you are a classroom teacher interested in this training, please reach out to either Jamie Ganske or Britny Gabert.
SBMH extended to the YMCA after school care program!
NAMI Chippewa Valley Fundraiser Tee
Student and Family Assistance Program Data
School Based Mental Health data
Links to Some Past Resilient Cardinal Newsletters
February 2023 Resilient Cardinal
January 2023 Resilient Cardinal
December 2022 Resilient Cardinal
November 2022 Resilient Cardinal
October 2022 Resilient Cardinal
September 2022 Resilient Cardinal
February 2022 Resilient Cardinal
January 2022 Resilient Cardinal
December 2021 Resilient Cardinal
November 2021 Resilient Cardinal
Staff Consultation and Professional Development Available
CONSULTATION:
You can call 1-855-838-7170 at anytime and ask for consultation. This is NOT counseling.
Examples of what to use this for may include but are not limited to:
- If you have a student that you are concerned about, you can call and ask for ideas or strategies to use in the classroom to best support the student
- If you notice a trend in your classroom, such as high levels of anxiety, stress, anger, etc. you can call and ask for strategies to use in your classroom
Staff Professional Development:
We utilize Project AWARE grant funds to offer professional development around mental health and wellness during the Cardinal Conference. We can also use these funds to offer staff professional development at ANY TIME during the school year. This can take place during staff meetings, after school, or whenever works best.
These are the professional development opportunities we have done so far this year for staff:
Meditation Practices
Mindfulness
Examples of Staff professional development may include but are not limited to:
- Mindfulness
- Yoga
- Self Care
- Common Mental Health Issues in Schools
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Autism
- ADD/ADHD
- Understanding Suicide and Self Harm in Youth
- Understanding and Supporting Trauma in Schools
- Supporting LGBTQ+ Population in Schools
- Classroom Strategies to Support Self-Regulation
- Accentuating YOU (On Behalf of Your Team)
- Be YOUR Own Champion
- Being a BEST-ie - How to be Your BEST Colleague in the Workplace
- BEST-ie 2.0
- BESTologyTM
- Blue Ribbon Customer Service
- Budgeting to be Your BEST
- Change Champions: Leading People Through Change
- Communicate Like a Champion
- Dancing With Stress
- EQ- Another Piece of the Puzzle
- Fitness in a Busy World: Fitting in Fitness
- Fitting in Self-Care
- Generational Leadership
- Getting REAL with Your Goals
- Handling Difficult Conversations Like a Champion
- How to be Positive in a Sometimes Not Very Positive World
- Leading in a Crisis
- Mindful (or Mind full)
- Play Nice!
- The Confidence to Achieve
- The Speed of Light
- Time and Organizational Potluck
- Verbal Judo
- What's for Lunch
- What's in your Backpack?
- Your BEST Meeting Facilitation Skills
- Your Energy Story
- Your Personal Brand-Your Real BEST You
- Your Superpower-Resilience
***Click HERE to read a brief description about any of the professional development opportunities offered by REALiving
Please reach out if you would like help setting any of these up for your staff!
