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May 2024

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May 2024
John Everett

Hello Villa Community!

Welcome to the final edition of Mental Health Matters for the 2023-24 school year! We want to extend our gratitude for the support and partnership from our entire Villa community. At Villa, the Reinemund Center for Counseling and Wellness believes in the “it takes a village” adage, meaning that we all work together to help the children under our care learn the important skills and strategies they need for emotional and mental well-being. Your involvement and collaboration have been integral to our collective success, and we are proud of the progress our students made this year.

Monthly Highlights: Mental Health Awareness Month

Community Gathering: Mental Health Awareness 

May is Mental Health Awareness month, which provided the Villa Counseling Team multiple opportunities to share important mental health concepts with different groups of students. Two of those opportunities included spotlighting Mental Health Awareness at the May Community Gathering and hosting a series of Mental Health Counselor Talks in Middle School Advisory sessions. We engaged in meaningful demonstrations and conversations, which provided students with additional resources while reinforcing our commitment to mental health and well-being.

During the all-school Community Gathering, the Villa Counseling Team collaborated with 4th-grade teacher Ms. Call and 2nd-grade teacher Ms. Everett, to inspire the community with activities they lead in their classrooms. Ms. Call created an engaging and educational activity focused on the theme "name it to tame it." This activity helped students practice acknowledging and managing their emotions using the Zones of Regulation framework. Ms. Everett helped us learn to calm our bodies with breath work and finger positioning using a mindfulness activity called “Peace Begins with Me.”

The activities were practiced by all students and teachers across the entire school, empowering students with practical tools to understand and regulate their emotions. These practices are crucial in fostering resilience and emotional intelligence, skills that will benefit students throughout their lives. It was inspiring to see students and teachers across all grades participate with enthusiasm and openness, reinforcing our commitment to mental health and well-being.

In addition to the Community Gathering, we hosted a series of Mental Health Counselor Talks for the Middle School focused on mental health and emotional well-being. The Counselor Talks are a time for the Villa Counseling Team to present important social and emotional topics that are supported during advisory. This series focused on assuring that Middle School students understand the importance of mental health while having strategies to strengthen their own mental health and that of others. 

Key highlights from the Counselor Talks included:

  1. Understanding Mental Health: We defined mental health and discussed its significance. Students learned about protective and risk factors that can impact their mental health and how to identify them.

  2. Developing Emotional Muscles: We introduced the concept of emotional "muscles," explaining that, like physical muscles, emotional skills need to be trained and strengthened. Strategies for preparing, performing, and reflecting on emotional challenges were discussed.

  3. Acknowledge and Validate Feelings: Students practiced acknowledging and validating their emotions through structured activities. They learned phrases like "I feel... when you..." and "I wish..." to articulate their feelings and needs effectively.

  4. Advisory Practice Scenarios: Role-playing exercises allowed students to apply their learning to real-life situations, such as dealing with rumors or navigating friendships. These scenarios helped students recognize their bodies’ warning signs and choose strategies to return to a calm, regulated state.

 
CAPTION: Fourth Graders Edel and Collette help Mr Everett with a Zones of Regulation activity during the schoolwide gathering.
CAPTION: Students use hand signals to communicate what Zone they would be as The Counseling Team read emotion scenarios.
CAPTION: Dr. Luci explains to students how breathing activates the parasympathetic nervous system.
CAPTION: Middle school students engage in an advisory activity during the “Mental Health” Counselor Talk.

 

Stronger Together: Reinforcing SEL at Home - Parenting for Resilience

This month, we hosted our first-ever Preschool Counselor Coffee! One of the main goals this year for the Reinemund Center for Counseling and Wellness was to bolster our support for our Villa Preschool students and families. This Counselor Coffee served as a testament to this goal, as it brought together parents and the Counseling Team to discuss how we build resilience at Villa, as well as some practical strategies for fostering resilience at home. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive, and many parents expressed gratitude for the practical advice and community support.

Our discussion centered on three primary ways to build resilience:

  1. Model and Coach Self-Regulation: We emphasized the importance of adults modeling self-regulation behaviors and coaching children through their emotional experiences. This involves teaching children how to recognize their feelings and use appropriate strategies to manage them.

  2. Intentional Environments: Creating predictable schedules and routines both at home and at school helps children feel in control and secure. We shared examples from Villa, such as using books and puppets to teach emotions and setting up calm-down corners in classrooms.

  3. Warm and Responsive Relationships: Strong, supportive relationships are the foundation of resilience. We discussed the importance of being patient, encouraging, and responsive to children's needs, and how to handle situations requiring emotional repair.

Below are some highlights from the Parenting for Resilience Counselor Coffee. Here is the slide deck from the presentation.

    

Thank you!

Thank you for your continued partnership and support. We look forward to another year of growth and learning together. If there’s anything the Villa Counseling Team can do to support your child, please reach out to us at villa-counseling@thevilla.org.