Wellbeing & Friends Resilience Hub
Wellbeing
Schools play a vital role in the promotion of wellbeing through a range of activities and approaches to support the academic, physical, mental, emotional, social and spiritual development of all children and young people. Our education system is key to equipping children and young people with the knowledge, skills and competencies to deal with challenges that impact on their wellbeing.
Some of the programmes we use include Stay Safe, Walk Tall, Weaving Wellbeing and WebWise. Our wellbeing activities include participating in live webinars and workshops, hosting visiting authors and guests (sometimes furry and cute!) classroom yoga and meditation, chanting positive affirmations and signing up for wellbeing activities and Wellbeing Week.
We have recently signed up to the Friends Resilience Hub.
The FRIENDS programs are Australian developed, cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) based programs, endorsed by the World Health Organisation, as best practice for the prevention and treatment of anxiety and depression, promoting resilience in families, schools and communities.
The books and resources have developmentally appropriate techniques for different age groups, from young children to adults.
Anxiety affects over 20% of children in the primary school age group. If it is not dealt with appropriately, anxiety can severely impact a child’s development, and can ever create problems later in life. Anxiety causes a child excessive worry about things like homework, attending social gatherings, and even non-local events like natural disasters.
To help children to remember the FRIENDS concepts, and to bring structure to the sessions the FRIENDS acronym is used:
- Feelings (talk about your feelings and care about other people’s feelings)
- Relax (do “milkshake” breathing, have some quiet time)
- Ican try! (we can all try our best)
- Encourage (step plans to happy home)
- Nurture (quality time together doing fun activities)
- Don’t forget – be brave! (practice skills everyday with friends /family)
- Stay happy
FRIENDS for Life empowers participants to cope with the emotions of themselves and others by engaging with positive thoughts, emotions, and self-regulation strategies. The program also teaches creative alternatives to solving problems they would have previously shied away from, fostering the development of confidence and self-esteem. Most importantly, FRIENDS for Life encourages smiling, happiness and bravery, and facilitates smooth transitions into adolescence.
In Scoil Cholmáin we are committed to providing a holistic learning environment that enables each child to reach his / her true potential. We look forward to working on our wellbeing throughout the school year.
Our Bí Cineálta policy, Coiste Cineálta (child-led) and Coicís Cineálta will all feed into our wellbeing focuses at school.
