Written by: Suzanne Roberts, Social Emotional Learning Specialist At the risk of stating the obvious, it is vital for us to create an intentional plan for our physical health as we endeavor to take care of ourselves and others right now. We are likely following guidance and protocols that work to protect us and to slow the spread of the virus, including but not limited to washing our hands, wearing masks, creating physical distance between ourselves and others, not touching our faces, and staying home much of the time. It is also important for us to remember other basic ways that we need to care for our physical health – we need also to plan for optimal sleep, diet, and exercise. I tend to think about and refer to these basics as the three-legged stool upon which other self-care sits. Creating a plan to eat well, sleep enough, and exercise often provides a good foundation for us to feel well and up to the challenge of caring for ourselves and our loved ones during this time. It is easy to forget the importance of a healthy diet when we have so much going on, and there is nothing wrong with the easy occasional frozen pizza. We do not, however, feel our best if we are living exclusively on convenience items. Many of us are good at planning for well-balanced meals some or even most of the time. However, if that has slipped as stress has increased, now is a perfect time to revisit intentional meal planning and healthy eating. Giving our bodies the best fuel helps them to run as well as they can during times of varying levels of stress. Regular exercise can feel harder right now, depending on what your typical routine might include. Gyms and recreation centers are closed. We are under a stay-at-home order, which recommends most time spent at home. Exercise in your living room isn’t generally as fun as a pick-up game at the local court. So, we have to get creative and do something that works for us, whether that is running/walking outside while creating distance between ourselves and others, virtual fitness classes, games in the yard with the kids, jumping rope or hula hooping. Keeping ourselves moving – and for that matter outside when possible – keeps us feeling better. Exercise helps us to manage our stress, boost our immune systems, and improve our energy levels, so we want to exercise regularly. While good sleep can feel elusive during times of increased stress, its importance cannot be overstated. According to the University of Chicago Medical Center, “optimal sleep helps regulate mood, improve brain function, and increase energy and overall productivity during the day.” But how can we get optimal sleep during a time of uncertainty and high stress? We do so by examining our sleep hygiene and creating a routine that supports optimal sleep. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggest the following Tips for Better Sleep:
If you are doing these things and continuing to have trouble with consistent or optimal sleep, it could be helpful to also create a nightly routine that helps signal the brain that sleep is approaching. A helpful routine might include one or more of the following:
Is there something you can do to improve the way you are feeling by changing the way you are planning for sleep, diet, or exercise? If so, have fun with it and see the impact it can have. Until next time, take care of you! Take care of your family! Be safe and stay healthy! =) Written by: Suzanne Roberts, Social Emotional Learning Specialist Many of us have been in our homes now for about five weeks. That is five weeks of spending the vast majority of our waking – and for that matter sleeping – hours in our homes. This has been a huge shift for most, and has created new stress experiences. Many of us have recognized that this has been and continues to be really hard at times – for us and for our loved ones. We have thought in this series about some things that can help, and we continue that today. Today, let us consider the value of adding mindful practice into our daily activities.
Mindfulness is at its core the practice of being present, which sounds pretty simple and may not feel very helpful right now. But if we think about what we are not doing when we are being present, we begin to see how it can be very helpful at any time and especially helpful right now. When we are aware of and focusing on the present moment, we are not worrying about the past or the future. We are not thinking about all of the things that are currently out of our control. Or if we notice that we have a worry or concerning thought, we can notice it and let go of it in a new way. While mindfulness practices have roots in Buddhist traditions, the secular practice of mindfulness and its benefits have been researched for more than forty years here in the U.S. Jon Kabat Zinn introduced the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program through the University of Massachusetts Medical School in 1979, and the body of evidence supporting its benefits have continued to grow. Practicing mindfulness improves our immune systems, reduces heart rate and blood pressure, reduces negative emotions and stress, improves memory and attention, boosts confidence and creativity, increases feelings of well-being, and has a number of other positive health and mental health impacts. However, sometimes we don’t know quite where to start. We can start simply by taking a moment to breathe – to notice the breath and concentrate on the breath – how it feels entering and leaving the body – and to allow ourselves to slow. Taking mindful breaks throughout our day, even for just a few moments, allows for us to calm and reset and start anew. It doesn’t have to take a lot of time and doesn’t have to involve a lot of formal practice. It can, however, include formal practice, and many of those resources are currently available to us for free during this time of distancing and staying at home. Check out some of these free online guided meditations and mindfulness resources, if you are interested: Calm: https://blog.calm.com/blog/free-resources Mindful: https://www.mindful.org/free-mindfulness-resources-for-calm-during-covid-outbreak/ UCLA: https://www.uclahealth.org/marc/mindful-meditations Dartmouth: https://students.dartmouth.edu/wellness-center/wellness-mindfulness/relaxation-downloads/mindfulness-meditation Written by: Jill Athenour, M.A., C.E.P Jill Athenour, founder of Head to College, is a private college counselor with over 15 years of experience in college admissions. She has earned the profession’s highest designation of Certified Education Planner (CEP). She is a member of HECA (Higher Education Consultants Association) and has recently been elected to the Board of Directors as Standards and Ethics Chair. sContact your Counselor
During the remote learning time frame all of the counselors are still available to students and parents through multiple platforms. For students, counselors have created google forms for students to fill out if they need to set up an “appointment” with a counselor. Those forms can be found in google classrooms, on the counseling website, and in this article at the bottom. Counselors will “meet” with students in ways that students feel most comfortable, whether that is through email, google chat/meet/hangouts, or through telephone calls. We are here to support students who are struggling with remote learning, students who are struggling communicating with teachers, if students are experiencing social/emotional concerns, college/career planning, and/or just to talk to avoid isolation during quarantine. We miss all of our students greatly, and we want them to know we are always here for them. For parents, the best way to contact a counselor is through email. All of our emails are on the counseling website, and we will get back to you within a 24 hour time frame during the weekdays. Just like with students, if we need to meet with you on a different platform we will make ourselves available for that. We want to help support you while you support your students learning at home. Please do not hesitate to reach out to us. Here is the link to the counseling website, which has links to all of our google forms for students. https://sites.google.com/a/jeffcoschools.us/dhs-counseling-center/. SAT Update The national SAT exam scheduled for June 6th has been canceled. Based on the amount of school closures and recommendations from governments to limit the amount of large gatherings, the College Board has made the tough decision to cancel the national SAT on June 6th. They understand how difficult this may be for many students, so they have added an additional SAT in the fall. They will now be offering the SAT every month during the fall semester. These are the current known dates for the SAT: August 29th, September TBD, October 3rd, November 7th, and December 5th. Students can register for these exams on the College Board website. If for some reason schools do not reopen in the fall, College Board will provide a digital SAT for home use that will be similar the AP exams that will be offered this May. This will only happen if school does not return in the fall. For more information please visit the College Board website. Seniors We have a few updates that we need our seniors to pay attention to, so please read all the way through this section if you are a senior/senior family member. The first piece of information that we need you to tackle is the 2019-2020 Jeffco Senior Survey in Naviance. This survey is required for all students to fill out in order to have their final transcripts properly delivered to their desired institution. Students will not be able to start at a college or university next school year if they do not have their final transcripts sent. Directions on how to complete this survey will be displayed on Monday 4/20, on the senior google classroom. This classroom was created Friday morning, and all of the seniors should have received invites to the classroom through their Jeffco email. In this classroom we will make important announcements for seniors as they approach the end of the school year. We also are being flooded with scholarship opportunities. The current worldwide pandemic is leading to a decrease in scholarship applicants. We have updated the Naviance websites with scholarships, and here is a link to new scholarships that were sent our way this week scholarsapp.com/scholarships/in/Colorado. We encourage students to continue looking for scholarships, as there are multiple organizations looking to give their money away. If you meet the criteria we encourage you to apply, you never know, you may be the only one who does. If you have more scholarship questions please contact Kim McSwain at [email protected]. College Admissions Update Letter Below is a letter from a highly recognized college counselor in the Colorado area. We find this information very valuable, and will hopefully provide families answers to some burning college questions. Students and Parents, As with just about everything, the coronavirus has had a significant impact on college admissions. I work with high school students every day and see the toll this is taking. In an effort to help you through this time, I have provided some general tips and guidance below: Standardized Testing As of Thursday morning, the ACT is still scheduled for June. ACT was planning to offer a computer-based option starting in September anyway so they may be working on moving that option earlier. Many juniors are concerned because they have not been able to take the SAT or ACT since tests were cancelled in March and April as well. Rest assured, colleges are well aware of this and they are making adjustments. The list of test-optional schools is growing daily: University of Oregon, Boston University, Case Western, etc. This week Swarthmore, Tulane and Virginia Tech announced they will be experimenting with test-optional for a year or two. This was a trend that started some time ago, but that trend has accelerated with the recent SAT/ACT cancellations. It is worth noting that even for the schools that are test-optional, generally about 80 - 85% of the students who are accepted did submit test scores. That indicates to me that tests are not going to go away. However, this year, who knows?! With the June tests cancelling, we can expect to see even more schools going test optional. Researching Colleges In response to the Coronavirus, colleges across the nation have moved to virtual learning, closing their campus and sending students home for the duration of the semester. This move impacts not just current students but prospective students as well. There are many seniors making final decisions on which college to attend next fall, and juniors have had to cancel their plans to visit colleges this spring. While online research and virtual tours can’t replicate in-person experiences, there is an abundance of resources available for students to compare and evaluate colleges from home. College Websites: Do a deep dive into the websites. Look at curriculum requirements and opportunities for your prospective major. If you’re undecided, investigate advising resources for students with undeclared majors. Head to the section on student life and learn about student organizations and club sports. There is a wealth of information on every college website. Virtual Tours: Many colleges offer virtual tours on their websites. Campus Reel offers virtual tours of more than 300 colleges: https://www.campusreel.org/. College Admissions Offices: Reach out to your regional admission representative via phone or email to inquire about their plans. Ask for their recommendation on how best to experience the college virtually. See if they can connect you with a student ambassador through Skype or FaceTime. This is also a good way to demonstrate interest. Social Media: Facebook may not be your platform of choice, but most colleges have Facebook groups. Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat are resources as well. Search for YouTube videos on your colleges of interest and you’ll find plenty of students sharing information and experiences. Interviews: Turn to peers, neighbors and family members to ask about their experience if they attended colleges you are considering or ask if they know current students at those institutions with whom you can connect. There is a wealth of information available through virtual experiences so grab your laptop and cellphone and immerse yourself in research and discovery. Staying on Track Seniors, as you are weighing your final decision be sure to stay up on deadlines. May 1 has traditionally been National College Decision Day, although some colleges have extended their deadlines this year in response to the coronavirus outbreak. An updated list of those changes is available on the NACAC website. Juniors now is a good time to start the Common Application (a.k.a. the Common App). The Common App is used by over 800 colleges, and the benefit to you is that you only have to fill out details such as name, address, family information, and extracurricular activities one time. That's a huge time saver!
Be well. Jill Athenour Written by: Suzanne Roberts, Social Emotional Learning Specialist As we move through these days, it is important for us to continue to acknowledge the difficulties of what we face and the strengths we bring to bear in facing them. I hope we continue to practice self-compassion. Today, we add to these practices a review of how we are creating predictability in these unpredictable times. So much has changed in the last month, and one of the things we lost early on is a sense of predictability. I recognize that I am stating the obvious here, but it warrants consideration because many may not have created new measures of predictability in these last weeks. Taking the time to create them now or to revisit (and possibly tweak) what we have created can help us to feel less vulnerable and to lower the level of stress we are experiencing. When we think in terms of creating needed predictability for ourselves and our family members, Bessel van der Kolk recommends that we each:
Creating a daily schedule that is mindful of daily needs, work, social connections and things to look forward to can help us return to a comfortable sense of predictability. We know that our world is changed and that our old routines are not available to us currently. We implement new routines that reflect those changes right now, so that we increase the sense that we know what each day may bring at least on the micro level, and we look forward to the next. More thoughts on improving our sense of well-being to follow. In the meantime, it should be noted here that Bessel van der Kolk is a world-renowned researcher, educator, and author who has dedicated his life to understanding how we adapt and respond to traumatic experiences. If you would like more information about his work, please visit https://www.besselvanderkolk.com/ As these well-being updates are moving this week from the community messenger to Jag Tracks, if you would like to continue to access resources provided in earlier weeks, all segments are easily accessible on the counseling website at: https://sites.google.com/a/jeffcoschools.us/dhs-counseling-center/social-emotional/well-being-and-health-resources?authuser=0 |
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April 2022
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