Welcome to CHL Time(connected, healthy and learning)

Objectives

• Strengthen the nurse/teacher collaboration for reducing stress and anxiety in the classroom

• Provide a common language for teachers, admin staff, support personnel and community partners (emergency responders)

• Strengthen our understanding of stress-reducing practices and learning

• Provide all Middletown elementary school students with coping skills for managing personal stress

What challenges do you face with your students?

Increasing use of technological advances such as games and social media, and electronic communicationcombined with decrease in unstructured free play has left less time for the development of personal/social skills.

Stress and the Brain

• “Excessive stress damages the developing architecture, leading to vulnerability to lifelong problems in learning, behavior & overall health”.

-National Scientific Council of the Developing Child, 2007

https://youtu.be/gm9CIJ74Oxw

What about stress and anxiety?

Positive or Helpful anxiety

Helps keep us safe from real danger & helps us prepare for important things

Unhelpful Anxiety

Makes us scared of things that are not really dangerous & keeps us from doing things we want or need to do

What does anxiety feel like?• Increase heart

rate• Increased

breathing• Sweaty hands• Headaches• Stomachaches• Tense muscles

Students are introduced to language around what anxiety is (helpful anxiety and unhelpful anxiety) and how it might feel in their bodies.

Spring 2018:

K-Grade 5 survey of current practices that address calming/coping strategies.

The Results:

Reported strategies included: Nurturing Heart, Choose Love, Yoga 4 Classroom, The RULER, Growth Mindset, Go Noodle, Mind Gym, and journaling

There was no consistent or foundational (Universal) anxiety and stress reduction being practiced district-wide

And, students are taught if they are able to connect what they are feeling (anxiety and stress) in their bodies to employing one of the coping strategies…

• Deep breathing: slows breathing and heart rate; calms body; decreases anxiety

• Progressive muscle relaxation: loosens tensed muscles; improves physical health; decreases anxiety, or

• Visualization (guided imagery): changes focus to pleasant images; helps to feel in control of the body and mind

It’s CHL Time………let’s practice!RELAXATION (DEEP) BREATHING

FOLLOW THESE STEPS:

1. Inhaling through your nose take a deep breath!

• The goal is to take long, deep, slow breaths.

• Imagine that your stomach is a balloon –like a balloon it gets bigger when you inhale and shrinks as you exhale.

• Your stomach and chest should “puff out” when you fill it with air.

2. Hold for 3-5 seconds

3. Exhale through your mouth as if you are blowing out the candles on A birthday cake

4. Repeat 2-3 more times

PROGRESSIVE MUSCLE RELAXATION

FOLLOW THESE STEPS: 1.Bite down, shut your eyes really tight, wrinkle your forehead and

squeeze all the muscles of your face. Hold for 3 seconds. Relax and breathe.

2.Squeeze your fists, arms, and pull your shoulders up toward your ears. Hold for 3 seconds. Relax and breathe.

3.Squeeze your buttocks, and tighten your legs at the same time. Hold for 3 seconds. Relax and breathe.

4. Press your feet down into the floor, squeeze your calves and thighs. Hold for 3 seconds. Relax and breathe.

5. Tense your whole body – head to toe! Hold for 3 seconds. Relax and breathe.

VISUALIZATION or GUIDED IMAGERY

WORRY BALLOONS

Are you comfortable? OK, now let's start with something called a Balloon Breath. Let's breathe in very deeply and fill up our tummy like we're filling up a big balloon. Doesn't that fell good? Give your balloon a color. What color is your balloon? Make it really big as you fill it up completely.Breathing in from your nose, fill up your balloon completely and when it's full, exhale the air out and watch your balloon completely deflate! Good! Again a very deep breath, and now, exhale... very good.

Now just imagine that you are floating on a huge, white cloud. Feel how this fluffy light cloud totally supports your body and makes you feel so peaceful and light. The cloud seems to wrap itself around you so comfortably so you feel safe and warm. You have a feeling of being loved and cared for. It feels so great. Feel yourself floating on this soft wispy cloud, enjoying the gentle motion of this cloud as it glides and softly sways. There is a feeling of total peace and easiness.... it feels so wonderful to just relax here.

Now in just a moment, there is a large balloon that is going to float up near your cloud. This balloon is your blow away worry balloon. It's going to take away any worry you have, farfar away. See that balloon coming up, floating close to your cloud. Picture the balloon any color you want. Now, put any worry of fear you have up into the balloon..... just watch that worry go into the balloon and see how tightly and nicely the big balloon holds onto that worry for you. Whatever it is that you are worried about, just see that going into the big balloon.

…..cont’d

Feel it lifting up out of your body and going straight into that balloon. The balloon is helping you and loves to take away that worry for you. Now, the balloon is quickly floating far faraway. In the distance now, you see that balloon just pops a HUGE pop! And your worry is completely gone! How wonderful that feels! Now you see another balloon floating up to you on your nice fluffy cloud. This balloon is a different color. What color is this balloon? Now this is another blow away worry balloon and it's here to help! So put another worry into this balloon and watch it do the same as the first did.... it quickly floats far far away and then POPS! Wow... this is really amazing! Continue with new balloons until all your worries have been put in a balloon and drifted away.

Now that your worries have floated away in your worry balloons, you start to feel the sun shining it's beautiful warm rays down on you. You start to feel a very warm, calm feeling in your heart. You are a wonderful and special person. You are unique and amazing. Always remember that and keep that special feeling in your heart all the time. There is no one else like you. You are a very important part of the Universe and no one can do exactly what you do in the way you do it. Now when you are ready, you can float back down on your soft cloud and back to this room. It was a wonderful journey

Though all three strategies should be taught to your students, you can tie CHL Time in with practices that you

may already be using in your classroom…such as!

Nurturing Heart, Choose Love, Yoga 4 Classroom, The RULER, Growth Mindset, Go Noodle, Mind Gym, and journaling

You can also call upon the skills of CHL Time anytime you need to reground your students; and, encourage them to employ the skills independently when they need it. It is self-care:

• After you have explained a drill or emergency exercise during the school day you can also explain CHL Time as a means for coping during/after unexpected life events/emergencies

• Test time• In between classes or subjects• Following a negative interaction with another student

How can you make CHL Time an incentive to positive behaviors in your classroom?

This is for YOU, too!

We recognize that increasing academic demands are creating a school climate of stress and anxiety

Mid-year meetings with SY 2018-19 CHL Teams revealed…

…that the teachers benefitted from the CHL Time mental breaks too!

CHL Time with Nrs P!

Let’s create and enjoy a healthy teaching and learning environment…

….that supports self-care and tends to the “whole” person…ALL of us!

Little by little we can build a culture where health, wellness, and resilience are seamlessly integrated into our learning

culture!

Thank you for your time and attention. Feel free with questios, suggestions or comments to the school nurse in your assigned school orMary Emerling, RN, MPASchool Health Supervisor (860) 638-1454.