Healthy School News
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Is Unschooling the Way to Decolonize Education?
As the ongoing pandemic brings into sharp focus the ways kids are learning (or not), Next City looks at self-directed education, which respects each student’s passions, encourages self-sufficiency and turns the city into a classroom. The story about the United States...
Social Distancing is Hurting the Mental Health of Young People
The medical journal The Lancet has examined the impact of social distancing on adolescents. The summary points out that young people between the ages of 10 and 24 need to interact face-to-face with their peers to develop fully, both behaviourally and neurologically....
Reopen schools with a ‘golden age of play’
This article is a good reminder to focus kids' activities on play, physical exercise, the arts (music, drama, art, movement, etc.) as therapeutic outlets. Reopen schools with a 'golden age of play' Excerpt: When the novel coronavirus is no longer as great a threat and...
Music to Start Conversations With Teens
Lean on Me - ArtistsCAN You'll Never Walk Alone - Gerry & the Pacemakers High School Dropout - Neon Dreams Spirits - Strumbellas Why I Refuse to Let Technology Control Me - Prince Ea
Sleep is Your Superpower
Sleep is your life-support system and Mother Nature's best effort yet at immortality, says sleep scientist Matt Walker. In this deep dive into the science of slumber, Walker shares the wonderfully good things that happen when you get sleep -- and the alarmingly bad...
The Great Realization
This video offers a whimsical and hopeful look at how future generations will, hopefully, remember what the world has gone through with the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nw5KQMXDiM4
More information and less meaning
“We live in a world where there is more and more information and less and less meaning." - French sociologist, philosopher and cultural theorist Jean Baudrillard in his book Simulacra and Simulation. Baudrillard points to contemporary media and the mechanisms of Late...
Increase in online predators since COVID-19
It's "Fishing Season" for online predators. Child protection organizations are seeing a ’significant uptick” in predators using COVID-19 as an opportunity to exploit online. Sexual predators are ready to take advantage of increased screen time during COVID-19...
The Science of a Meaningful Life
Bring science of a "meaningful life" out of the lab. The University of California Berkeley website Greater Good Magazine bridges science and practice for school districts to investigate. The Greater Good Science Center studies the psychology, sociology, and...
When “I” is Replaced by “We”
When "I" is replaced by "we," even "illness" becomes "wellness." - Malcolm X From a window in Boston, posted by an RN named Judean. Words to remember now and always. It must be "we." (Source: Illinois Family Physicians on Twitter)
Nine Things all Children Need to be Resilient
How do you help your child be resilient? Researcher Dr. Michael Ungar of Dalhousie University has outlined the nine things that all children and teens need to be resilient and the strategies to help them grow. Structure Consequences Parent-child connections Lots and...
Essential Conditions for Taking a Comprehensive School Health Approach
Comprehensive school health is an internationally recognized framework for supporting improvements in students' educational outcomes while addressing school health in a planned, integrated and holistic way. Dr. Kate Storey, a researcher from the University of Alberta,...
Screen Time & Digital Media: Advice for Parents from Paediatricians
The guide Screen time and digital media: Advice for parents of school-aged children and teens from Caring for Kids: Information for parents from Canada’s paediatricians includes information and resources on: Family Media Plan Parental controls and privacy settings...
‘New 18 now is 28’: How screens delay teens’ emotional maturity
‘New 18 now is 28’: How screens delay teens’ emotional maturity - June 14, 2019 - CBC News The big question is why the delay? Rates of self-harm have increased among teens in Canada, the U.S., Australia and Europe. This is a concern in part because those who...
Resilience: Our ability to bounce back depends more on what’s around us than what’s within us
Some highlights to mull over from a long yet interesting article - Put Down the Self Help Books: Resilience is not a DIY Endeavour by Michael Ungur - Canada Research Chair in Child, Family and Community Resilience, a professor of social work at Dalhousie University...
How Parents Are Robbing Their Children Of Adulthood
Helicopter parenting is so 20th Century! Today’s “snowplow parents” keep their children’s futures obstacle-free — even when it means crossing ethical and legal boundaries. Snowplowing has gone so far, they say, that many young people are in crisis, lacking...
Can mindfulness lessons boost child mental health?
Mindfulness lessons are quickly growing in popularity in England as an antidote to stress the of being a young person in the 21st century. Does it work? There is the concern about avoiding the" quick fix approach." England's Department for Education is funding a major...
The power of vulnerability
Brene Brown, research professor at the University of Houston, has spent two decades studying courage, vulnerability, shame and empathy. She is the author of five #1 New York Times best sellers. Brown collected thousands of stories and pieces of data over 6 years of...
Characteristics of an Effective Health Education Curriculum
From the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention's Healthy Schools website: Today’s state-of-the-art health education curricula reflect the growing body of research that emphasizes Teaching functional health information (essential knowledge) Shaping personal...
Mental Health Woes are Commonplace in our Institutes of Higher Learning
Article: The sickening silence about suicide on campus Filling our students with knowledge is not enough; they deserve good health too. Andre Picard - Opinion section of the Globe and Mail, Tuesday March 25, 2019 Some highlights from the article: When schools refuse...
Ideas for Enhancing Support at Your School: Monthly Themes
UCLA's Center for Mental Health in Schools & Student/Learning Supports have some excellent resources on their website. Improve Teaching and Learning Supports by Addressing the Rhythms of the Year A culture of shared learning and positive risk-taking brings...
Digital Dementia
Do we need help? There is a need to maintain sacred spaces. Questions addressed in the video: Have we lost the ability to do certain things? How do we maintain a balance? Are we outsourcing our brains? Strategies are suggested for teens and parents. All adults and...
Positive Mental Health Toolkit
The Pan-Canadian Joint Consortium for School Health Positive Mental Health Toolkit is a very useful resource. This toolkit has been designed to promote positive mental health practices and perspectives within the school environment. The toolkit was developed for the...
UBC research explores why transition to high school puts some kids at risk of mental illness
The transition from elementary school to high school can be stressful. Like other major life changes, it can put children at greater risk for depression, anxiety and other psychiatric illnesses. The Depression, Anxiety and Stress Lab in the University of British...
Teens Today are Fighting a Battle
Has mental health become the crisis of a generation? Mental illness diagnoses have been on the rise for years especially among high school students. Research suggests that there are many causes for this but one thing is clear: Teenagers today are fighting a battle...
Vaping: A Risk for Young People?
Health Canada is ramping up efforts to tackle what it sees as an increasing problem and to warn young Canadians about the potential risks associated with vaping. The government body has launched a multi-phase planned campaign. Both anecdotal information and...
Phone Detox
I came across a wonderful article in the New York Times on phone detox: Do Not Disturb: How I Ditched My Phone and Unbroke My Brain - Kevin Roose, New York Times, February 29th, 2019 "I’ve been a heavy phone user for my entire adult life. But sometime last year, I...
Changing Education Paradigms
Sir Ken Robinson, a world-renowned education and creativity expert, fascinatingly talks about reasons to change education. We are still doing what we did in the past and this is alienating kids, according to Robinson. Robinson suggests that we need to think...
No Magic Formula
There is no magic formula for creating a healthy school community. There is no one-size-fits-all. Dr. Dan Reist of The Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research (CISUR), writes about the comprehensive school health approach that seeks to nurture a variety of...
School Health: Key Elements
School health research suggests that school communities need to have a variety of opportunities that will assist the school population to reach its full potential. A shared vision with realistic goals Collaboration based on trust and shared responsibility is central...