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Inspirational Quote:
"Autumn, the season that teaches us that change can be beautiful"
— Heather Stillufsen
November is the month of:
National pet cancer awareness
Stomach cancer awareness
National career development
Military family
Worldwide bereaved sibling
PTA healthy lifestyles
Prematurity awareness
Pancreatic cancer awareness
National scholarship
National novel writing month
National family literacy
Native American heritage
National marrow
Long-term care awareness
National home care & hospice
National family caregivers
National diabetes
National COPD awareness
National Alzheimer's disease
National adoption
Lung cancer awareness
Family stories
Epilepsy awareness
Diabetic eye disease
Banana pudding lovers
Aviation history
Adopt a senior pet
National gratitude
November is the month of gratitude and togetherness. The month when families and friends come together to appreciate their life and their connections with one another. Challenge: Think of something you are thankful for every morning as you wake up this month. Then reflect on how you feel at the end of the month!
Self-care is an important aspect of our wellbeing and mental health that is particularly important after experiencing events that increase stress and affect our ability to cope. Self-care is an ongoing practice that takes intention and patience to integrate into our daily lives.
Self Care Check ✔
_Eat regularly
_Get enough sleep
_Get outside
_Think positive thoughts
_Make space for downtime
_Take breaks from social media
_Read favorite books
_Listen to favorite music
_Communicate with family or friends
_Take time to chat with classmates/coworkers
_Take a break during the day
_Do what makes you feel at peace
Check out the Parents tab for information on new spring of 2025 Parenting Classes
Resources at Railroad 2025
We have an upcoming, exciting event that we want to share with you! Many of the local school district Mental Health Coordinators are partnering to host our third annual Resources at Railroad, an event to showcase mental health and wellness resources available to children and families in the Birmingham area. The event will be held Tuesday, March 18th from 4:00-6:00pm at Railroad Park. At the event, we will have vendor tables, music, food trucks, school performances, door prizes, and more!
Participating school districts this year include Bessemer, Birmingham, Fairfield, Homewood, Hoover, Jefferson County, Leeds, Midfield, Mountain Brook, Pelham, Tarrant, Trussville, Vestavia Hills, Alabama Aerospace and Aviation, Alabama School of Fine Arts, and Magic City Acceptance Academy.
We are looking forward to another successful event for our community, and we hope you can join us!
OUR CHRISTMAS BULLETIN THIS YEAR
Before the break, our kiddos created their own self-care stockings. Their ideas included: stretching, playing with animals, journaling, drawing, taking naps, helping others, playing sports, and many more!
December, 2024
CHRISTMAS FESTIVITIES WITH BBBS
December, 2024
Fall activity with our kiddos
This fall our students created their own ghosts of emotions. They each chose an emotion that they thought was important not to "ghost" and instead pay attention to. This was a great way for our students to communicate with others about the importance of listening to yourself and how you are feeling.
October, 2024
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
-the scariest emotions: fear, anxiety, and sadness
October, 2024
HOMECOMING PARADE
This year the Leeds City Schools Peer Helpers had their own float in the parade! Jodie Campbell, our Leeds elementary school counselor organized the event. Students brought in candy and created signs to promote the importance of not "ghosting" your mental health! We also gave out some "5 senses grounding" cards to promote mindfulness 💚
See below for some fun photos!
October, 2024
We are ready to kick off our Student Mental Health Week! Starting on Monday 9/30 and through Friday 10/4, we will have activities each day. We will also be collecting donations on some days and all profit will go to Hilinski's Hope Foundation💚
*See below for detailed daily activities.
STUDENT MENTAL HEALTH WEEK OVERVIEW
Monday "Healthy Sleep and Rest"
How many hours of sleep do you get per night? Many habits keep us from strong sleep patterns: late-night screen times, caffeine and sugar too late in the day, poor time management and procrastination, and stress about things that might have happened during the day or anxiety about what might happen tomorrow. Getting enough rest helps you to keep a clear head to help you deal with stress. Even just closing your eyes for a few moments and practicing deep breathing can help you to relax your working brain or help you to get to sleep.
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, children and adolescents who are not getting enough sleep have a higher risk of obesity, diabetes, injuries, poor mental health, and problems with attention and behavior. How much sleep someone needs depends on their age. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine has recommended that teenagers aged 13–18 years should sleep 8–10 hours per 24 hours. So choose today to start making a plan to go to sleep and train your body to get those needed hours and have time to recharge in order to face the next day’s challenges.
Tuesday "Food and Nutrition"
A healthy body is important for a healthy brain growth and development. Today we are focusing on healthy food and nutrition habits. In order to be healthy mentally, we need to focus on keeping our bodies safe and nourished. Eating healthy foods, exercising, and avoiding detrimental behaviors that hurt our bodies can all lead to a stronger and more positive mindset when it comes to mental health. It’s all connected.
Our Peer Helpers organized an activity for everyone to have little bit of encouragement. During lunch students had the opportunity to leave kind messages for each other.
Wednesday "Mindfulness and Exercise"
Certain strategies can help you to cope with stressful things that might or might not be out of your control. Learning these strategies can help you to keep your hope, resiliency, and positive attitude when things in your life are difficult. It is important to know how to deal with stress in healthy ways through mindfulness, exercise and other techniques. Exercise can have many benefits for mental health by relieving tension and stress, boosts physical and mental energy, and enhances well-being through the release of endorphins. Anything that gets you moving can help, but you’ll get a bigger benefit if you pay attention and focus on your breathing while staying present in the moment.
Thursday “Take a Break from Social Media”
Let's talk about taking a break from Social Media. Can you do it? Challenge yourself to look away! Need to keep some streaks? Do them all first thing in the morning and then put the phone away. No one is judging you...this is just an opportunity to see if you have the willpower to take a break. Why? Teens need emotional recess. You will also benefit from a moment to reassess your self-esteem and not have it manipulated by pictures and projected perfections of others.
Sometimes it is a habit to pick up a phone and go straight to a social media icon. Just for today, try to move the icon to a different place on your device so that it’s harder to get to. Just try it and see for yourself if you can feel your brain and emotions taking a break. There might be some information that you have to see for school, activities, or work, but you can control what checking is necessary and what might be mindless scrolling. When you start to feel jealous, fearful of missing out, anxious, imperfect, scared, or angry...it’s time to turn off those notifications and put it down for today...It’s not going anywhere. Give yourself a mental break and spend time connecting with friends and family.
Students were provided an opportunity to use these cards to connect with one another. This activity allows anyone playing to get to know their peers and find out things they would never have thought about!
Friday " Jersey Day"
Let's focus on creativity and play. Accumulating positives helps us to build a life worth living. Fun events like the pep rally and game can help foster positive experiences. Another way to accumulate positives is through creativity which can include things like painting, drawing, acting, singing or playing a musical instrument. Actively seeking and acknowledging joyful, fun moments helps us to cultivate emotional well-being and resilience. Let’s all go out tonight and support our Greenwave today and make an effort to be fully present and have fun! ROLL GREENWAVE!!!
PEER HELPERS 2024-2025
Just wrapped up our Peer Helpers trainings at Elementary, Middle, and High schools! Yay! Here's a photo of our sweet and awesome Peer Helpers at Leeds Elementary School!🎉
VITAL CONFERENCE
During our annual Mental Health Coordinator Conference we had the chance to hear Johnny Manziel speak about his personal experience with mental health and how he was affected during his career as a football player. The speach was very inspiring and most of all very encouraging. Johnny is a prime example that mental illness is okay and that there is hope things will get better.
Johnny tells the audience of stories when students reached out to him on social media and they had a deep conversation about expectations, pressure and the weight of having to be great all the time. He is now a golfer and a motivational speaker. Johnny travels the world sharing his experience with educators, mental health professionals, and students.
"help is okay, keep going"
- Johnny Manziel.
August, 2024
WELCOME BACK!
As the school year begins, we are excited for the opportunities and events planned for our students. Big Brothers Big Sisters, Peer Helpers, new parenting classes, and many more ideas coming!
We are excited to see all our kiddos and hope for a wonderful school year ahead!✏️🎒
-2024
Annual MHSC Reflection summit
Annual MHSC Reflection summit
Once a year all Mental Health School Coordinators of Alabama Gather to reflect on the yearly progress and share our thoughts. This photo depicts MHSC's from the 5th district of Alabama. We enjoyed hearing from everyone and being able to catch up with our colleagues! This event is something that allows us to come up with new ideas and find new opportunities for our city. We are hopeful that we can soon implement these new thoughts into our school system. So thankful for the opportunity!
April, 2024
Giving to the community
Giving to the community
Once a year the district brings the communtiy together to introduce local available resources.
October, 2023
Big brothers big sisters
Big brothers big sisters
And their sweet littles
2023-2024
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