The Case for an SEL Curriculum
We are in a unique moment in education – an experience none of us have ever seen before. And yet, we know that we can’t take the foot off the gas. So what can we do? We must be explicit about social emotional learning.
Mental Health
Articles
Getting a Mental Health Diagnosis for Kids, Part Four: Sharing the Results with the Child
In this four-part series, we discuss mental health diagnoses for children. In part four, sharing the results with the child.
Getting a Mental Health Diagnosis for Kids, Part Three: Testing and Results
In this four-part series, we discuss mental health diagnoses for children. In part three, the process of testing.
Getting a Mental Health Diagnosis for Kids, Part Two: To Test or Not to Test
In this four-part series, we discuss mental health diagnoses for children. In part two, understanding when to test a child.
Getting a Mental Health Diagnosis for Kids, Part One: Destigmatizing Diagnosis
In this four-part series, we discuss mental health diagnoses for children. In part one, the stigma and fear that surround a mental health diagnosis.
My Mental Health Toolbox
Managing my mental health has been a journey and along the way I've gathered many tools to help. Read on to learn more about my mental health toolbox.
Four Simple Mental Health Concepts Kids Can Understand
Here are four easy things we can teach kids to help them understand and manage their social emotional and mental health.
Anxiety about Inflation? Try These Tips
Many of us are feeling the financial pinch related to inflation, rising gas prices and more. While it's easy to feel like inflation is something out of our control, there are things we can do to manage our stress and anxiety, as well as our finances, to make it through the tough times.
A Little Hope Everyday
After two years of uncertainty, mostly due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it feels time to start looking forward again. Let's start by doing this exercise to think about a little hope everyday.
Empathy in a Time of War
During a time of war, conversations can focus on empathy and shared humanity. Read more...
How to Prepare Yourself for Conversations about War with Kids
Before having a conversation with kids about war, it is important to take care of your own emotions and mental health in order to make the conversations with kids successful.
How I’m Managing My Own Mental Health When Things are Hard
The past few years have been incredibly overwhelming and scary for me, and while I am certainly not an expert in mental health and coping skills, I have found three things that work for me. Read on...
Why Negative Emotions Are Important
Dealing with negative emotions can be challenging, so for many of us, we'd rather ignore them. Let's take a look at why negative emotions are important and why it is important that we acknowledge and address them.
Three Ingredients for Deep Friendships
Friendships can be hard to build, and sometimes even harder to maintain. Here are three ingredients that can build and sustain lasting friendships.
Finding Joy in the Dreary Months of Winter
In these dreary months of winter, how can we be intentional about seeking out joy? Try bringing more joy into your life with these joyful ideas.
Let's Talk about Fight, Flight and Freeze
When we are faced with stress, we are impacted in primarily two places – the brain and the body. Let's take a look at these three common stress responses, fight, flight and freeze, and how they show up in our brain and body.
Overwhelmed? Try this One Small Trick.
Who isn’t feeling overwhelmed these days? Here is just one tiny little trick that might help for those days when it all feels like too much.
Self-Compassion When Things are Just Too Hard
Sometimes even basic self-care is too much when times are hard. So this week, let’s make it even simpler. Let’s focus on self-compassion.
Shy or Social Anxiety? How to Tell the Difference
How do we know when someone is experiencing a typical human experience – shyness, introversion – or when they may be suffering from clinical social anxiety? Let’s take a look.
12 Days of Holiday Self-Care
Sing along with us as we find 12 ways to take care of ourselves this holiday season!
Not Another Holiday Checklist
We don’t need another holiday checklist reminding us to make the most of this season. So instead, we’d like to offer you a very different kind of holiday checklist.
How to Use Winter Break to Actually Rest and Recharge
The winter break is approaching, and I’ve been feeling more stressed than excited. I decided to ask some friends and teachers how they plan to recharge and find joy over the break. Read their tips to make the most of your time off!
Should You Stay or Walk Away? (A Flowchart!)
Ever felt conflicted about whether you should stick with something or walk away? We’ve come up with a handy flowchart to help!
Five Quick Self-Care Strategies
Here are five quick things you can try if you’re having a rough day, a stressful encounter with another person, or just need a general pick-me-up.
Honoring Your Feelings on September 11th
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the September 11th attacks. In this post we discuss three important things you can do to honor your feelings on September 11th.
How to Build Hope in 2021: Lessons from an Educator and a Therapist
Though it can feel intangible and complex, how can we encourage others and ourselves to build hope this year?
Do We Treat Ourselves as We Treat Others?
It often feels indulgent to treat myself with the compassion that I show others. I feel as though being hard on myself is the best way to better myself. In fact, research shows the opposite is true.
The Four Tasks of Mourning
Mourning is the task of processing the grief but how does someone mourn? How do we process grief?
Understanding Grief
Many of us described our emotions in the last year as sadness, disappointment, fear, anger, pain, anxiety or numbness. But underneath all of these feelings is something we don’t often name. Grief.
Understanding Mourning
Grief is what we feel when we lose something. Mourning is the work we do to come out on the other side of the pain. Mourning is a task. It requires work. And it does not happen on its own.
Why We Need to Name Our Feelings
Emotions are complicated, and being able to examine and name our feelings is an important step in being emotionally intelligent and taking care of our own mental health.
The Science of Self-Care
If you want to know what type of self-care is going to be most effective and have the longest lasting results, let’s dive into the science.
Let's Make a Trauma Self-Care Plan
Trauma self-care is the act of caring for yourself while also caring for others. But we can only do it with a plan. Follow this downloadable guide to help you take care of your mental health.
What is Secondary Trauma?
Today we want to explore a very important topic for anyone who works with children: secondary trauma. Read through to learn more about secondary trauma and how it shows up.
A Week of Wellness: A Free Mental Health Workbook
Taking time to focus on your mental health can be a daunting task so we've got you covered with this free mental health workbook.
Your Inner Critic is a Frenemy
We all have an inner critic that pipes up at the most inconvenient times. Let's talk about why you should treat that inner critic as a frenemy.
30 Small Things You Can Do Today to Support Your Own Mental Health
Take time to try out one or more of these strategies to build and strengthen your mental health and wellness. After all, the journey of strong mental health is made up of a million steps.
When I Feel: A Free Mental Health Lesson Plan
This free lesson plan, When I Feel..., introduces students to the concept of mental health and helps them explore ways to manage their mental health. It can be adapted for any elementary or middle school classroom.
What is Compassion Fatigue?
Compassion fatigue is the cost of caring “too much”. It can occur as a result of helping, or wanting to help, those who are in need. But by identifying the signs early, teachers can be quick to respond in a resourceful way.
Week of Wins
Celebrating the wins, not matter how big or small, is a great way to help manage your mental health. This post provides an activity to help you count the wins.
Let's Talk about Burnout
Burnout can drain you of your passion and enthusiasm for your job, or even for life in general. Burnout is kind of like a fire that is slowly extinguishing. Learn how to mitigate the risks of burnout and keep those flames ignited.
You Are Doing Enough!
Sometimes you just need to be reminded that you are doing enough. So, consider this your reminder that, not matter what, you are doing enough.
The Small Things Add Up
Often when we feel like our mental health is not in the best place, we start looking for big things that could be causing us stress. When we aren't able to find a big issue that is causing the stress, it may be time to examine all of the small things because they could be adding up.
How to Find the Right Therapist for You, Part Two
In this Q&A, we discuss picking a therapist and determining if they're a fit.
How to Find the Right Therapist for You, Part One
In this Q&A, we discuss how to begin the process of choosing the therapist who can best support you in your mental health journey.
When Does Trauma Show Up?
What is the average amount of time between an early life traumatic event and the manifestation of symptoms? The answer might surprise you.
Is This Something I Can Control?
We face stressors every day and sometimes when we face multiple stressors, we can become overwhelmed. A helpful tool for managing stress is to ask, "Is this something I can control?"
We Have to Pay Attention to Adult Mental Health if We Want to Help Children
In order to help children reach their full potential, they must have adults who take care of their own mental health needs.
Your Brain Under Stress
Let’s take a look at the neurobiology of stress. What happens to your brain under stress?
What is Mental Health?
Because social emotional health is the intersection of social emotional learning and mental health, we talk a lot about mental health. But, what is mental health and how does it fit into overall health?
What is the Difference between SEL and Social Emotional Health?
While the term social emotional learning, or SEL, has gained momentum, here at Momentous Institute, we continue to focus on the term social emotional health.
Videos
Mindful Breathing With Our 3 Year Old's
Our Pre-K3 teacher, Juanita Cabrales, shows how we can teach children as young as 3 to focus on their breath.
The Upstairs and Downstairs Brain
How does a child's brain work? Well... It's complicated, but let's see if we can make it a little easier to understand. And with a little (a lot of) help from Dr. Tina Payne Bryson!
Overwhelmed? | Animated
Who isn’t feeling overwhelmed these days? Here is just one tiny little trick that might help for those days when it all feels like too much.
Where To Find Joy - with Ingrid Fetell Lee
Watch this short video featuring Ingrid Fetell Lee, author of Joyful: The Surprising Power of Ordinary Things to Create Extraordinary Happiness, for a little help on how to find joy. Ingrid was a featured speaker for our 2021 Changing the Odds conference - plans for our 2022 conference will be announced soon!
Park on Positive | Animated
Let’s take a moment today to pause the juggling and think about the positives.
Mental Stress During the Holidays | Animated
There’s no question that the way we typically celebrate at this time of year will look very different. To make the most of the coming months, clinician Dena Kohleriter offers three tips that can help support children’s mental health as we navigate this time.
Gratitude When Things Are Hard | Animated
Check out a few ways to practice gratitude with children even when hard things happen.
You Are Doing Enough! | Animated
Sometimes you just need to be reminded that you are doing enough. So, consider this your reminder that, not matter what, you are doing enough!
Don't Stress the Test! - Test Prep
Don't Stress! There are many ways to help eliminate those "big feelings" you may have during testing time and Seth is here to give you just a few.
Don't Stress the Test: Self-Care for Teachers
Testing can be just as stressful for teachers as it is for our students, so it's important to remember to take time for ourselves during this time.