DIGISCHOOLS.2021-1-RO01-KA220-SCH-000023611

It is important to highlight the importance that, in order to verify many of these signs, constant articulation between teacher and guardian is necessary. This relationship proves to be one of the most important acts for us to be able to act in favor of the best well-being for our students. Keep in mind that having just one symptom on this list doesn't mean that teen is experiencing a full-blown crisis.

WHAT CAN I DO IN MY DAILY PRATICE? Remember that mental wellness matters. Take the stigma out of mental health. Being able to admit to be struggling and needing help can be difficult for anyone regardless of age. It’s important to normalize conversations around mental health and emotions in class.

STRATEGIES FOR THE CLASSROOM STRENGTHEN STUDENTS´MENTAL HEALTH AND RESILIENCE - IN PERSON/FACE TO FACE, ONLINE, ... Make mental health part of the daily check-in. Work social-emotional competencies, starting for the self-awareness. self-awareness is critical for students to recognize when they’re struggling as well as identifying the tools necessary to get through it. help them enhance their self-awareness by talking through the impact of their actions and decisions on their overall well-being. For example, if they didn’t get enough sleep the night before, they might feel grumpy and snap at a friend.

STRATEGIES FOR THE CLASSROOM 1. Learn about your students' lives outside of school 2. Create a positive vibe 7. Allow absence from class 3. Give students time to talk 8. Let the music flow 4. Take breaks 9. Write it out 5. Incorporate calming mind-body exercise 10. Reinforce the importance of 6. Introduce specific mental health tools diet and sleep at home

The importance of soft skills It is known that in order to become As such, and integrated into even in hybrid society, it is necessary or distance to acquire certain learning, we skills - soft-skills - that cannot neglect the promotion are common to several of these same areas throughout life, skills to prepare and that can also be young people stimulated through the for social and professional teaching-learning integration . process in a school context.



When we talk about transversal or soft-skills, it boils down to coach young people to solve complex problems, preparing them for active citizenship in the community, stimulating critical and creative thinking , people management skills, time and conflicts, listening and communication skills, assertiveness, stress management, emotional intelligence, improving and working on interpersonal relationships, evaluation and decision making, cognitive flexibility, self- knowledge, self-confidence, autonomy, teamwork, resilience, leadership, adapting to change and so on and so forth.

HELPING STUDENTS TO CONNECT AND PROMOTING SOFT SKILLS IN CLASS Proposing tasks that put students in connection to each other Discussing and sharing pespectives Tasks with and ideias shared goals/missions, ... Classroom Debates Surveys Pair work Thematic discussions Interviews Group work Brainstorming and sharing ideas Presentations Role-playing Public speaking

HELPING STUDENTS TO CONNECT AND PROMOTING SOFT SKILLS OUT OF CLASS Propose the creation of podcast/newspaper/class Create small groups, radio channel responsible for school tasks. Encourage meetings outside school hours Stimulate Motivate Attending Volunteering Soft skills developing programs Sports pratice (especially, team sports)

KEEP IN MIND - Don´t forget to care for youself! As teachers, our own mental health has suffered since COVID-19 and the resulting stress and teacher shortages. We have a lot to deal with. We also need to take care and support ourselves. Showing self-care is also a good way of modelling our students!

KEEP IN MIND - Don´t forget to care for youself! . Don’t wait to ask others for help if you are feeling overwhelmed. It is normal and okay to feel this way. Find a family member or someone you can talk to. Make time for your own relationships. Try to find a few people that you can share feelings and experiences with. Set aside some time with them each day, to check in on how you are feeling.

KEEP IN MIND - Don´t forget to care for youself! Make time in your day to do the things that help you cope with and manage stress. Whether your day is busy or slow, we know that making time to look after yourself is essential for your wellbeing. Doing the things you like or simply taking a few minutes off from your day can help you feel relaxed and re- energized. Try different positive coping strategies that work for you. Some ideas include: exercising, talking with friends, making to-do lists or planning ahead, maintaining routines and structures, reflecting on what you are grateful for or proud of, and doing things you enjoy like music, art, dancing and keeping a journal

KEEP IN MIND It´s very important to share with your students where they can find to find support in different ways... For example: https://eusinto.me/ https://escolasaudavelmente.pt/ https://saudemental.min-saude.pt/linhas-de-crise/ https://www.sns24.gov.pt/servico/aconselhamento-psicologico-no-sns-24/ https://apavparajovens.pt/pt https://www.unesco.org/en/health-education This video is aimed at children and adolescents and describes: identity building, identity building to risky behaviors, risky behaviors in adolescence and solutions to these behaviors. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1B1jeqetHs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2R9JZy-w-44&t=1s

PROJECT RESULT OF KA220 2021-1-RO01-KA220-SCH-000023611 Cooperation partnerships in school education Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.

DIGISCHOOLS DIGI-GUIDE 2021-1-RO01-KA220-SCH-000023611 https://digischoolss.wixsite.com/my-site/home

DIGI-GUIDE As school counselors, counselling servives and guidance teachers , wetried to continue the counselling services ,reduce the students’ social exclusion risks ,help them improve their personal skills and be a responsible citizen during the pandemic. We also tried to find out the students who couldn’t join the online lessons. And we guide them ,talked to them and their parents . Here we want to share some solution-focused tools to help school counselors and guidance teachers during the unexpected periods like pandemic. https://digischoolss.wixsite.com/my-site/home

DIGI-GUIDE Counselors and guidance teachersin schools faced unprecedented challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. School buildings in many countries were closed, and in some countries they had hybrid education. some students attended school only remotely through online learning. Others were in school part time with reduced capacity, whereas some others returnede to a full-capacity school but urged to keep physically distant and with their faces covered throughout the long days. https://digischoolss.wixsite.com/my-site/home

DIGI-GUIDE In addition, because of pandemic management measures, students spent an unusual amount of time with their families, some of whom were under new and severe emotional, health and financial stress. Also we had many terrific news https://digischoolss.wixsite.com/my-site/home

DIGI-GUIDE So as school conselors and guidance teachers we must be prepared to support a wide array of student who are in risk of social isolation. We must assist many students with significant needs in a brief, flexible way in both remote and in-person venues will be particularly valued. https://digischoolss.wixsite.com/my-site/home

DIGI-GUIDE We must adapt the solution-focused model of counseling to wide range of problems, including grief, trauma and anxiety. It is appropriate for suicide prevention efforts, classroom lessons and even brief check-ins with students who are not demonstrating any outward sign of struggle. Instead of a deep dive into problem origination and causation, this form of counseling targets students’ hopes, resources, exceptions to problems and descriptions of a preferred future https://digischoolss.wixsite.com/my-site/home

DIGI-GUIDE Counseling in a modern, virtual world now means counseling through video calls without guarantees of confidentiality because students may be in only semiprivate or even public environments. Solution-focused counseling is not problem- phobic, but because of its embedded focus on goals, preferred futures, assets, resources and exceptions to problems, it poses less risk of revealing private, sensitive information that might be overheard by a family member at home. https://digischoolss.wixsite.com/my-site/home

DIGI-GUIDE Here there are some methods Three-minute check- Given the long absence from school and the limited amount of time students can be with school counselors, short three- to five-minute check-ins offer one practical way of providing support to students and gauging their emotional state. https://digischoolss.wixsite.com/my-site/home

DIGI-GUIDE Consider the following eight check-in questions: What is your best hope for this year? On a point scale of 1 to 10, where are you if 10 means that things are going as well as you could hope and 1 is the opposite? What are you most proud of in how you handled being at home for so long? https://digischoolss.wixsite.com/my-site/home

DIGI-GUIDE If this turns out to be a really good year, what is something you will have done to make it that way? Who will notice? Do you feel safe at school and home? Who is a trusted adult you can talk with if you are upset? Is there anything else you would like me to know? https://digischoolss.wixsite.com/my-site/home

DIGI-GUIDE These types of questions allow students to express their preferred future, their resources to help them get there and a description of what that future will be like, including who will notice. Humans are social animals, and having students describe what others will see in them when they are successful helps make the path visible to them. https://digischoolss.wixsite.com/my-site/home

DIGI-GUIDE Even if there is not time to ask all of these questions, getting students to describe their preferred future, their resources and their social supports will help them move in small steps toward something hopeful. It will also allow the counselor to gauge students’ emotional states and resources. https://digischoolss.wixsite.com/my-site/home

DIGI-GUIDE Grieving students Helping students cope with grief does not have to focus only on challenges and sadness. It can also effectively include conversations about joys and happiness. Students first need a counselor who will actively listen to their story of pain in losing a loved one (or a different loss), but a solution-focused counselor will also ask questions that seek descriptions of what the loved one liked to do and the positive aspects of the relationship. https://digischoolss.wixsite.com/my-site/home

DIGI-GUIDE Grieving students Questions about what the decedent did for the student, enjoyed about the student and how the student knows these things can draw out memories of the relationship and help the student see their own assets and strengths through that relationship. Asking what students sees in themselves that the decedent saw can create rich descriptions of the strength of that connection. https://digischoolss.wixsite.com/my-site/home

DIGI-GUIDE Grieving students Grief involves coping, so a solution- focused approach may include questions of how the student has managed to get out of bed and arrive at school, and what the decedent would be most pleased to see regarding how the student is getting along. For those students who are less verbal, allowing them to draw their coping skills or positive aspects of their relationship can supplant, or support, the dialogue. https://digischoolss.wixsite.com/my-site/home

DIGI-GUIDE Suicide prevention All school counselors and guidance teachers must be prepared to assess suicide risk in students. Unfortunately, given the diverse demands of school counseling, sometimes single meetings with students in the near term are all that are possible. https://digischoolss.wixsite.com/my-site/home

DIGI-GUIDE Suicide prevention solution-focused counseling offers a framework to go beyond just assessing suicide risk; it paves the way toward fostering hope and engaging in critical prevention work. In addition to the classic questions surrounding scaling (e.g., “What keeps you from being one number lower? What will you be doing when one number higher?”) and questions about best hopes and a preferred future, more nuanced questions may elicit additional solution-oriented thinking. Some examples include:

DIGI-GUIDE Suicide prevention If we asked the version of you that has been happier, what would that version tell you to do? What would that version remind you that works for you? How have you made it this far? When in the last week were things a little better? Who is on your support team? Who could we bring into this conversation? What job should we give that person? What would that person advise right now with how you are feeling?

DIGI-GUIDE Group counseling Group counseling in schools is often based on themes such as anxiety regulation, social skill development or anger management. In the midst of a pandemic, school counselors may want to expand groups beyond narrow themes to include more students.

DIGI-GUIDE Group counseling Taking a solution-focused approach allows a single group to include individuals with a variety of social and emotional needs. In the first group session, ask students about their best hope for how the group could help them. They can address their preferred future by describing what life would be like if things were better. Describing instances when this has happened and exceptions to the problem allows them to envision the change that is possible. Group members can then scale their current position, followed by questions of what idea they would be willing to try between now and the next session to move one step closer.

DIGI-GUIDE Subsequent sessions would start with each member reporting what is better since the last meeting, scaling their status and whether there were setbacks, describing how they coped and detailing what signs they will see when there is progress. To take advantage of the group dynamic, some of these questions could come from fellow members, or members could offer suggestions for what has worked for them. Ensuring that the group includes compliments from the leader and fellow members will help ensure that it is a positive and rewarding experience.

DIGI-GUIDE Group counseling In addition, incorporating activities into groups helps children express themselves in a variety of ways. Fortunately, there are abundant solution- oriented activities to employ. The following activities may be particularly useful: Cartoon panel: Ask students to draw their miracle day using a six-panel cartoon or, alternatively, six resources/strengths they possess or six challenges they overcame with the names of the people who supported them and the skills they learned.

DIGI-GUIDE Group counseling Mock interview: Prompt students to record a video interview of another student, or have them interview one another in a live video group stream. Prompts might include: What strengths did you use to overcome your challenge? How did you keep going and not give up? What advice do you have for others struggling with what you struggled with? Today, when you are being your best self, what are you doing well?

DIGI-GUIDE Group counseling Rainbow questions: Have students pick three different Lego pieces that you supply (if meeting in person), or just ask them to name their top three specific color choices. Then, based on the colors selected, have them answer color- coded questions. For Example

DIGI-GUIDE Group counseling Green: Imagine you are talking to your 5-year-old self. What is the wisest advice you would give yourself on how to handle being quarantined? Orange: What did you do to help yourself get along with your family during quarantine?

DIGI-GUIDE Group counseling Yellow: What is the nicest compliment you have received since the COVID-19 outbreak? Dark Blue: Who supported you best during the quarantine? what did they do? Black: What will your friends notice when you are your best self?

DIGI-GUIDE Group counseling List it: Ask students to take a piece of paper and draw a line down the middle. On one side write challenges, and on the other side list strengths, resources and trusted advisers who help them with those challenges.

DIGI-GUIDE Group counseling Face mask: Have students draw an outline of their face (or body) on each side of a page. On one side, ask them to draw or list what others see in them. On the opposite side, have them draw or list the strengths and resources they possess that others don’t know about.

DIGI-GUIDE Group counseling News reporter: Have students interview key people in their lives and learn what those individuals see as their strengths, skills and resources. Ask students to elicit examples and stories, then write up the information as a newspaper piece.

DIGI-GUIDE Morning meetings According to the Responsive Classroom approach, the goal of a class morning meeting is to “set the tone for respectful learning, establish a climate of trust, motivate students to feel significant, create empathy and encourage collaboration, and support social, emotional and academic learning.” Morning meetings are an easy opportunity to incorporate dialogue about the crisis in a way that can make evident to individual students their best hopes, personal resources, and instances of the preferred future being present.

DIGI-GUIDE Morning meetings Best hopes for the school year can be asked individually or as part of a group, such as, “What do we need as a group to end this school year well?”

MorDnIiGnIg-GmUeIDetEings Questions about resources and strengths could include, “When things were difficult, what was most helpful? What is something you tried that helped you to cope that you had never done before? Imagine you get in a time machine, go one year in the future and this troublem is finished. Look back to right now and describe something you are proud of in how you handled all of this Who was helpful to you? What would that person say if they were here describing something you did well? Whom do you admire and why? How are you like that person?”

Lessons DIGI-GUIDE Solution-focused lessons can incorporate scaling as well as movement. Best hopes or goal setting can include floor spots that are numbered 1 to 10 (or write numbers on separate pages). Students can take turns standing by their number and then taking a step forward and describing what they will be doing when they are one number higher. Alternatively, a number line from 1 to 10 can be drawn and hung on the wall in class, and students can put a Post-it sticker on the line where they are. For a video chat, they can simply say their current number.

DIGI-GUIDE Lessons Solution-focused lessons

DIGI-GUIDE Lessons Picturing their preferred future and their resources can be done through letter writing. Students can be asked to think about what they would like to be doing in their career and life in 20 years. Have them imagine they are living that life and they find out that they can get messages back to the past. Ask this successful adult who is living their hoped-for life to describe to their younger self the challenges they faced, the internal assets that helped most and the people who were supportive. Then have them give their best advice on how to navigate the next 20 years.

DIGI-GUIDE Lessons Students can also interview each other to learn about one another’s recent challenges and resources, including who has helped them, what was most helpful and advice they have for others. The unexpected problems like pandemic requires that school staff members adjust how learning occurs. Solution-focused techniques allow school counselors to be brief, flexible and powerful in their support of students facing an array of social, emotional and learning challenges.