NHSW Organization Spotlight: how are you feeling?
Name of Organization: How are you Feeling?
Location: Toronto
Mission: How Are You Feeling? provides a unique, and engaging, emotional and social health school program for adolescents that goes beyond coping strategies to regulate feelings and teaches them how to process their feelings.
They learn how crucial it is to their wellbeing to process their difficult and confounding feelings and avoid the dire consequences of suppressing them for too long, getting emotionally stuck, denying, defending, distracting, self-medicating and acting-out, resulting in anxiety, depression, shame, addiction, and obsessions.
How do you support youth/students?
Our graduate students are telling us the many ways they have used their HAYF knowledge months or even years after completing the program. If this program is not part of your school program, volunteer to join a focus groups. Most schools will accept 20 hours of volunteer hours if a student participates in our ongoing research project. Completed Surveys and written comments about the program are required to qualify for volunteer hours.
By the end of the program the students will have a new language and awareness about their emotional system, which will allow them to begin to take responsibility for their own emotional life—an important skill for an individual’s long-term emotional well being.
Do you offer support in-person, virtually, or both?
We offer support virtually, but we love to visit, tell our story and listen to your needs.
What does a Healthy School look like to your organization?
How Are You Feeling? teaches the necessity of healthy suppression of feelings in order to behave appropriately. However, it emphasizes how crucial it is to not push the feelings aside for very long. How to process feelings goes far beyond self-regulating coping techniques, such as Mindfulness, commonly taught in many schools. This resource speaks directly to students about achieving true emotional wellbeing by learning many ways to thoroughly process feelings.
A Healthy School is where kids feel safe, understood, known, heard, validated, and cared about. Where they are encouraged and empowered to express themselves authentically and to work through, or process, tough feelings and situations.
How can schools get connected/work with you?:
Evaluation Pilot: We can setup a moderated Pilot with selected staff and interested students. Program can be spread over 12 weeks, so it lessens demand on their time.
Moderated 2-hour Overview: If you would like to learn more before you start a pilot, join a moderated 2 hour Overview with selected clips and feedback from the students
Please contact Bob Calvert at bob.calvert@howareyoufeeling.org