Mental Health Supports

Mental Health Wellness in Schools

Our initiative, in partnership with community agencies, focuses on fostering positive mental health among children and youth by providing universal, targeted, and individualized supports. Through collaboration with Bonnyville FCSS, Cold Lake FCSS, Lac La Biche FCSS, and The Dragonfly Centre, we ensure access to resources that empower resilience, promote personal safety, and support well-being for students and families.

Contact and Support

Bonnyville Navigator
- Kirsten Lundgren: klundgren@lrcssd.ca
Cold Lake Navigator:
- Kim Dechaine: kdechaine@lrcssd.ca
Lac La Biche and Waskatenau Navigator:
- Darah Stronach: dstronach@lrcssd.ca

Mindfulness

God’s presence is our anchor. He is always near and we can always turn our thoughts to Him, enjoying His presence in the present moment.

Bible Verse: Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. ~ Matthew 28:20 NIV

Mindfulness is a simple method that helps people to learn to be present and to focus, notice, and respond to distractions, feelings and sensations, and increase gratitude.It is a preventative tool that helps kids and adults cope with emotional issues and manage increased stress.

What mindfulness involves:

Practicing the skill of deliberately paying attention to what is happening in the mind and body, including those which may no longer be helpful.
Learning the difference between reacting and responding, and how to create the space to make a choice between them.
A chance to learn how to respond more helpfully to the ‘stresses and strains’ of daily living.
A way of tuning in to what is positive and helpful in life.
Recognising the signs of stress and other difficulty before it has the chance to overwhelm you.
An opportunity to practice care and compassion for oneself and for others.
Controlling our thoughts to solve problems calmly.
Increase energy levels.

Research confirms that mindfulness can:

Mitigate the effects of bullying (Zhou, Liu, Niu, Sun, & Fan, 2016)
Enhance focus in children with ADHD (Zhang et al., 2016)
Reduce attention problems (Crescentini, Capurso, Furlan, & Fabbro, 2016)
Improve mental health and wellbeing
Improve social skills taught and practiced with children and adolescents.
Increase self-compassion
Increase emotional regulation/impulse control
Decrease anxiety

Mindfulness exercises you can practice:

Creative activities like colouring, painting, or making a craft.
Building with Lego.
Shoulder Raises: As you breathe in slowly lift your shoulders to your ears, as you exhale slowly let your shoulders go down. Repeat for 1 minutes.
4 and 6 Breathing: Breathe in for a count of 4 and exhale for a count of 6. Breathe in 1, 2, 3, 4, Breathe out 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,
Bubble bounce mindfulness activity

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEuFi9PxKuo