ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE and the Science Behind It :)

Happy November Norsemen, We are now nearly 3-full-months into our 2018 school year, and I hope you are all adjusting well. I know it has been flying by for me. Last month, I focused on educating students on the “facts” of mental health. During my morning “mindful moments” I shared statistics and factual information on how mental health impacts Americans and how we can approach it as individuals. I was also provided the opportunity to present to the freshmen class on tools and techniques to help cope with stress and develop healthy time-management skills. The students were very respectful and provided insightful feedback. During my time I helped guide them through a form of meditation where we brought awareness to our body and scanned how we were feeling in the present moment. The students reported positive experiences and shared that they felt calm and more prepared to focus after the exercise. Hopefully they will continue to implement this skill into their daily life! Newark High School was gracious enough to send me to a social work conference in October, where I learned about trauma in schools. The information was eye opening, and extremely helpful. With the information I obtained at this conference, I am planning to present to our NCHS staff on how we as a school can approach our students with compassion and empathy, and how we can approach our students with a “trauma lens” to navigate them to success. We all need reminders that every individual has their own story, and these life experiences should be considered in all interactions. For November we will be shifting our focus to GRATITUDE. We will discuss cultivating an ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE, and I will be encouraging students and staff to participate in gratitude exercises. Science has recently taken an interest to Gratitude, and the findings are amazing. Through research, it is suggested that gratitude improves the following:

1. Increase happiness and resiliency
2. Decrease depression and anxiety
3. Decrease blood pressure and chronic pain
4. Improve sleep and energy
5. LIVE LONGER WITH HIGHER QUALITY OF LIFE
6. Increase self esteem, compassion, and empathy (which increases relationships with self and others)
7. Gratitude has been shown to “rewire” the brain, increasing the amount of serotonin and dopamine released in the brain, these are the same neurotransmitters produced with anti-depressants (please do not consider replacing your medication with gratitude, just yet, please seek your doctors assistance)
8. Expressing frequent gratitude trains/builds the prefrontal cortex within the brain, which is the area of the brain responsible for retaining positive experiences and deflecting negative ones.

After reading through those 8 positive outcomes and changes after practicing gratitude, I am curious, how do you think adapting an attitude of gratitude can improve your over all life? My challenge for you all is to begin a gratitude journal or activity. The key here is to focus on not just a list, rather an experience. Even more important, this experience must have occurred within the last 24 hours. The purpose of the activity is to shift your focus from those “not so great things” to the positive’s presently occurring. Go ahead and try, research suggest that by doing this for only 2 weeks, you will be on average 9% happier, even if you discontinue the practice. I am grateful for all of you, for my husband who has encouraged and supported me to work in schools, for my children who share their time with me, and for the Newark community for accepting me into their students lives. Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving break, and please do not forget the reason for the season. Happy Holidays Newark! Kindly, Mrs. Olin School Social Worker

Open Minded October

Happy October Norsemen!

September was a fun and busy month. Homecoming was so special! When I accepted the position I was told how homecoming was a “really big deal”- even with that information I underestimated it! HOW FUN! Newark is
truly blessed to have such a small school and community where we can have school wide games and spend school time having fun with friends. As the junior class sponsor, I had a wonderful time getting to know the students a little
better and learning their strengths as a class!

October will be engulfed with bringing awareness to mental health. Last month I discussed suicide prevention with the students during lunch. This month I will be educating the students on different mental illnesses, causes, and treatment. I am hoping that this information will help reduce the stigma that is so often attached to mental health. I would love for the students to not only understand that severity of mental health, but also grasp the normalcy of mental health. So many of us are impacted by mental health daily, and yet it often goes unrecognized or untreated.

My goal in educating the students about mental health is to reduce the judgment that is often linked with this form of illness and improve their understanding of signs, symptoms, and how they as students can help. I will be providing resources to the students; I encourage you as family members to discuss mental health with your students. I will also challenge you all to do one activity DAILY that will improve your
mental and emotional wellness!

I wish you all a peaceful and happy October. Please do not hesitate to call me with questions or concerns. I am happy to help in any way possible!

Sincerely,
Mrs. Olin, MSW, LSW
School Social Worker
Newark Community High School

“Our minds are like parachutes, they only work when open”

If we remove judgment and harsh opinions, insert curiosity and acceptance. The world would be a happier more content place.