2024 CDE Fall Conference: Creating a Landscape of Wellbeing and Belonging

Using the PERMA model from the Center for Rural School Health & Education to define wellbeing as Positive Emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, and Accomplishment, we will look deeper into the ways wellbeing can be supported throughout Rural Communities as it relates to staff, families, and student experiences.

Session Objectives:

• Connect with other rural districts to provide ongoing support
• Examine and review supportive structures of building relationships in your rural community
• Discover new ways empower students in their own wellbeing

Ever set a wellness goal only to find yourself struggling to make progress? You’re not alone! Maybe your wellness blueprint is lacking scale, lines, views, or measurements for you to be successful. Together let's establish a powerful wellness blueprint by learning how the components of physical and mental wellness are the foundation for well-being. Learn to develop routines that are scaled, lined, viewed, and measured, that when implemented overtime help you to become the Best Version of You!!!

Session Objectives:

• Explore the components of physical and mental wellness and their role in establishing overall well-being.
• Understand how gradual, consistent improvement can enhance wellness over time.
• Learn effective strategies to build incremental shifts in habits for sustainable wellness routines.

Discover a variety of opportunities in your community to expand the wellness programming for your staff, students, and families. Louie and Jess will share examples on partnering with businesses for free or minimal cost that can impact the physical, social, mental and nutritional health of your school community.

Session Objectives:

• Participants will leave with new ideas for partnership for school and/or district wellness programming. 
• Participants will be able to identify new ideas for partnership for staff, student, and family wellness programming.
• Participants will be able to identify at least one program or event they can implement/promote for free or minimal cost.

As educators, we dedicate our lives to the wellbeing and success of our students. But rarely do we take the time to care for ourselves. This presentation will equip you with skills to fill up your own cup, so that you can support the wellbeing of your students without burning out and be a role model for self-care. You will learn a new definition of resilience and how it helps you respond to life’s challenges, why it’s so important to maintain your energy, and how to work with negative self-talk so that you don’t reach a state of overwhelm.

Session Objectives:

(1) What resilience really is and how it helps you respond to life's challenges
(2) How to work with negative self-talk so that you don't reach a state of overwhelm
(3) The importance of maintaining your own energy and a personalized plan to create resilience

In this session, participants will learn how to integrate the latest in neuroscience research from Dr. Lori Desautels’ into their school counseling program. Participants will engage in different techniques that can help shift the energy in their classrooms and counseling sessions, as well as walking away with a list of over 100 three to five minute activities. This session will also describe how the Cripple Creek Victor School District utilizes their district level neuroscience educator, and the grants surrounding that position. This session will have a presentation piece as well as hands-on activities to get participants engaged with neuroscience.

Session Objectives:

1. Objective One: Participants will have an understanding of their own brain and nervous system states.
2. Objective Two: Participants will walk away with neuroscience strategies and mindfulness strategies to implement immediately.
3. Objective Three: Participants will understand the importance of coregulation, and strategies around coregulation.

Increasing mental health concerns among young people are reflected nationally in the recent US Surgeon General’s Advisory on Student Mental Health and locally in Healthy Kids Colorado data. Effectively addressing these concerns will require focus not only on mental health treatment, but also prevention efforts. This presentation will make the case for the importance of mental health literacy education to promote positive mental health. Core components of mental health literacy will be delineated as will a variety of reasons why this work in schools is critical. Finally, resources will be shared along with discussion of how to use them intentionally.

Session Objectives:

Participants will be able to:
(1) describe the four core components of mental health literacy
(2) give examples of reasons why mental health literacy is important in schools
(3) locate mental health literacy resources and recognize how to use them intentionally