27. Why Start A Hope And Resiliency Small Group?

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Hi, everyone. It's Carol. Thanks for joining me for another episode of Counselor Chat. Last year, I started a new group that was really focusing on hope and resiliency, and I started it towards the latter half of the school year. And as we head into the new school year, I know that the impact that that last group had was pretty powerful. So I actually am looking to start my year running a hope and Resiliency group. Last year I ran the group for students that were in fourth to 6th grade, and I think that really a hope and resiliency group is really great for this age range, the upper elementary as well as middle school and maybe even high school kids. I thought I'd share with you a little bit today about why we should run a small group focusing on hope and resiliency and really what I did and how you can run one too. Now, running a small group focusing on hope and resiliency can have numerous compelling benefits for both a school and actually your school environment. I came up with a list of the top ten reasons, and so here's what I came up with. First of all, you really have enhanced mental well being because when we teach hope and resiliency skills, it really equips students with the tools that they need to manage stress, anxiety, and really the challenges that they face effectively and that contributes to their overall improved mental well being. It's also early intervention because when we introduce these skills to our younger students, it really helps them prepare to face future academic and personal challenges with a really positive mindset. It can really have a positive effect on our school climate because as we focus on hope and resiliency, we're really fostering a supportive school environment where students feel empowered to tackle difficulties and support one another. And it's kind of like the ripple effect. What you do affects one person, which affects two people, which affects three, which affects four, so on and so forth. So really, by promoting hope and resiliency, we are really spreading it throughout our entire school community. It also leads to greater academic success because resilient students, they are now better equipped to handle academic setbacks to maintain their motivation to set goals. And because of this, they also have a greater likelihood of reaching their potential. We also have seen that it helps with conflict resolution because as they are developing their resiliency skills that are able to handle conflicts and disagreements in healthier ways, it works wonders on their emotional regulation. Because hope and resilience encourages students to manage their emotions constructively, that actually leads to fewer disruptions and helps with a more productive classroom environment. It also helps with bully prevention because resilient students are less likely to become targets of bullying and stand up against bullying behaviors. They're also less likely to bully others because they have learned these skills where they're feeling good about themselves. And when we feel good about themselves, there's no need to really make others feel badly. We're teaching them healthy coping mechanisms. We're teaching them to seek healthier outlets when they face challenge and that reduces the effect of risky behaviors later on. We're also giving them lifelong skills that's going to really benefit them really beyond their school years because when we help them to learn how to navigate life's challenges in a positive and proactive manner, that really is a lifelong skill. We're also giving them a sense of belonging because when we are pulling these kids together and they're sharing their experiences, they really feel a sense of belonging, connectedness, which really leads to an improved social and emotional development. We also empower them because by instilling hope and resiliency, once again they're empowered to take control of their own lives, make positive decisions and once again navigate life's ups and downs, but with confidence. And it also helps to reduce absenteeism, because when students are equipped with these skills and they can regulate their emotions and they feel that sense of community, that sense of belonging, they want to come to school. They're also able to handle those academic challenges that sometimes want to prevent them from coming to school in the first place. So that whole mindset, that whole understanding of what hope is and of resiliency and understanding the difference between hope and false hope, I think sets them apart. So those are all the real big benefits and the reasons why I have come to love teaching about hope and resiliency but also running it as a small group. Let's dive in a little bit about how I did it. So the first thing I did was I selected my kids. I went in and I talked to the teachers and I got my referrals and I said, hey, who are the ones that really have some identified needs here? Who are the ones that can't really handle setbacks or they are having some academic difficulty or maybe there's changes in their lives where they're not really feeling empowered. So those were the kids that I kind of identified. I also looked for positive peer influence that kiddo that really has a strong sense of self because they were going to be my model. So I invited that person in as well because let me tell you, a model and having their presence can really help create a safe and encouraging atmosphere. I also wanted to make sure that my kids were interested and willing because kids have to be interested and they have to be willing. You know that saying or that joke about the light bulb and the psychologist and the psychologist says, how many psychologists does it take to change a light bulb? The answer is one, but the light bulb has to be willing to change. It's the same with the kids. They have to have a willingness to really want to make changes in their lives. If they're stuck on it, no, they're not going to change and it just might be too negative and that negativity might drag down the group. That kiddo might be better for an individual counseling session. You also really want to make sure that you set some long term goals. Where is the group going? What are the kids going to be shooting for in terms of goal? And you also want to really hone in on having, I think, a pretty balanced group size. You want to, I think, aim for maybe six kids, or if you have a really tiny room like mine, maybe four to six kids. So you really want to have it small. Because I think in a hope and a resiliency group, the discussion and the time to talk and communicate and to share experiences goes a long way. So I think for me personally, these groups should be maybe a little bit smaller than some of the other groups. So those are the kids that I'm picking. But then you might be wondering, okay, so what do you do when they're with you? Here's how I structured mine. I started with basically talking about what is hope, what is resiliency. And then we really dove deep into a sense of hope versus false soap. What is hope versus what is false soap? And we talked about that. We did some journaling to express our feelings and things like that. But we really also did some things like we had a personal strength inventory so we could see what are our strengths that we have and to try to find our top three strengths. We talked a lot about smart goals and setting a smart goal, what a smart goal is, how we set it. And then we talked about how we should become resilience in the face of failure. And so I had all of these famous failures from Steve Jobs to Beyonce to Michael Jordan, and I had all these little portraits of them. I gave them a little biography of each of these people and I asked them to think about that after we looked at each person. Now I will say that they were kind of like watercolor sketches and you couldn't exactly see the person, but you kind of had the image of who it was. And so from there I shared a little bit about each of these persons people and then had the students kind of guess as to who they were. And then we talked about those setbacks and how their lives would be different as a result of all those adversities that they had faced, but how they didn't quit. And then we talked about maybe what were some of the reasons for them not quitting and then what could we learn from that? We also talked about the connection between gratitude and hope and how incorporating some daily gratitude can really make a huge difference because it's making us kind of focus in on the positive things rather than everything that goes wrong. And you know, you probably have some of those kids that they dwell on all of the negatives, every single one. I'm sure you can probably list a whole handful without even trying. So we created some gratitude jars and we really thought about our own gratitude practice and how it really can affect our overall outlook. And then at the end of the group, we really celebrated our hope and our resiliency and the progress that we made throughout our time together. Now, I met for eight weeks with these kiddos and it was really a great eight weeks. We learned so much, we shared a lot, we had a ton of laughs and we had some really good fun. So it is definitely something worth doing. And as we concluded our last session, some of the questions I asked them were if they could recall a specific moment or activity that really had a lasting impact on your understanding of hope and resiliency. If they maybe could share some examples of setbacks that they had faced before and how understanding how hope and resiliency works. Maybe what they would have done differently in the past. So we've really had a lot of reflection. Really running a small group that's focused on hope and resiliency offers a really wide range of benefits from promoting their emotional, social and academic growth, but it really ultimately contributes to a more positive and successful school experience. So my friends, if you want to know more, I will drop some links in the Show Notes so that you can see exactly what I taught and how I taught it. And I hope that you will consider running your own Hope Noise Lancy group. It really is one of the groups that I truly enjoyed the most last year where I saw the most growth in my students. And like I said, I'm not going to wait till the end of the year to do it. This year, I'm starting right at the beginning, so I think that says a lot about it right there and then. Anyway, friends, like I said, I'll have some links for you in the Show Notes. And until next time, have a great weekend.

Thanks for listening to today's episode of Counselor Chat. All of the links I talked about can be found in the Show Notes and at Slash podcasts. Be sure to hit, follow or subscribe on your favorite podcast player. And if you would be so kind to leave a review, I'd really appreciate it. Want to connect? Send me a DM on Facebook or Instagram at counseling essentials. Until next time. Can't wait till we chat. Bye for now. Bye.