WE ALL NEED HELP SOMETIMES.
Mrs. Mills is available to offer short-term counseling to help students through trying times. Mrs. Mills utilizes a blend of different counseling approaches, depending on the student's needs. Mrs. Mills can provide:
Academic/Educational Counseling - Students may need help developing study habits, time management, and organizational skills.
Personal/Social Counseling - Students may need help developing social skills (like how to communicate effectively, how to make friends, or how to resolve conflicts) and identifying personal values, talents, and interests (this helps in self-discovery and building self-esteem!). Mrs. Mills is also available to provide support and assistance to students and families in crisis and can provide referrals to outside agencies for more extensive assistance including counseling, evaluations, or treatment.
Career/Vocational Counseling - Mrs. Mills is here to help you discover your path beyond high school! While Mrs. Mills does some whole-group class time career discovery work, students are welcome to come talk to Mrs. Mills individually for more guidance.
Mrs. Mills ultimately wants to ensure that every student feels like they have a trusted adult, someone who is always in his or her corner.
COPING SKILLS
It may seem silly, but when we become upset one of the first things to change is our breathing. What is normally calm and regular can become shallow and chaotic. Deep breathing helps get more oxygen into your bloodstream, causing a physical effect on your body to help you calm down.
Take a deep breath in through your nose. Notice your belly expanding and filling with air.
Pause after your inhale and hold it for about three seconds (this is helping with oxygenation).
Slowly exhale through your mouth like you're blowing out a candle.
Repeat until you feel calm.
Another common response to stress and anxiety is for our muscles to become tense. Everyone carries their tension differently - some carry it in their forearms by making fists, some carry it in their jaws and shoulders. Take a moment to consider whether you ever find yourself feeling sore for no reason. A great way to rid yourself of this physical reaction to stress is to systematically relax your muscles. This works best when you're seated or reclined.
Tighten your muscles, one muscle group at a time. Start with your feet. Then tighten your calves, thighs, buttocks, abdomen, arms, shoulders, jaws, and finally facial muscles.
Then work backwards to slowly relax all of your muscles. Relax your face, jaws, shoulders, and so on until your body is completely relaxed.
This exercise could be taken further by visualizing the stress as weights or bricks leaving as you relax.