Wellbeing
April is Autism Acceptance Month
Autism Month is about raising awareness, acceptance and inclusion of autism. More than 205,000 Australians are autistic and 1 in 4 Australians have a family member on the autism spectrum. It is a month to raise the voices of autistic people to highlight ongoing challenges, as well as celebrating their strengths.
The BRAVE Online Program
As a school we are always looking for ways to promote and support the mental health and wellbeing of our students. We would like to draw your attention to a free program called BRAVE. The BRAVE Program is an interactive, online program for the prevention and treatment of childhood and adolescent anxiety. The programs provide ways for children and teenagers to better cope with their worries. There are also programs for parents. Please feel free to explore this resource at home with your child.
Login | BRAVE Self-Help Program (uq.edu.au)
The Resilience Project: Empathy
Working on empathy helps us to identify, understand and feel what another person is feeling. When we show empathy or we do something kind for someone else our brain releases oxytocin. This leads to increasing our self-esteem/confidence, energy levels, positivity and overall happiness.
Did you know ….
80% of our happiness is derived from:
● Friendship
● Health
● Work fulfillment
● Loving relationships
● Spirituality.
When you do something kind for someone else your brain releases the love hormone oxytocin. This makes you feel good too. Check out Martin Heppell from The Resilience Project talking about being kind and the benefits of kindness.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qO-ja3h5INc
“Kindness is the greatest wealth of all. Small acts of kindness last longer than a lifetime” - Eddie Jaku (Author of ‘The Happiest Man on Earth’).
Whole Family Activity
Neighbourhood Kindness Challenge
As a family, choose an act of kindness from the list below that you would like to do for a neighbour or family friend. Each family member can select one to commit to, or you can choose to do one together.
- Cook them something delicious like a cake, hot bread, or cookies.
- Write a note to put in their letterbox thanking them for being a great neighbour or friend.
- Design them a Thank You card.
- Pick or buy some flowers to deliver to them.
- Choose a little plant from your garden to give them.
- Make them a gift from things around your house.
- Offer to do a job for them, like wash their car or water their garden.
- Offer to take their pets for a walk.
- Invite them over for afternoon tea.
- Invite them on a walk.
- Recommend one of your favourite books to borrow and read.
- Ask them if they need anything from the shops next time you buy groceries.
- Say hello next time you see them, and ask them how their day is going.
Feel free to do more than one and spread the kindness even further!
Report back to each other in one week and share how your acts of kindness were received, and how doing them made you feel.
Family Habit Builder
Every night at dinner, have each person thank another family member for something they’ve done or said today, or give another family member a compliment.