Wellbeing 

Throughout our Respectful Relationships program, our students have been learning about the benefits of self-talk. 

Self-talk is the inner voice that goes on inside our heads throughout our waking hours. Positive self-talk is when we talk to ourselves in a reassuring, kind, and more optimistic way. It’s the difference from saying to yourself: “I’m hopeless, I can’t believe I failed this math test” or “I’m disappointed in how I did on the math test but I’m going to talk to the teacher and study more next time”.

Over time, engaging in more positive self-talk can help reduce stress, improve self-esteem, increase motivation, inspire productivity, and improve overall mental and physical health.

Here are 5 strategies to support Positive Self-Talk:

1.Model positive self-talk. Practice using positive thinking skills aloud when talking about yourself and others. A simple way to start is with positive thoughts in the morning such as, “Today is going to be a great day” or “I’m ready for whatever the day brings me”. 

2.Create a list of positive self-talk statements

3.Discuss the benefits to positive self-talk. Be open about what self-talk is and how it helps. Kids, might be sceptical about why they should change their thinking at first, but with the right support, it is important to model the students understanding.

4.Practice changing negative thoughts into more positives ones. When your child brings up a negative thought, encourage him or her to change it to positive self-talk.

5.Talk about real life challenges and situations. Talk about the challenges kids and young adults are going through and how they feel about those situations. This can be done in small groups, 1:1, or even in larger groups. Ask questions like, “What can you learn from that situation?”, “What could the positive to that be?”, “What did you do right?” and “How could that help you for the future?”. Try to focus on the positive, what went right, and what can be learned instead of dwelling on the negative. 

Mr Searl