PLMS Counseling Wellness Newsletter
be good to yourself
Week of April 6-10
ATTENTION PARENTS: Emailing this to you is our most direct way of communicating with our dear Pine Lake students. Please help us out by sharing this newsletter with your child(ren). Thanks!!!
We hope you and your families are doing well. We want to encourage you to create a self-care routine during this uncertain time. A self-care routine is dedicated time you spend each day doing things that make you feel good. The goal is to be intentional about making time to nurture your spirit. Ask yourself, 'What do I enjoy doing? What brings me joy?' and then find a way to build those things into each day. Many things that bring us joy, such as spending time with friends and family, playing sports, and other social activities, are off the table right now, and that can be hard; this is why it is important to create time for self-care. Identify your happiness outlets--art, sports, music, hobbies, etc.--and then make them a part of your daily routine. We have to nurture our well-being, especially when times are tough. We'd love to hear what you are doing for self-care--just email your counselor and let her know if we have permission to share some of your ideas here! We can help and inspire others by sharing. We miss our students so much!
Ms. Brittain, Ms. Varsa & Ms. Elliot
How Do You Feel Today?
Stay (emotionally) well!
- Maintain routines as much as possible
- Practice healthy habits – enough sleep, eat well, hydrate & exercise regularly
- Stay connected though social media, texting, calling, email & video calls
- Check news from reliable sources and only in short stints
- Take frequent breaks
More than just a bad day?
- Talk to a trustworthy adult/friend
- Seek help from a mental health professional
- Email your school counselor
- Send a message to Crisis Text Line at 741-741
- Contact Crisis Connections /(206) 461-3210
- In case of emergency, dial 911
How do you feel?
It is difficult to find words to describe how you feel when everything is all but normal. You may experience grief, although nobody you know has died. You may grieve about not being able to see your loved ones, or about missed a trip. That Discomfort You Are Dealing With Is Grief features an interview of Grief Expert David Kessler who explains why the discomfort you feel is actually grief. Warmly recommended!
Take a Deep Breath & Stay Calm
We have a lot on our minds these days...When will life return to “normal”? Will we be going back to school soon? Uncertain thoughts can make us feel overwhelmed or anxious.If you start to feel overwhelmed, we encourage you to take care deep breaths and try one of these meditation activities on the Calm website.
Meditation is the process of training your mind to focus and redirect your thoughts. Health benefits include: reduced stress, increased focus, improved sleep, and overall increased positive feelings. As you increase kindness toward yourself, you will increase your compassion toward others. Meditation comes in many forms:
- Soothing meditation: guided meditation increases awareness
- Sleep meditation: bedtime tales help settle mind before sleep
- Calm body: relaxation decreases physical tension
- Calming music: music comforts mind and heart
- Soundscapes: sounds of nature
- Journaling: a mindful moment to reflect
#Take care of others by taking care of yourself first!
Mental Health Support
PLMS School-Based Mental Health Counselor
Our awesome SBMHC Rosie Bancroft rosalie.bancroft@swedish.org is available to support PLMS students and families online. She can also connect you to mental health community resources.
Creativity Corner with Ms. Elliot
Poetry!
Poetry often gets a bad rap because of, I hate to say it, how schools sometimes teach it. You know, where a poem is shared and then the surgery/dissection happens.The poor poem gets torn apart, word by word, placed under the microscope, and then openly debated, in the quest for the One True Meaning. We should all work on not approaching poetry this way, as it is so limiting to anyone who happens to think differently...which is most people, as poetry is a subjective experience! We each may interpret the same poem differently based on our own truths and experiences.This is one reason I love poetry! I love it because as a reader, it frees me from worrying about being wrong or not 'getting' the poem. As a writer, it allows me to put my thoughts out there with the hopes that someone else will connect with the poem in whatever way works for them.
This week's creativity challenge is: Write a poem about something currently impacting you.
It could be about the virus, or missing friends, or your increased appreciation for your dog--anything relevant to you now. Putting thoughts and feelings on paper (or on the screen) in the form of a poem is both art and therapy! A few days before school closed and all of the world was talking about the Coronavirus, I was sitting in my office and a poem started up in my head. I quickly wrote it down and then reflected on how it felt to write it: it felt great. I think all of the talk and news and fears about the virus were saturating my bandwith, and writing this poem helped me let some of the stress go. If you write a poem and want to share, please email it to me at elliotm@issaquah.wednet.edu and let me know if it's ok to share your poem here. And now, here's my poem for you:
Virus, gone viral,
the world's in a spiral--
down
down
down
the rabbit hole we go.
Where the virus grows bigger
until it grows smaller,
lurking in cities
hiding in hollers.
Safe in our dens
guarding health, staying in. We
wait
wait
wait
until the virus
hops
away.
-Meagan Elliot
"Anything that engages your creative mind--the ability to make connections between unrelated things and imagine new ways to communicate--is good for you."
--Dr. Girija Kaimal
This quote is from the NPR story below. Give it a quick read --I found it very inspirational!
Life Is Sweet...with guest baker, Ms. Hammer
Ms. Hammer - 6th grade LA/SS teacher and baker extraordinaire:
I love baking, and eating baked goods! There is something so comforting about knowing that if you follow the recipe, you’ll end up with something absolutely delicious. On days when I feel like nothing is going my way, I love to mix sugar, butter, and flour with the rest of an ingredients list. It distracts me from my worries and makes me feel calm. One of my all-time favorite recipes is this cake because it is easy to adapt to what you have at home. I’ve added the suggestions for how you can modify it (pdf).
Lemon Yogurt Blueberry Cake
Originally from Smitten Kitchen/The Barefoot Contessa
Cake Ingredients:
· 1-1/2 cups + 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour (if you’re skipping the fruit, you can also skip the last tablespoon of flour)
· 2 teaspoons baking powder
· 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
· 1 cup plain whole-milk yogurt
· 1 cup sugar
· 3 extra-large eggs
· 2 teaspoons grated lemon zest (approximately 2 lemons)
· 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
· 1/2 cup vegetable oil
· 1-1/2 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen, no need to thaw
Syrup Ingredients: OPTIONAL
· 1 tablespoon of sugar
· 1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
Glaze Ingredients: OPTIONAL
· 1 cup powdered sugar
· 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease an 8-1/2 by 4-1/4 OR 9 x 5 loaf pan. Line the bottom with parchment paper. Grease and flour the pan.
2. Sift together 1-1/2 cups flour, baking powder, and salt into 1 bowl. In another bowl, whisk together the yogurt, 1 cup sugar, the eggs, lemon zest, vanilla and oil. Slowly whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Mix the blueberries with the remaining tablespoon of flour and fold them very gently into the batter. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 50 (+) minutes, or until a cake tester placed in the center of the loaf comes out clean.
3. When the cake is done, allow it to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before flipping out onto a cooling rack. Carefully place on a baking rack over a sheet pan.
OPTIONAL SYRUP INSTRUCTIONS:
4. While the cake is baking, cook the 1/3 cup lemon juice and remaining 1 tablespoon sugar in a small pan until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is clear. Set aside.
5. Once the cake is out of the pan, but still warm, pour the lemon-sugar mixture over the cake and allow it to soak in (a pastry brush works great for this, as does using a toothpick to make tiny holes that draw the syrup in better). Cool.
EXTRA OPTIONAL:
6. Whisk together 1 cup of powdered sugar whisked with 2 tablespoons lemon juice.
7. Once the cake is completely cooled pour the powdered sugar and lemon juice glaze over the top of the cake.
PBSES with Ms. Berntsen
ISD Resources for Families
PLMS Counseling Team
School Counselors (Student Last Names):
(A-Ho) Kristen Brittain: brittaink@issaquah.wednet.edu
(Hp-Pa) Kirsi Varsa: varsak@issaquah.wednet.edu
(Pb-Z) Meagan Elliot: elliotm@issaquah.wednet.edu
School Based Mental Health Counselor
Rosie Bancroft: rosalie.bancroft@swedish.org
PBSES Coach
Tori Berntsen berntsenv@issaquah.wednet.edu
Registrar
Lakshmi Palaniappan: palaniappanl@issaquah.wednet.edu