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Sophomore Class Presentation

Building Resilience: A Growth Mindset

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Outcomes

Defining Resilience
Ted Talk “The Importance of Resilience”
The 7 C’s of Resilience
This meeting will share information that encourages you to keep moving toward your goals, regardless of challenges and adversity you encounter

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Building Resilience- Handout

Structure for today, we’re going to be reflecting, using the Handout provided, and watching a Teen Ted Talk. �
Before we start our video, to help guide our discussion today, please take 2 minutes to write down your thoughts in 1st box on the Handout:�

What is your definition of resilience?

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The Importance of Resilience: Caleb Sharman’s Story

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsuohjqusUs

Link to Handout: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mUfAzQhBuHPMVdYf23B9l3ZyJqRX91snhDfQxgwENkE/edit?usp=sharing

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Building Resilience- Handout Box #2

After hearing the beginning of the video, please take a moment to write down your thoughts in Box #2 on your Handout:

How does Caleb’s definition of resilience compare to yours?

Would anyone be willing to share their response?

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What is Stress?

EUSTRESS:�

Moderate or normal psychological stress interpreted as being beneficial for the experiencer (Oxford Languages).

TOLERABLE STRESS:

Challenges experiences or situations occur, but due to “healthy brain architecture” allows for positive coping and can be seen as “growth experiences.” (McEwen, 2017).

TOXIC STRESS:

Multiple challenges or “bad things happen to an individual who has limited supports” that has impacted their ability to self-regulate and have good impulse control, judgement and self-esteem (McEwen, 2017).

Challenges to cope can surface with this type of stress and have adverse impact on behavior and physiology

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Hand Model of the Brain-

Dr. Daniel Siegel

Name It to Tame It

Dr. Dan Siegel, highly respected and well published author and professor of psychiatry at UCLA.

Let the Clouds of Emotion Roll By:

when stuck on negative emotions, work towards letting go and realizing that “feelings come and go.”

Site: https://drdansiegel.com/whole-brain-child-handouts/

The image above of the hand clenched with your thumb tucked between your fingers and the palm of your hand is a simple image of the brain.

-The 4 fingers folded over are representative of the Prefrontal cortex- where a person thinks, makes rational decisions, and learns.

-The wrist and back of your hand is the brain stem, or reptilian brain- where brain tells you body to walk, breath, control muscle movement that you don’t have to think a lot about, but your body knows how to do.

-Thumb- represents where your amygdala is located- where your stress response comes from. The Fight, Flight, and Freeze response you have when you’re in an experience that is highly stressful.

OK! Now…

When your brain is regulated, you’re feeling calm, going about your day, the parts of your brain are working together, firing off appropriately, it looks like this hand image. Everything is connected and communicating as it should.

However! When you are in a very stressful situation, maybe in a very heightened experience or challenge and you feel yourself really stressing out, you brain now…. Go to slide 8

Notes and context for presenters to read over if they would like to ahead of time:

Brain stem/reptile brain: Controls Basic bodily functions, survival instincts, regulates your feelings of hunger, thirst, breathing, fight, flight, or freeze. �

Limbic system/mammal brain: including the amygdala, which is responsible for emotions and other reactions to stimuli. Fire alarm system. Scanning the environment for danger/threats. When triggered activates fear response and can activate survival mode.

Cerebral cortex/human brain- thinking cap. reasoning, logic. problem solving. emotion regulation.

We go in and out of different brain states all the time (and so do our children). Sensory information comes in, the brain processes that information, and then organizes, leading then to the person acting. This is important because behavior is influenced by which state the brain is in. A child can be in the:

Cortex when calm

Limbic system when alarmed/fearful state

Brainstem when in terror (survival is key)- fight, flight, or freeze

Which brain state the child (or us as caregivers) are in has an impact on our ability to comprehend and process information. There is a significant difference between how one can process in a fear state than how they process when they are calm. When a child is in a calm brain state they can think abstractly. When a child is in an alarm state they think emotionally. When a child is in a fear brain state they think reactively. When a child is in a terror brain state they are reflexive- survival mode.

Your response, how you approach a child, has to match their current brain state. What if you try to reason or talk to a reptile? Therefore before we move about trying to help a child learn, or reason with a child, we must first regulate, then relate, then reason. Regulate means moving from alarm, fear, terror to calm. Relating supports the calm state by focusing on the relationship, which is the basis for building support. Finally once in the calm state and related, reasoning can occur which will provide new brain memory which will support the child being able to self-regulate themselves, which is our ultimate goal. Easy way to remember the 3 R’s: Regulate, Relate, Reason.

The greater the fear, the more the lower parts of the brain take over. Children with long-term exposure to toxic stress have overdeveloped lower parts of their brain (exposure to stress hormones like cortisol) and underdeveloped cortex. More likely to be sensitive to and perceive threats in their environment, be hypervigilant, and less likely to be able to self-regulate their emotions. Through the process of regulating, within a relationship, new neural pathways and an integrated brain so a child can eventually self-regulate.

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Stress Response

During an extreme challenge or situation that causes Toxic Stress:

The amygdala is producing higher levels of cortisol, the stress hormone.
Cortisol is being dispersed throughout the brain and body & the Fight, Flight, Freeze response is happening.
How to work through this?

Practicing a coping strategy like deep breathing, helps to regulate the brain and body and allow it to communicate effectively again.

During a Toxic Stress Experience your brain now is firing off in every direction and the parts of your brain are no longer communicating with each other.

As a presenter show that your hand goes from being closed, like the brain is functioning properly, to wide open and, especially the thumb/amygdala is no longer communicating to the prefrontal cortex or other parts of the brain. ��Info to present:

Cortisol is firing off all throughout the brain and body causing a fight, flight or freeze response to the stressful situation.
When these situations/experiences occur, to help regulate:

Practice a coping strategy like deep breathing. This gets more oxygen to your brain, allowing for a deeper sense of relaxation, calming your nervous system, and re-engages your amygdala with the other parts of your brain, allowing the brain to begin to function in a calm way again.�

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Building Resilience- Handout Box #3

Has there been a time where you experienced a hardship or a challenge and how did you navigate through it?��
Would anyone be willing to share the ways you coped or worked through it?��
Now that we’ve talked about challenges and different types of stress that you can experience, listen to Caleb sharing the 7 C’s of Resilience to help navigate change, life’s challenges, and the things we experience that can be difficult/stressful.

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Building Resilience- Handout Box #4

Which of the 7 C’s resonates with you?
Competence
Confidence
Connection
Character
Contribution
Coping
Control

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Building Resilience- Handout Box #5

5. Which one of the 7 C’s can you identify that you need to work on?

Competence
Confidence
Connection
Character
Contribution
Coping
Control

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Practice Self-Care

Step 1. Check-in

On a Scale from 1-10 (10 being very relaxed), how relaxed are you right now?

Step 3. Check out

On a Scale from 1-10 (10 being very relaxed), how relaxed are you right now?

Step 2.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N02BnHwS5FE

Set the stage:

We all experience stress, whether it is related to school, classes, friends, family, etc.
We can build our resilience by practicing positive coping strategies and building our different skill sets, like Caleb talked about today.
Let’s take a moment to practice one coping strategy that helps to regulate the brain and body when experiencing something stressful or difficult or just need to practice some self-care.
4-7-8 Breathing exercise

Invite everyone to put everything down. Remind students that it might feel a bit odd, but to encourage everyone to be respectful of their peers and to be quiet during this exercise. It is voluntary, but if folks choose not to do it, please remain quiet so that others may try it.
Relax their arms and their legs.
Close their eyes or find a fixed place in front of them to look at.
Sit up a little bit, but don’t have sit rigidly.
We encourage people to sit up and share with them that this allows for deeper breathing through the diaphragm, allowing more oxygen to brain, allowing for a deeper sense of relaxation and regulation of the brain and body to occur.
We will want and listen the prompt. We will inhale through our noses for 4 seconds, fill as much air into your chest and lungs as possible. As you are able hold your breath for 7 seconds, and then we will slowly exhale throug our mouths for 7 seconds.

At the end of this, encourage students to notice how they are feeling by reflecting on a scale of 1-10 as prompted above.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N02BnHwS5FE

Could prompt students to write down on their paper in the last box their Check-in and Check-out.

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Thank you!

We hope this information encourages you to keep moving toward your goals, regardless of challenges and adversity you encounter.