good evening i will go through and welcome to another edition of this week an education tonight's my guests are angela c so who is our director of guided services fourth district and dr david rosenfeld who is a school psychologist at the high school and we'll be talking a lot about wellness in the district and they are both co chairs of the district's wellness action team which is one of the five teams of the district strategic planning committee that's now in process so first of all welcome  district for over sixteen years in the capacity of a special education teacher supervisor student activities in the past eight years as guide supervisor she oversees the school counseling program across the desert working collaboratively with our amazing school counselors who support students family and step at every grade level angela has also been a major player in the wellness instead of for this trick which will be getting it to shortly david has been a school south psychologist at princeton high school since two thousand ten he oversees the burgess program at p h s which is a fabulous program which provides support to special education students with psychiatric and emotional difficulties he developed the program when he first came and has overseen its implementation  coordination since its inception he receives v a from williams college and his doctorate in clinical psychology from markets university welcome both to the show so let's start talking a little bit about wellness and i know the district recently is placed a great emphasis on wellness both both physical and mental for our students and i know that you get your input and you're both in positions that promote wellness and the thought maybe we could talk a little bit how is some of the professional activities that you feel are especially crucial to this endeavor is at the core of what we both do and i and i would say that it extends for students and for our staff obviously the most important is that we're always trying to promote our own balance and  enjoying what you're doing with minimal stress for everyone and we are certainly open for conversation with our students and with our staff i mean our doors are open where we have lots of traffic coming in now to talk about these moments where students are struggling or even staff members are struggling so i think that at the core of everything that we do decisions that we make for programs new new initiatives that we do across our department it's always keeping at the forefront of how we maintain a positive demeanor and how we can get along from task to task really are promoting wellness in all that we do and it was it's really nice to see the focus that's been brought on to wellness as as a school psychologist at the high school it's nice to see that we're being more proactive and sort of thinking about how do we equip students staff as it sounds now we talked about you both be the co chairs of the task force that you're working on the wellness action and it is part of the district's strategic planning process and i know the committee has been hard stay if it gives a little bit of background on because i think that our strategic committee had an advantage in that about a year and a half ago when superintendent cochran first came into our district one of his charges was creating a wellness committee to sort of look at the district overall in some of the areas that we do really really well on in regards to wellbeing and some areas that we would love to explore and improve upon and so there was a committee that was created to sort of do that research and look at every single grade level and to put forward recommendations to our board and to our superintendent of of areas that we could sort of explore and really tap into for this school year so when we were asked to be the facilitators of the strategic committee we had some of these previous recommendations that we were able to share with this larger group to get even more perspective and insight so i feel that we were lucky in the sense that we had already been talking about this for about a year and a half and it was great to have the opportunity to have other people in our in our district parents and community members and and students and be part of the discussion and it was it was nice that we had something to sort of work off of because some general goals have been developed and a lot of different ideas have been strategized but to then get a group together that included students  moving in a direction that was going to reach around point in the one really good aspect two was that our charter was to be as creative as we possibly could so no idea was a silly idea and some of them are certainly reach for the stars but that allowed us to sort of think about well before we get to this recommendation what are the other things that kind of fall underneath it and folks had some really  advice for all the great levels and that was the other part i think that was refreshing since dave and i spend the majority of our time at the high school level it was really good for us to teach here and to sort of facilitate the discussion for the elementary and middle school level because it is a continuum and i know for us personally we we believe that those skills and strategies are taught really early on in life and the stronger that students sort of have that opportunity to practice those skills the more successful they are at attempting to get through those difficult times when they are in high school and even in their college years so it was really a great experience to sort of see the overall worry and concern that really are an entire community feel in regards to well being that's a great point because the earlier that you do with that study skills or literacy skills or well the skills at the earliest age students will say well that's what you're supposed to do  i was wondering though if we just talk a little bit about the pressures that students and staff you know face in today's real world and how hard it is sometimes to find a balance a lot of times there is pressure put on student by herself or himself sometimes by parents sometimes by peers and step to admitting that both the work demands and the person demands so any advice on how we can structure ourselves and working toward a balance when we all have bills to pay we all have a school test to take and we all feel the need that we want to do more sometimes is that stepping back and just taking  definitely one of the focuses in the group was figuring out what you're passionate about and what brings you joy and making sure that you're making choices in your life to have those choices built into your schedule ideally and for students in school it's a class or several classes that are taken that are really appealing to their interests and then with that being said also kind of looking at how many  a classes are you taking that are really challenging are you leaving time in your schedule to be able to take a yoga class after school or to try out for the school play and making sure that students are carving out time each day if staff are  out time each day to to be able to relax i know at the staff level people have been really paying more attention to making sure they are taking a break going for a walk if need be in the day i know in in my role as against director i often have these conversations with parents that are quite interesting they are there speaking to me about being concerned about their child being really stressed and we talk about balance and we talk about what that looks like and at the same in the same breath or perhaps the same sentence the conversation is well how many a p tests can my child take and so i think it's really just us thinking as a as a as a community as a district  and really reminding folks that it's ok that we don't do everything because not everybody is perfect at everything and so what are those areas that your child shines that makes them excited that makes them engaged and to focus on those areas rather than trying to think that in order to get to a good school or get to a good path after they graduate they must have x y and z which is an expectation that's been created and that's this mindset but it's not necessarily or ality and so it's having those conversations where we all are on the same page and the bottom line is i think for educators and for parents they want what's best for children but sometimes i think we get caught up in the in the race to to do it all and to have this laundry list of experiences rather than really saying wow what's the one area or activity that really kept rising to the top for me and maybe that's what i'm going to focus on to continue in my life because it not only makes me happy but it also keeps me sort of moving along and i think that you know even for us as adults we also get caught up in that sort of fury and i know for myself i can just say this personally and i tried to advocate this with my own department is that it's ok to not look at e mail at ten o'clock at night because you have family responsibilities and you're supposed to have that balance and sort of shut off so that you can be recharged for the very next day and so it's it's good that we're all looking after each other and taking care of one another because it's very easy to forget  that you need to have some balance and some way to sort of release that from day to day and i think role modeling that do for parents to be able to show their kids look i'm going to take an hour right now to play with you and i'm putting the bills aside and  i've been doing it much recently i love to do puzzles and that's a real sort of relaxing thing for me to do to me watch movies read but it's there are times when i find myself saying look you've got you've got to make sure you're doing something take care of yourself it's good so let's talk a little bit more if you had to name three key ingredients me to you since it will be you know with a big well as i said to angelo yesterday my answer would be flour sugar and chocolate chip you know i think when i when i think about what helps me i think the three that come to mind is one having a support team you know whether it's your friends or your family so that when you are experiencing a little bit of stress or you are having a difficult moment there are people that you can go to to either talk or or who help distract you from that moment so i think having that sort of source of strength or or support team is helpful i think the other is having a re we just talked about running in or exercising you know for other people maybe reading or it may be eating and cooking or you know whatever it may be but having some activity that really helps you get into a flow and perhaps you know get you out of that moment where it puts you in a in a mood where you can think through what might be on your plate and then i think the final thing that helps me is really just having a perspective on what's in front of  me but we can say that there are moments where it's a little bit more stressful than others and knowing ok this is temporary even though it might be a few months to get through but to sort of chunk through those those moments so that you can sort of visualize how you can sort of tackle each step and you know sometimes i sit back after gone through a pretty stressful moment or a tough period of time whether it's personally or professionally and i think you know what have i learned from this and in some way it is probably made you a little bit stronger right and that's that resiliency part that we want to sort of embody in our in our students our staff so i feel like the combination of those three really is the foundation of of true well being and just reminding yourself of it and being true because it's again very easy to sort of not think about those sort of safety mechanisms that we can create for ourselves but having those experience i mean life is not one in which you do not experience stress and in difficult moments but if you just have the tools to help you get through them a little bit more successfully when you are faced with those moments  such as questions about magic strips which you touched on a little bit and improving the sense of well being so what you tell parents you know one of the things i think is really important is that each person each child is very unique and it's  ok for each kid to pursue their own path and that we need to allow students to be able to explore their interests and really make sure that the path that they're carving out from selves is the right path for them and it's not simply comparing to other kids and doing what everyone else is doing so really not to musici i know i often start my conversations with saying brave because you know we get so caught up in emotions in frustrations that we kind of lose sight of what's in front of us and and to also remember that our children are not fully developed and so sometimes we expect children to be rational adult sort of individuals and they're just not there yet and sometimes children want to push us sometimes student our children want to challenge us and as a parent again it's just taking a step back and really thinking through how we want to handle situations because that sometimes can set the tone send a message sent expectations that maybe we're not careful we are clearly articulating with our children and then it's really just talking it through you know what what's what's at the core of the frustration what's the issue are there are resources that need to be available for the child for the family whether that's in district or out of district and making them i'm known that's always been very helpful and really just talk through that this hopefully is a temporary issue and together you know we're going to work through it and sometimes it does take a few conversations perhaps in bringing in other members whether it's teachers or coaches or other people who have a relationship with the child that sort of help but a lot of times it's really just kind of getting the details out and listening and knowing that there is a support team to help whatever might be in front of them because and i can see too it's with high school i think the school in general it's it's a marathon it's not a sprint and so sometimes i'll have parents in ninth grade who are very worried that their child is not organized and not turning in on their assignments on time and and we're told we talk about how that's our goal is to work towards consistency so that by the end of twelfth grade that skills there but it's ok if it's not all there in ninth grade in fact it's not schools and they were out there their daily steps and i don't know the results but i do know that there was a lot of positive feedback from this not just the results but the fact that people were going up and you know doing this both off school time and during school time and during their important lives and one one story this year though that because of this challenge one step number was walking and got her husband to walk and the fact that he started walking he realized he couldn't walk he was out of breath we didn't realize this hour and they took him to the doctor and he was blocked and they went in and did the birds the surgery and prevented a heart attack wow prevented  from what it could have been a very bad situation and he's doing great now he's coming out of cardiac rehab and he's doing fine now so she was very thankful in a different way because by doing this it got her husband was pretty much dormant to get out there and start walking and then they realized the medical issue at hand so that was that was there was a good sense you know it was a good it turned out to be a happy ending so but it's good to get out and move because as my mother told me in the with your mother i guess i asked what the key to longevity was and she said you've got to keep moving you know you've got to get there keep moving keep busy keep doing things and not let the day go by without doing some type of physical activity and getting involved and you know seeing other people like i i think for us thinking about the year i mean our focus was on staff wellness this year in wellbeing and we implemented the perma model with positive education and i think that one of the really nice impacts or affects that it's had is really the community building that's occurred across our district and really trying to focus on our staff wellness and and little things that we could do in each building to sort of just promote  a good day i mean something as simple as a weekly breakfast in the faculty room to the step challenges where we were sort of bantering each other from across the buildings to just really putting up words thanks and praise for one another so what if think it made us a little bit more mindful of what we say to one another and how we could really help each other especially if we're not having a good day and that started this year for next school year with the high school which is such a big building having events that are bringing the staff together and having people from different departments get to know each other is really nice and when there's food involved that's all going to continue with a staff staff focus to make sure that we are still creating these sort of moments where we could have a little bit of fun so our mental breakfast will be continuing and yeah we might do another challenge but in the sort of in the winter months right before the holidays to see if it helps folks stay on target for the holiday festivities and then i know that we are looking at how we can start to turn key some of the strategies that we've learned with our students and sort of experimenting and sharing those experiences across the district and so that's that's going to be pretty exciting to see the results and and to see the excitement amongst our teachers in doing so i know for our departments you know our counselors work really closely together at every building and i know that we're always looking at ways that we can sort of improve and expand upon our services and that certainly includes communication with each other with our families and our students and so i know we're brainstorming about some some different events and activities we're going to do next year and so i don't want to release all of the information as surprises but i mean staff and sent out and yeah we're expanding our department so that's always a seen as changes you know over the years and you know as for as you know we talk about you know joy and beauty of purpose which is critical right now as part of the district's mission but from the you started sixteen years ago or six years ago you know what changes have you come to mind and that you see over the years and when you see a school and the years ago what can i think that wellness is now this is such a part of the discussion and part of the thought process i think that's that's huge and i certainly see kids as parents staff m p s people being more cognizant of what's going on from their friends their colleagues keeping an eye out noticing if someone seems to be having a hard time and really making sure that people are getting help and they need help i definitely would piggyback those thoughts i think that you know in sixteen years ago when i started as a classroom teacher i don't know if i necessarily had conversations with even my own students in my class about their well being i mean i think it was just really focusing on trying to teach in ducting the students but i see that even in the eight years that i've been in the guidance department we certainly are talking a lot more about wellness about mental health struggles and the supports and services that have that have even expanded within the princeton community it's overwhelming and i know that we are really trying to stay on top of all of  our new resources and meeting folks in the community that can can partner with us i don't know if i saw that necessarily just eight years ago and so that's been a really a positive move i think i also think that our our schools have been places where families feel very comfortable coming to us to share personal information in the end a goal to help their child and and that speaks highly to the to the trust in the report that we build with our families and that for me has been really sort of satisfying to know that there are individuals that have really tried very hard to build those relationships ship so people can feel comfortable to come and  speak to us so that we can help so that's something that i think we always have as a coal and want to continue working on do you find that students and staff more opens for us coming to you of the same high school david was first coming to you and being more open about you know what's on their minds yes absolutely and i think there's a culture that kind of forms so i work with a small group of students at the at the high school but i'm over the years people students know who i am right and so i have kids who i don't normally work with come to find him and talk about things i know that happens in the guidance office all the time so i think the word gets out that there are people out there who care and don't don't be afraid to stop by story yes definitely again even in the eight years that i've been in this role i think that the issues that we start to see even as low as the elementary grades become a little bit more complicated intense certainly within the last eight years you know things that we thought oh elementary school students won't struggle with this we're starting to see that you know kids suffering with things i e d and depression and things like that and so i certainly am pleased that we do have counselors in all of the buildings because i think that's critical they work very closely with our teams and the outside resources have just been helpful in supporting those students but i think that we have just become aware that these sort of struggles can start at any grade level and that we need to be prepared and we need to be able to communicate about it and to find those those those sources to help hey i want to thank you both for coming on thank you for have a great conversation you know about you know wellness and health and hopefully everybody takes the message that there needs to be some balance in your life so you get out there caps you know exercise a little bit and you're fine thing that you're most passionate about regardless of whether this and know that or not don't put all your eggs in one basket you know gets a mental health for yourself and invest in yourself time and also exercise so until next week i will go think thank you for for watching tonight stay active stay healthy and we'll see you next week another edition of this week in education have a good