FERN-Family Education Resource Network

A good reminder from The MEHRIT Centre, Ltd. as we start our week 🥰

Take a minute to check in. 🌿 Co-regulation and your relationships can help you with your steps. Don't do it alone - and chat in your community.

Hey friends! Come join us for our next youth social tomorrrow, Wed. Jun. 10th at 5pm on Zoom. Can't wait to connect with all of you, as well as play another round of Jeopardy! Let us know if you have any ideas, and hope to see you there! Links to join can be found in your email and in our bio.

Our founder of FERN, Dr. Laura Cesaroni collaborated with Stuart Shanker on a reading called "When Behaviour Speaks of Suffering." The reading describes the different factors that may contribute to behaviour, stress, and self-regulation, as well as how to manage it. Here are the details for accessing the reading⬇️⬇️

Link: (page: 26) https://drive.google.com/file/d/1m64nIeBGMaevyQqsCjEGyCMyxNNTgHjc/view

Come join us at the next youth social on Wed. May 20th on Zoom on Zoom. Feel free to message any ideas you have for the social to our Instagram. Looking forward to seeing everyone there!

Hello FERN community! For those of you who don't know me, I'm Steven a past placement student at FERN who will be working the Instagram page over the summer and will attend youth socials! Feel free to message any ideas you have to our Instagram account. Looking forward to seeing everyone again!

Maloney Teach Your Children Well DI series is available. Gently used. Reading Writing & Math. Perfect for primary to grade 8 learners . Donation to FERN would be great for anyone interested.

We agree! A framework that has supported many is Dr. Stuart Shanker's Self-Reg™ The MEHRIT Centre, Ltd. Dr. Shanker teaches that resilience is a state, not a trait. It’s not something a child either has or doesn’t have. Resilience shows up when the conditions are right, when the stress load is manageable, when the nervous system has enough capacity, and when the environment feels safe enough.

You don’t build resilience by raising the stakes. You build it by reducing what’s in the way.

What looks like 'avoidance' or 'refusal to attend' from the outside is often something very different on the inside. Exhaustion. Fear. A body that has learned, through real experience, that certain environments aren’t okay. You can’t grade that away. You can’t incentivize a nervous system out of a stress response.

What we have seen work is this: get curious before you get corrective. Try to understand what’s going on for this student before deciding what should be done about it. Reduce the load before increasing the demand. Build the relationship before building the expectation.

The Self-Reg™ framework offers a path forward; it's a community rooted in understanding and science. It is for everyone: parents, educators, therapists. This framework helps us address stressors. Visit their online learning platform here: https://self-reg.ca/

Reacting to student challenges and barriers to education will not produce meaningful results.
Understanding the challenges, barriers, and needs of students and providing school-wide, tiered strategies to support students will. #

A super graphic from The MEHRIT Centre, Ltd.

Let's think about other swaps:

A scenario we hear all the time on a Monday morning after a super weekend!

➡️"I'm not going to school today, I want to stay with you instead, I have a tummy ache!"

Instead of saying 'You'll be fine, I'll see you after school, let's go!' try saying:

➡️"Oh no, that tummy pain again. It's really hurting you. It seems to hurt when you're worried you'll miss me. That makes sense."

✨A few thoughts: physical symptoms are common for children; they feel emotions in their body (we all do!). If this is common before school, bedtime or higher stress events, maybe consider that intense emotions are contributing to the symptoms. Children who report pain most often feel pain. Pain is complex and often worsens with stress and is as real as a cut. The child may be highly motivated to go to school, or an activity, but the worry and related tummy ache are so strong that it makes the child look 'stubborn' or 'unwilling.'

✨Possible Emotion Translations like "I'm worried I'll feel overwhelmed with missing you!" are important. This is Emotion-Focused work.

✨Be in touch to learn more or work with us.

When stress is high, words matter. Consider saying this instead of that—and notice how connection often comes before calm. 💙 What other swaps would you add?

⚡This post was made possible by your support. Check out more cool stuff at www.self-reg.ca or sign up for our newsletter here: https://self-reg.us11.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=c52a5f4a89ff8632f0cfd7d72&id=33b75d66b7 ⚡