High School REACT

REACT     We cannot expect to be any more successful at controlling our emotions than a ship at sea can expect to slow the tides or stop the coming of a storm. Too often our immediate response to a challenging emotion is to try to shut it out. This often backfires on us and can become the start of a pattern of maladaptive behaviors such as rage or addiction, and we end up acting on impulse rather than reason - emotions end up controlling us (for example, acting out of anger and throwing your phone on the ground when you feel insulted) when we seek the feeling of control. The key is to acknowledge the power of emotion and what we feel is not totally in our control. An analogy can be made to how we experience the climate. We cannot expect to will the rain to stop and rain clouds to disperse, but what we can do is adapt to the rain by using an umbrella or wearing rain boots for the puddles. What is key is acknowledging the weather, our emotions to be what they are and something n...

Session 1: intro - define mental health and introduce REACT With this introductory lesson, we will mainly be introducing the class to the importance of mental health and providing them with a definition, and introducing them to the principles of REACT. Objective 1.  Group facilitators introduce themselves to the class as a whole. 2.  HSR-1 3.  Provide a solid definition of mental health and explain why it is important for high school readiness. 4.  Introduce the meaning of REACT  (REACT  en español ) and how it connects with our experience of mental health. 5.  Provide a general overview of what each week of the program will involve. Approach 1.  Students gain insight into mental health and REACT through activities and guided discovery. Activities 1.  Facilitators ask students what comes to mind when they think of the term "mental health". Anyone who responds receives a Jolly Rancher candy. Facilitators then integrate all the students' ...

Schedule - C.C.A. (Mon.) and S.A.S. (Wed.) REACT Group Facilitator Training 9/13/2023    @2:00pm (duration: 40 minutes )   Zoom Link: Orientation       Zoom Meeting ID: 946 4573 7744 9/27/2023    @2:00pm (duration:  40 minutes )     Zoom Link:  Module 1 Training      Zoom Meeting ID:  913 0122 5030 10/6/2023    @12:30pm (duration:  40 minutes )     Zoom Link: Debriefing/Review   Zoom Meeting ID: 951 6049 6119 10/13/2023    @12:30pm (duration:  40 minutes )     Zoom Link: Debriefing/Review    Zoom Meeting ID: 946 4531 2352 10/20/2023    @12:30pm (duration:  40 minutes )     Zoom Link: Debriefing/Review    Zoom Meeting ID: 996 3466 4921 10/27/2023    @12:30pm (duration:  40 minutes )     Zoom Link: Debriefing/Review    Zoom Meeting ID: 975 9695 6359...

Feelings 101 - central tenets 1.  Having feelings is part of being human. 2.  Feelings are painful sometimes! And this hurt can have an overwhelming grip on our thoughts and behavior. 3.  We either respond to feelings in healthy or unhealthy ways. Too often it is in our nature to go down the latter path. 4.  Unhealthy response:  the impulse to throw your phone on the ground or hit someone when you're angry. the impulse to seek a "high" to escape from a bad feeling. 5.  Healthy response: Acknowledge the feeling. Sit with the feeling and appreciate how it can give us a helpful insight to ourselves and reality. Acknowledge that there is so much out of our control but that it is well within our control to make the choice to be on a better path. "I acknowledge this grief/annoyance/grudge/worry/excitement I feel and I seek to understand how it is impacting my thoughts and behavior." " Although so much to how I feel is not totally under my control and I ...

Weekly Process A.  Check-in:      1. How do you feel today? (one word)      2. What is on your mind? (one word)     3. Allow room for any open discussion on anything that comes up in check-in process.      4. Especially in the beginning weeks of the program, ice breaker activities could be very helpful for the check-in process.   B.  Discussion of Topic of the Week Every topic we will discuss over the 20 weeks will have these aspects. And we can approach each topic by contextualizing with these aspects:     Emotional awareness      Relationships     Self-identity     Perspective/truth/objectivity :  If we are genuinely seekers of truth/reality, we know not to jump to conclusions about other people or ourselves. We can appreciate that there could be more to what we think they're saying/thinking. Learning to withhold judgment about others and about ours...