During the pandemic, it became more apparent that there needs to be healthy and positive coping mechanisms for students. Students come to class from different backgrounds, experiences and home lives that all have an impact on their ability to focus and learn. Swan Valley School Division (SVSD) recognized this need, which led staff to create a program to apply for funding to assist in giving students a space with activities to help them reset and resume learning.
“In 2020, the SVSD recognized the need to improve the quality of our student’s mental health in order for them to be successful in school,” said SVSD Student Services Achievement Coordinator Patti Hack. “Based on neuroscience, and the research from top trauma specialists such as Dr. Bruce Perry and Dr. Stuart Shanker, we created a four-prong approach to address these needs.”
“The four prongs are first to create a co-regulation room in each school,” said SVSD Counsellor Kerrilynn Behrman. “According to research, there is a correlation between adverse childhood experiences such as abuse, poverty, and parental addictions; and later in life social, emotional and psychological struggles. The one thing that can help them off that trajectory is having one person they feel connected to. Dr. Stuart Shanker’s research also indicates that in order to be successful in school, we need to be connected and regulated so that we can access the cortex or thinking part of our brain. There are many different ways that we can regulate our bodies and nervous systems that are incorporated into the co-regulation room.”
“The co-regulation room has an active area with stationary bikes, mini trampolines, swings, and gliders that help students upregulate,” said SVSD Counsellor Jocelyn Bender. “There is a quiet area with bubble towers and rocking chairs that help students calm their autonomic nervous system. The third area of the room is an expressive area with arts, crafts, and sand trays or games. The co-regulation room also has a caring, trained staff member who connects with the students and helps them choose up to three activities to help them regulate and return to class, ready to learn.
“The students and activities are tracked to ensure the choices are effective. This room is a proactive approach, not a punishment, for all students in the school, as everyone gets dysregulated from time to time. Some are scheduled for regular 15-minute intervals in the day, others may be drop-ins from time to time, depending on life events.”
“The second prong is educating all staff on trauma based on neuroscience and Dr. Bruce Perry’s neurosequential model of therapeutics,” said Hack. “Staff have learned about trauma, its impact on the brain, and tools to help their students.”
“The third prong is teaching all the students about their brains and therapeutic tools that they can use during difficult times,” said Behrman. “They learn about the parts of their brain and make a play dough brain, and how to listen to their bodies to identify and name how they feel. Students then learn different tools in a sequential way, based on neuroscience, to calm their bodies and become regulated. These include body-based tools such as breathing, mindfulness, muscle tension and relaxation, and butterfly hugs and tapping. Later in the year, cognitive tools such as helpful versus unhelpful thinking and how to change our brain channel, as well as empathy and gratitude are learned. In each session, students add a tool to their toolbox and at the end of the year go home with a toolbox full of ideas to help them become regulated through difficult times.
“The final prong was to educate parents about what we are doing and we created a video that can be found on our school division’s website,” said Bender.
Through the Teacher’s Idea Fund, SVSD has been successful in receiving funds to not only pilot the program but to build and expand it to other schools in the division.
“In the fall of 2020, we applied for the Teacher’s Idea Fund with the Manitoba Government and received $15,000 to pilot it in one school, which was Taylor School,” said Hack. “With its success, we then applied the following two years to continue to build and use the full framework in Taylor, Heyes, Benito, Bowsman and Minitonas schools. Swan River Ecole School will be using two of the prongs this year; the co-regulation room and staff training. In the following two years, we received $150,000 to cover staffing and materials to facilitate this program and its framework.
We currently have funding until the end of the 2023/2024 school year.”
This program will focus on elementary and middle school-aged students, with the goal being that by the time they reach high school, they will have all the positive and healthy coping mechanisms they need to be successful in learning.
“The framework has currently been used from students in Kindergarten to Grade 8,” said Behrman. “It has been incorporated in their daily learning by having access to the co-regulation rooms and knowing what the purpose of the room is and how to use it.”
“As well, staff are encouraged to continue using the classroom tools taught, as we know repetition helps create habit,” said Bender. “Their coping toolboxes they create throughout the year are kept in the classroom and we encourage the teachers to have the students use the items in the room when they become dysregulated.”
This program was developed by a local staff member and is being taught to other staff in the division to implement with students.
“The program initially was created and facilitated by Kerrilynn Behrman,” said Hack. “Kerrilynn has a Master’s Degree in Counselling Psychology and training in Dr. Perry’s NME model, as well as play therapy and various therapies used in classroom activities.
“In 2022, the school vision recognized the importance of fostering positive mental health and hired a second counsellor, Jocelyn Bender. Jocelyn is a long-time educator at SVSD. She has a Master’s Degree in both Special Education and Guidance and Counselling and has training in child development, behaviourism, and various therapies including play therapy.
“Together the two have trained the educational assistants who manage the co-regulation rooms in trauma, what co-regulation is and how to manage them,” said Hack.