Tools for Teens – Talks and Workshops in high schools
According to recent statistics, the group of people in our society that feels most isolated and lonely today are no longer the elderly, but the young. In the words of our former Prime Minister, Jacina Ardern, during an address at Victoria University:
“Here we are, the most connected digitally that we have ever been (..) yet we are lonelier, we are more isolated, and we see more of our young people facing anxiety, depression and all of the hurt and pain that comes with that” Jacinda Ardern, October 2020. The Prime Minister’s Action Child Wellbeing Strategy released in August 2019, sets out 75 actions to increase support frameworks to address mental wellbeing for children and young people, including in schools.As a qualified Life Coach and ex High School teacher, I can support your school's focus on wellbeing and life skills, by kickstarting and normalising the discussions around emotions and wellbeing, while offering them an experience as well as the theory behind it.
The aim is to offer students the tools to create positive mindsets for themselves, and have coping mechanisms up their sleeve when they hit stressful times. This will ultimately increase their ability to learn, as well as their overall wellbeing.
These talks and workshops shift the focus from success to all-round happiness and holistic wellbeing. They help students understand themselves and their emotions better, give them mindset tools to deal with stress and difficult times, set positive goals, and set small action steps towards achieving those goals.
I can tailor the focus of the workshops to suit the school’s needs, and each workshop will go for 90- 120 min each, depending on the school's preference and time availability. The big point of difference is that Tools for Teens offers students the opportunity to experience powerful techniques for themselves, rather than just being given advice.
Having been a classroom teacher at a high school myself, I know what an incredibly important role teachers play in the wellbeing of students, and there are already ample resources made available by the Ministry of Education. I also know first-hand what immense pressure teachers are under already, and I am therefore looking forward to supporting schools and teachers with life coaching skills.
Tools For Teens HAPPINESS AND HEALTHY MINDSET , A Journey into Myself, Two- day program: (Talk and six 90min workshops)
FOR TOOLS FOR TEENS
Testimonial
“Jill Griffin’s Tools for Teens is
brilliant!
We held a Year 13 Wellbeing Day to help alleviate the numerous pressures facing our students in their unique final year of school.
We wanted an interactive programme delivered by an expert to provide our students with a variety of strategies to add to their kete in order to have greater personal success in Year 13 and beyond.
Jill delivered this programme
in an engaging and empathetic manner. Furthermore, her genuine passion for helping all types of teenagers was clear to see. The content is thought-provoking,
strengths-based and approached wellbeing from a variety of perspectives. This combination enabled our students to be excited, inspired and become more confident moving forward in what awaits them.
Jill was extremely well organised
and tailored her programme to meet the specific needs of our diverse range of students. We will continue working with Jill and Tools for Teens to empower our taiohi, especially with today’s demanding world in front of them.”
Phil Mechen, Year 13 Dean, Whangarei
Girls’ High School
“Jill gave a wide ranging talk about wellbeing, mindset and happiness to a group of year 11 to 13 Geraldine High School students in the run up to their School and NCEA Exams. She was extremely well prepared and spoke with passion and expertise about these wide ranging topics. She blended neuroscience with modern wellbeing thinking in a way that kept the students attention throughout her talk. The use of practical mindfulness tips, not only maintained the students interest, but also gave them something tangible to walk away from the session. She followed up the talk with great resources for students to refer back to as they reflected on the talk. In the future we would have Jill back to talk to our students for longer sessions on any of these topics as part of our Personal and Social Education Programme.”
Mr Richard Harvey
Assistant Principal, Geraldine High School
"The tools for teens workshop was such a perfect breakaway for our year 13 class. Jill was so open to conversation with us and spoke on very relevant topics that we go through as youth and high school students under all of our stress affecting our mental health and overall wellbeing. The workshop was balanced out perfectly with a good amount of talking and valuable points that were very eye opening to us students... as well as practical activity making the workshop really fun for us to participate in. It really made our year 13 group relate and connect over the things like what we are going through, what we are doing when we leave school, and how we find our happiness in all our uniquely different ways. Overall, it really set us up to start thinking about what we can do to not only be happy but REMAIN happy and Jill reassured us that it is possible for us to do so. "
Sophie Overeem, Deputy Head Girl, Year 13, Whangarei Girls High School.