Counsellor's Corner

March 23rd marked one year since the first lockdown.  Some of you have been working from home since then, some have been shielding, and some have been sending your children back and forth to school with changing updates and schedules.   Maybe you have been doing all three.

Vaccinations are giving us hope, and talk of spring transitions are complimented by warmer weather and more daylight.  At ISA we’re always planning ahead for the next school year and many of our students will soon be filling out course registration forms and thinking about choices like, “What instrument should I learn next?”

We have become more flexible as we wait for the ebb and flow of government guidelines for travel and visiting relatives near or far.  Still, it can be frustrating and isolating.  At the beginning of the year I highlighted the NHS 5 Steps to Wellbeing, and we also use these features in some of our student wellbeing surveys.  The 5 Steps are timely for coping with living in the present as we wait for the future:

- Connect with other people

- Be physically active

- Learn new skills

- Give to others

- Pay attention to the present moment

I’m sure NHS researched these steps quite thoroughly, but it also sounds like something my grandmother would have told me...and yes, the steps really do help!  Which one are you going to try today?  

Warm Regards,

Valerie DeGraw