October is Emotional Wellness Month! Nearly one-third of Americans face an emotional challenge each month. Knowing how to handle your feelings and express your emotions in an appropriate way is key to emotional health. Research supports the connection between emotional health and overall health. Year 3 of the FCSfit initiative focuses on social and emotional wellness for healthy relationships. Presenter: Diana Ketterman
Mental Health First Aid Certified Instructor & Grief Support Recovery Specialist
Mastering Mental Health, LLC
About the Session:
One out of every 20 children aged fifteen and younger will suffer the loss of one or both parents. One in 5 children will experience the death of someone close to them by age 18. One in every 1,500 secondary school students dies each year. Teachers are in a unique position to assist grieving children; however, preparation to meet this need is not typically provided in preservice or inservice training. Yet, teachers can play a vital role in helping children understand and manage the pain of grief. This session focuses on how to respond when students or peers display Short Term Energy Relieving Behaviors. Strategies will be given to help teachers support grieving children in their classrooms.After the session, attendees will be able to:
- Recognize how grief equates to stress
- Identify sources of grief
- Calculate a stress score
- Analyze stressor effects on mental health
- Develop a grief map
- Evaluate short-term energy relieving behaviors
About the Presenter:
Diana Ketterman is a mental health educator, speaker, and author. She is the owner of Mastering Mental Health, LLC. Diana is a certified Virginia award-winning Career and Technical Education teacher, a Mental Health First Aid Certified Instructor, and a Certified Grief Recovery Specialist. She is the author of two children’s workbooks, Making Sense of Me and Behind the Mask: Dealing with Anger, Grief, and Rejection. The results of the implementation of her mental health curriculum shows that 40% and 20% students (respectively) who participated in the Mental Health Curriculum, know how to get hope back when they feel hopeless over those students who did not participate. Diana was a presenter at the 2018 AAFCS Annual Conference & Expo and the 2018 VATFACS State Conference. Diana has co-presented for United Way and the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) with CNN writer and senior producer Wayne Drash and Virginia Senator Creigh Deeds. She also is a co-author of a Virginia regional United Way community mental health report.