Talking About Mental Health: March 2019
Throughout the school year, UGDSB Mental Health and Addiction Lead Jenny Marino shares tips and resources for improving our mental health and well-being. Additional mental health resources for students and parents/guardians can be found on the board website.
Random Acts of Kindness
Did you know that there are scientifically proven benefits of being kind? That’s right. Just the act of being kind has been shown to stimulate the same part of the brain as those who receive an act of kindness. The simple act of kindness can:
- Reduce the stress hormone cortisol
- Increase sense of positive mood and satisfaction
- Help with physical health including lowering blood pressure
- Increase sense of happiness
- Increase feelings of “calm”
- Improve the mood of somebody simply witnessing the act of kindness
Kindness is also something that is TEACHABLE. Dr. Ritchie Davidson of the University of Wisconsin states that: “It’s kind of like weight training, we found that people can actually build up their compassion ‘muscle’ and respond to others’ suffering with care and a desire to help.”
As a family, you can:
- Make a conscious effort to recognize and say something kind about each other or someone else
- Give everyone in the family sticky notes to leave kindness notes to each other around the house
- Challenge everyone to do a random act of kindness every day for a week and have dinner time discussion about what everybody did that day
- Make an effort to identify and appreciate kindness that has been received
The weather may not be “playing nice” with us here in Southern Ontario these last weeks but we can still give our brain and our mental health a winter “boost”! So go out and notice kindness, receive kindness and give kindness this month.
Jenny Marino is the Mental Health Lead for Upper Grand District School Board
Follow Jenny on Instagram @ugdsb_mental_health