
CIS is committed to supporting the holistic well-being of our students. The specialist team of counsellors helps students to develop personal “toolkits,” or sets of skills and strategies, to strengthen their mental health and resilience. Strategies focus on improving self-awareness, managing time and stress, building healthy relationships, and, crucially, learning how to learn.
You are not alone. 2020 proved to be an especially stressful, unpredictable year for many families worldwide. In such moments, we all look to our “toolkits” for coping strategies and we draw on our reserves of well-being and resilience to get us through. We encourage all students and parents to reach out to our counsellors for information, ideas and support at any time. Foremost, we want you to know that CIS cares.
Student Support Services
The Student Support and Counselling Team at CIS always strive to support the parents and children of the CIS community.We are available to support your children as they readjust to a different learning platform and schedule. In order to look after our physical and mental health, the value of healthy habits related to eating well, exercising and having a good night’s sleep is important to reflect upon as both individuals and families. Finding interests, routines or activities that support our children and families manage stress or anxiety are helpful. Some of the things that children find helpful when managing anxiety would include painting, walking, reading, exercising (running, sports), talking to someone trusted, family time, and deep breathing.
Contact CIS Counsellors
If you would like any support in regards to Distance Learning or difficult-to-manage feelings, we are available to answer questions, provide support, and take meetings online. Send an email or communicate with your child’s teacher if you would like to meet regarding your child.
Nursery to Grade 5 Toolkit
Hi Students & Families,
Though school has moved to Distance Learning, We are still available to support you with a variety of things as if we were still on campus. If you would like any support in regards to Distance Learning or difficult-to-manage feelings, we are available to answer questions, provide support, and take meetings online. Send an email or communicate with your child’s teacher if you would like to meet regarding your child.
Best,
Sheila Mills:
Nursery to SK and Grade Two (sheila.mills@cisp.edu.kh)
Kimm Renaud:
Grade One, Grade Three to Five. (kimm.renaud@cisp.edu.kh)
Below we have attached some information about anxiety, managing anxiety and staying organized during distance learning (DL):
The drastic changes in our routine, lifestyle and the uncertainty of the Covid-19 pandemic can cause a number of different thoughts and feelings for people. It is a normal reaction to feel anxious or stressed during these times. However, if you are having too many negative thoughts and feelings, it can make this situation feel much harder to handle.
Anxiety can feel different to different people. Here are some ways to recognize anxiety:
- It can make you feel really angry or really sad and change your emotions a lot
- It can make you feel scared of the situation or future outcomes
- It can make you want to avoid all your responsibilities and even your friends and family
- It can make you want to sleep a lot, or hard to sleep
- It can also affect your appetite, making you overeat, or not feeling hungry.
- Some people even feel it in their bodies with feeling like their heart is beating too fast, feeling short of breath, shaking or sweating
Learning how to recognize and respond to anxiety helps us to adjust to our current situation, and prepares us to deal with difficult or hard circumstances in the future.
Click the link for a fun list of strategies to try to start practicing managing stress and anxiety better. You can also try some new activities if you are feeling bored. Stay connected! Ask a friend to join you online to try it together.
Anxiety/Stress Reducing Exercises
Click on the link for instructions on exercises to combat stress and anxiety.
Mindful Breathing Video or past into your browser (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmFUDkj1Aq0)
Follow along with this video to practice mindful breathing to reduce anxiety and stress
Learning to manage your school work from home without the structure and routine of a physical classroom can be challenging but you can do it!
Tips for Online Success
- Outline and stick to a routine – including your classroom hours, breaks and meals.
- Work at a desk
- Before you begin your school work, outline your plan for the day to make it more manageable
- Use a planner to keep track of due dates
- Contact your teacher or counsellor directly if you are having any difficulty. Ask questions!
Grade 6 to Grade 10 Toolkit
Hi Students & Families,
Though school has moved to Distance Learning, I am still available to support you with a variety of things as if we were still on campus. If you would like any support in regards to Online Learning or difficult to manage feelings, I am available to answer questions, provide support, and take meetings online. Send an email or a Google Chat with your request to get started.
Best,
Ms. Cadwell
Email: annie.cadwell@cisp.edu.kh
December 2nd, 2020
Self Care
There are a lot of misconceptions around the word “self-care”. Self-care is not only indulgences, it really means having a balanced and orderly life. A balanced life is managing all things that you are responsible for, your activities, your sports, your family, homework, school, friends, etc. while still taking care of yourself and the people who are important to you. A well-balanced person has a far greater ability to focus their attention and energy on attaining their goals, is less stressed, and tends to be positive and happy.
Practicing Self Care
If practicing self care is new for you, first look at different situations to see what adds stress to your life and what helps you relax. Follow along with Balancing Stress and Relaxation to get started.
Need some ideas for activities? Try a new Self Care Activity
Feeling stressed? Try one of these Relaxation Activities today and listen to some soothing music in the background Relaxing Hang Drums.
Routine
To feel the benefits of relaxation during our self care activities, we need to do it regularly. Schedule your self care activities into your daily routine and do it everyday! If you haven’t started using one already, set up your time with this Online Planner. Read through the next section to learn how to balance self care and responsibilities.
Student Skill Focus: Time Management
How do you balance all the things you need and want to do in a day? Learning to manage our time from home is a new skill, and it is easy to become overwhelmed by your workload if you don’t have a strong organization and time management system. How are you supposed to finish 5 assignments on the SAME day, watch Tik Tok, chat with friends, and study for a test? We all get the same 86,400 seconds in a day. How can you make the most of your time?
Time Management – Check out this quick video on the positive impact of effectively managing your time!
How to Manage your Time (From Home and in the Future):
- Start each day by organizing all your school and personal activities or task in priority of importance
- Select the most important tasks to complete within the day’s time frame
- Break down each task into smaller steps
- Take small breaks between each step to stay focused and productive. Stop for food and movement breaks
- Stay motivated and disciplined
Follow along with this activity to start organizing your time. If you are awake at 3am doing school work, this skill is meant for you 🙂
As always – send Ms. Cadwell a message if you have any questions or would like to meet!
Nov. 16th – Coping with the Change
The drastic changes in our routine, lifestyle and the uncertainty of the Covid-19 pandemic can cause a number of different thoughts and feelings for people, some of those may be negative. It is a normal reaction to feel anxious or stressed during these times. However, if you are having too many negative thoughts and feelings, it can make this situation feel much harder to handle.
Recognizing Anxiety
Anxiety can feel different to different people.
- It can make you feel really angry or really sad and change your emotions a lot
- It can make you feel scared of the situation or future outcomes
- It can make you want to avoid all your responsibilities and even your friends and family
- It can make you want to sleep a lot, or hard to sleep
- It can also affect your appetite, making you overeat, or not feeling hungry.
- Some people even feel it in their bodies with feeling like their heart is beating too fast, feeling short of breath, shaking or sweating
Coping Strategies for Anxiety
Learning how to recognize and respond to anxiety will help you adjust to our current situation, and prepare you to deal with difficult or hard circumstances in the future. When we cannot control the situation, we can try different coping skills to improve the way we feel about it.
Click the link for a fun list of strategies to try to start practicing managing stress and anxiety better. You can also try some new activities if you are feeling bored. Stay connected! Ask a friend to join you online to try it together.
Anxiety/Stress Reducing Exercises
Click on the link for instructions on exercises to combat stress and anxiety.
Follow along with this video to practice mindful breathing to reduce anxiety and stress
Student Skill Focus: Organization
Learning to manage your school work from home without the structure and routine of a physical classroom can be challenging.
Tips for Online Success
- Outline and stick to a routine – including your classroom hours, breaks and meals.
- Work at a desk
- Before you begin your school work, outline your plan for the day to make it more manageable
- Use a planner to keep track of due dates
- Use your resources – Contact your counselor or teachers directly. Ask questions!
- Stay connected – use your google classroom and google chats to talk to teachers and peers
If you are struggling to get organized, email Ms. Cadwell for a meeting!
Boredom Busters
Need fun at-home activities? Look no further!
Virtual Travel and Tours
- Google Street View Treks: Temples of Angkor helps you to get up close without leaving home.
- Virtual Angkor presents a simulation of life in Angkor.
- Explore worldwide satellite imagery and 3D buildings and terrain with Google Earth.
- Tour museums around the world through Google Arts & Culture.
- Tour museums around the world through Google Arts & Culture.
- Watch tigers through the San Diego’s Zoo‘s livestream.
- Don’t spend all your time on land. Dive into the ocean with Monterey Bay Aquarium’s livestream.
- Visit the National Museum of Natural History in the comfort of your pajamas.
- Some of the world’s most famous artworks are located at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Skip the admission ticket and visit for free!
STEAM
- Education Office of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory
- The Tinkering Studio
- TinkerLab
- Virtual Wetland Field Trip
Videos
- Crash Course is an educational Youtube channel that is appropriate for Middle School and High School students.
Dancing and Hands-on Activities
- Cosmic Kids Yoga
- Zumba with Dovydas: “Minions” and “I like to move it”
- PopSugar Fitness: Family fun cardio workout
- Easy Painting Art: Elephants and suns
- Gelly Clay Making Toys: Flowers
- Active Creative Bees: Clay fruits and more
- Street Beats Dance Academy: Choreography for “Dance Monkey”
- MoveTube Network: Choreography for “Can’t Stop That Feeling”
- Lean Green Bean: Indoor activities for toddlers
Podcasts
Apps
- Audible is an app that allows you to listen to your favorite book! Listen to “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone,” “Alice’s Adventure in Wonderland,” “Winnie the Pooh” and so much more!
Other Parent Resources
- A Coping Kit for COVID-19 and Mental Health by Helena Horal
- Age Related Reactions to Traumatic Events
- All You Need to Know About Effective and Engaging Online Learning
- Anxiety/Stress Reducing Exercises
- Coping Strategies
- Coronavirus and Parenting: What You Need to Know
- Coronavirus Anxiety: Helpful Expert Tips and Resources
- Coronavirus: A Book for Children
- COVID-19: IFRC, UNICEF and WHO issue guidance to protect children and support safe school operations
- Greater Good Magazine
- Helping Kids Handle Worry
- How Can I Speak to My Children About Coronavirus?
- How to emotionally prepare for COVID quarantine
- How to Help Children Manage Fears
- How to Talk to Kids About Scary News
- My Hero is You: A storybook for children on COVID-19 (also available in Khmer: វីរបុរសរបស់ខ្ញុំគឺជាអ្នក)
- Read-aloud Coronavirus Safety for Children Book
- School Counsellor’s Distance Learning Toolkit
- Talk to Kids About the Coronavirus with These 5 Easy Tips