CAN Health & Wellness Newsletter – Starting Off On The Right Foot
January 25, 2022
Welcome to the first installment of CAN’s Health and Wellness newsletter of 2022!
As we continue to share content surrounding the Whole Child Health and Wellness Vision as well as other approaches that prioritize the cumulative wellness of students in our Expanded Learning programs, don’t forget to think about your mental and physical wellbeing and it’s importance to not only yourself, but the youth you are serving.
This month’s newsletter explores exciting changes for the year including Gavin Newsom’s new budget proposal, as well as a multitude of resources that emphasize the importance of mental wellness of students and educators alike.
Explore these additional resources to help ground you and the students you serve to start the year off on the right foot:
- 7 Ways Mindfulness Can Help Teachers via Greater Good Science Center
- 51 Mindfulness Exercises for the Classroom via Waterford
- 25 Fun Mindfulness Activities for Children and Teens via PositivePsychology
Thank you for all you do to create conditions for young people to thrive!
In This Newsletter:
Governor Newsom’s New Budget Proposal
The California School-Based Health Alliance (CSHA) summarized the budget that was released by Governor Newsom for the 2022-2023 fiscal year.
The budget has many priorities including:
- Health for All, Medi-Cal to all adults aged 26 to 49
- Advancing equity and improving quality in children’s preventive and integrated behavioral health care
- Significant increase in education funding to address expansion of transitional kindergarten
- Significant investments to address health care and education workforce issues
Free At-Home Testing Kits Available
The California Department of Education (CDE), Early Education Division (EED) is advising Executive Directors and Program Administrators of California State Preschool Programs (CSPP) to share resources on COVID at-home testing. Four at-home testing kits are now free from the government and can be ordered via the United States Postal Service at https://special.usps.com/testkits.
SEL Commitments for 2022
CASEL released a list of 2022 SEL Commitments:
- Commitment 1: Safe and Caring Schools
- Creating long-term solutions to keep students safe that address the root causes. Focusing on positive relationships will help reduce the risk of violent behaviors. This, however, does not replace mental health supports.
Prioritizing Educator Wellness
EdSource released an article about how to invest in teachers so that students and schools can thrive during this time. Prioritizing educator wellness can look like:
- Being specific when defining wellness
- Integrating a wellness focus into teacher training
- Recognizing and addressing broader challenges in the environment
- Alleviating financial barriers
Mental Health Primer
The California School-Based Health Alliance released a Mental Health Primer from the California Children’s Trust and National Center for Youth Law. Medi-Cal managed care plans (MCPs) finance mental health services, so this primer gives an overview of school-based mental health and the role of school-based health centers.
Youth and Substance Use Prevention Webinars
The California School-Based Health Alliance has two webinars on Youth and Substance Use Prevention:
- Stanford Reach Lab’s Vaping Information, Solutions, and Interventions Toolkit (VISIT). Anyone who works with youth can learn about counseling and supporting them in a clinical setting.
- Building a “Virtual Presence” for Telehealth Substance Use Treatment. Providing a trusting and empathetic environment in virtual times requires clinicians to be engaging and positive and this webinar can help develop it.
Check Out CAN’s Other Newsletters!
Access the CAN newsletter archives to view past newsletters today! You may be interested in some of our other newsletters as well: