As a beginning teacher in 2019 I moved from Central Otago to Auckland to work with what I considered a 'special population'. Something I couldn't get in abundance living in the South Island of New Zealand. That was working with Māori and Pasifika students. For many reasons, but mainly for my personal interest in mental health.
Myself and my area of adolescence have a personal relationship with mental health amongst youth and it is well known to be something that hugely hinders the livelihood of Māori and Pasifika peoples. Namely youth males. My aspirations as a teacher were to give pupils not only the academic skills to progress in life but also social and emotional agency.
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| Morning Prayer circle |
Mental health for some people is a loaded word, considered almost taboo because the literacy taught around mental health is quite often unpleasant, perplexing and bleak. However, mental health is multifaceted and under an education lens it is about providing positive experiences that provide a child's sense of self-worth and development. We learn our interactions from parents and adults around us. By the age of six years old friendships and other social relationships with peers and adults become more complex. They take on more meaning at this age, as they become more aware of the world around them and their role in it. Also at age 6, children become more aware of emotions—both their own and those of others. They understand sophisticated concepts, like not hurting someone’s feelings by, saying something scathing about a person directly to them.
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Sharing our daily morning goals
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In 2019 as a new teacher I began looking at the foundations of my class. I wanted to provide positive opportunities for promoting mental and emotional wellbeing which can be sustained and reinforced over time. So where do I begin? Breathing and structure.
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Practicing our 5 finger breathing
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Our structure begins each morning after morning prayer (we are a Catholic School) where we share one daily goal we wish to achieve each day. Our breathing started off with only two minutes everyday after lunch. Structure came back in with our 'Peaks and Troughs' where pupils would share something that went well and something that didn't go well. That is the extent of beginning my implementation of mental health in the classroom.
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Breathing with ourselves planted
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Breathing how we feel most comfortable
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