Age of Anxiety: Chilliwack alternative school pilots new program to help anxious students
Some students at C.H.A.N.C.E Shxwetetilthet Alternate school are too anxious to ride the bus, attend school
Some students are too anxious to ride the bus to school. Others will become mute for periods of time. And still other students are too shy to attend school at all.
Social anxiety is the leading mental health challenge among students at the C.H.A.N.C.E Shxwetetilthet Alternate school in Chilliwack. Now the school has launched a new pilot program to help students manage it.
The Grade 7-9 school, which has just under 40 students, has partnered with non-profit AnxietyBC, and have a registered psychologist and a clinical counselor to work with the students and to provide training for staff.
The seeds for the program were planted last year when the parent advisory council asked for more resources after a guest speaker brought in to talk about anxiety proved helpful for staff and students
Breathing and other strategies
Cathy Preibisch, district counsellor for the school, said AnxietyBC and two clinicians have put together focusing activities that teachers can do with their students, many of whose behaviours were undiagnosed.
"Each morning our classroom teachers do a morning circle, a check-in, and then they teach the students a new focusing activity just to help them dial down the anxiety so they're more receptive to learning and they're better able to problem solve," she said.
Preibisch said the focusing techniques they've been using so far in the first few school weeks include mindful breathing, slow breathing, muscle tense and release, and guided imagery (in which students' imaginations are guided towards a more relaxed, focused state).
The school is also using different strategies to help students who, for example, don't want to take the school bus, or don't want to get out of the car when they're being dropped off at school because they have separation anxiety from their parents.
"If we have a student who may have had those experiences and they don't want to come back to school, we work on home visits, and we sometimes provide rides to students who don't want to ride the bus. We help them with rides first, and slowly, gradually work them back to getting them on the bus," Preibisch said.
"Some of our students have a shorter work day, and then we slowly, gradually — when they feel safe, when they feel comfortable — we increase that time until they can be coming all day."
Parental involvement
Preibisch said it's not only important for school staff to receive training on how to implement these strategies — but parents as well.
"We also want to help the parents so they can have the same strategies at home. These are life skills that they will be learning, that they can take anywhere with them in life to help them."
She said the two clinicians will also be available to parents for consultations on individual students.
To hear the full interview listen to the audio labelled: Chilliwack school helps students cope with anxiety