CKG Connections

Godwin High School Rolls Out CKG Life Transitions Toolkit

Life Transitions is one of four focus areas in the initial launch.

We are grateful to Henrico County’s Godwin High School Counseling Director, Nicole Hansinger, for partnering with CKG in the soft launch of our new e-learning Life Transitions Toolkit. Godwin rolled out the online mental wellness course to ninth and tenth grade health classes in the weeks leading up to winter break.

The Life Transitions Toolkit uses text, video and self-assessment surveys to encourage students to think about their own life experiences, including a focus on the very unexpected COVID-19 quarantine. It also provides a downloadable self-assessment plan, and grade specific downloadable journals. “Our goal is for students to learn from their past experiences and provide tools to help ease the stress of future transitions and life changes,” explains Susan Lindsay, CKG Director of Programs. “We focus on teaching teens to proactively care for their mental health, ideally before there is a mental health challenge. These are tools that will serve them their entire lives.”

Each Mental Wellness Toolkit comes with an Educator Guide which provides learning objectives, discussion questions, and FAQs. The toolkits are designed to be used as independent student-led learning, supporting curriculum resources, or a hybrid use between the two. Godwin students completed the online Life Transitions Toolkit and discussion in one class period, and health teachers taught additional stress awareness and mindfulness information in the following health class period.

We thank all of the Godwin students who provided invaluable feedback on the course, which will help us to make adjustments and improvements as we move toward a larger roll out in early 2021.

What Godwin students had to say…

“I felt like it was a good lesson and it helped me learned things that could help me and my friends, especially during this time of uncertainty.”

“I thought the lesson was extremely effective in teaching me some new ideas in how to handle my stress with activities I can do to help me manage my workload. I also felt comforted in that I got to see that I was not alone with the struggles of high school, and it reminded me to keep working hard and do the best I can.”

“I can’t speak for anyone but myself but I am a young girl who suffers from depression and anxiety so it was a very beneficial lesson for me!”

“I liked the format, it had a video experience of someone and then a document with tips and worksheets – this is what I liked about it.”

Let’s Discuss Consent!

Join us for CKG’s regular virtual meeting, Conversations with CKG. October features an expert-led discussion on the powerful book, Consent: The News Rules of Sex Education: Every Teen’s Guide to Healthy Sexual Relationships by Jennifer Lang, MD.

You don’t want to miss this free offering.

If there is one critical component to establishing healthy sexual relationships, it is a firm grip on the concept of consent. Sex as a general topic can be difficult for teens to discuss. Asking them to consider their own experiences, their personal boundaries and ways to communicate consent requires next level communication.

Conversations with CKG’s September offering: Let’s Talk About Sex helped to set the tone for this Book Discussion about consent and healthy sexual relationships. No problem if you missed it. This next conversation is sure to also inspire intentional, compassionate conversation about all these important, personal topics. The discussion leader expert is therapist, Summit Emotional Health‘s Ashley Morgan Soukup, MA, LMFT.

CKG Foundation has long held that productive, open and supportive conversations about difficult topics can have a profound impact on current and future mental health. Conversation’s with CKG is our commitment to always SpeakUp and to listen as well.

About the book

Sex education is something nearly all students are taught, but the divide between school-based instruction and lived experience is vast. In this groundbreaking book, Dr. Jennifer Lang delivers a frank, compassionate, and evidence-based guide to healthy sexual relationships, focusing on the crucial yet often overlooked role of consent. A board-certified obstetrician and gynecologist, Dr. Lang is dedicated to helping young people develop a healthy sense of sexuality that starts with a fundamental understanding of their bodies, their desires, and their boundaries. Written for all teens, and inclusive of all sexual identities and orientations, this book emphasizes the need for active, enthusiastic consent in every sexual encounter. It outlines not only what consent looks like, but the importance of recognizing when a person has the capacity to give consent and when they don’t. Ultimately, this real-life guide to sexuality provides unambiguous guidance to help teen and young adults make healthy decisions for themselves.

http://www.ckgfoundationn.org

A part of CKG Mental Wellness Education and Community Outreach, Conversations with CKG is a community platform which seeks to turn the whispered, hidden conversations about mental health into open, supportive, educational dialogue.