OVERVIEW OF TIP SHEETS

1. Use of Puppets and Toys with Young Children: This tip sheet provides tips for using puppets, stuffed animals and toys when working with young children. These tips can be used for VIP presentations from Kindergarten to Grade 2.
2. Sample Grounding Techniques: This tip sheet consists of sample grounding techniques when a student needs support to be grounded and present during a presentation. These tips can be used for VIP presentations from Kindergarten to Grade 3.
3. How Can I Improve My Self Esteem: This tip sheet can be distributed from Grade 4-10, during the self-esteem presentation.
4. Warning Signs of an Abusive or Violent Relationship: This tip sheet provides a list of warning signs of an abusive relationship. It will be helpful for students to receive this information so they can learn what some red flags may be as they start forming relationships. This tip sheet can be distributed from Grade 6-12 during the Violence Against Women and Safety Planning presentation.
5. Safety Plan: Provides students with a practical guide that helps students think about safety. These tips can be distributed from Grade 6-12, during the VIP presentation.
6. Managing Your Feelings: This tip sheet provides a process that students can use when trying to understand and manage their feelings. This tip sheet can be distributed from Grade 6-10 during the Emotional Expression presentation.
7. What Should I look for in a Partner: This tip sheet provides a list of characteristics and behaviours that students may wish to look for or consider when entering relationships or use to examine?
8. Sample Grounding Exercises: This tip sheet provides sample grounding exercises for when a student needs support being grounded or present during a presentation. These tips can be used for VIP presentations for all grades.

Use of Play, Toys & Puppets with Young Children The PEACE Program includes supporting very young children. As 3–5-year-olds are generally non-literate, worksheets may not always be helpful. Consider the importance of play with this–and every–age group, and reconnecting through supported play in your presence. This may include reading a story, practicing strategies to help with anger (like breathing or blowing bubbles together), and work with toys or puppets. These strategies encourage the use of imagination and help students stay engaged and relaxed, while simultaneously helping to support an effective and comfortable environment for learning. Puppets and toys can be used as tools for modeling to help express difficult feelings and thoughts (everyone in the room can have their own toy or puppet). Children are incredible at suspending disbelief, and toys and puppets can very quickly become animated creatures that are safer to approach and talk to than people are! If you don’t have access to puppets, toy figurines and small stuffed animals can serve to support engagement and imagination in a similar way for young children. The engagement in one’s imagination and the process of creative play is the most important tool here. Some tips when using puppets and toys:

• Find a puppet or toy that you feel comfortable with. Not all puppets have the same personality! Kites and Puppets (https://kitesandpuppets.ca/) sells compelling puppets, but if this is not within budget, even a sock can work if you get creative. Many kids relate well and express themselves effectively when they are given the option to imagine themselves as an animal, so animal figurines can be useful and practical toys for classroom use.
• Puppets can act as a “silent partner” for the counsellor. You can pose questions to the puppet that the child may help you answer, thereby inviting collaboration and ideas. For example, the puppet may be exhibiting shyness upon first meeting with the child (i.e. many children are nervous when first coming to counselling). You may ask the puppet, “I am wondering if you are feeling shy today?” To which the puppet would answer in the affirmative by simply nodding. Then the counsellor can lead this in many ways: Acknowledge this is normal or ask the child if they might guess why the puppet could feel shy or wonder aloud to the child what might help the puppet feel more comfortable. This activity could be done with any accompanying emotion, as the child gets to engage in ways that can help involve and reduce anxiety for the child. The only limit to working with puppets is yours and the child’s imagination.

Note: Some children may have had frightening experiences in the past with puppets, as some puppet plays include “evil” characters. Take your cues from the children and follow their lead. Sample Grounding Techniques Here are some exercises and activities for VIP presentation facilitators to use when a student needs support to be grounded and present during a presentation.

• Milkshake straw breath (inhale like you were sucking a milkshake through a small straw).
• Breathe in through your nose like you are smelling freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. Breathe out of your mouth as if you are trying to cool the cookie down so you can eat it.
• 5-4-3-2-1 Sensory Naming Game. Name 5 things you see. Name 4 things you hear. Name 3 things you feel. Name 2 things you smell. Name 1 thing you taste. This can be done 1-1, in partners or in small groups.
• Run cool or warm water over your hands.
• Balloon belly breath, exhale like you are blowing up a balloon.
• Breathing ball (Huberman Sphere).
• Rubbing hands together. Move hands slow and fast. Feel temperature changes and variations in the texture of the skin.
• Rubbing feet.
• Listening for sounds in the room.
• Visualize and describe a peaceful place.
• Sand play in a tray.
• Fanning face.
• Humming a song or making the sound ahhhhh. Play with the volume of the sound.
• Drumming and rhythm.
• Naming as many specific things as you can.
• Marching on the spot.

How Can I Improve My Self Esteem? Manage your inner critic. Notice the critical things that you are saying to yourself. Would you talk to someone you care about like that? Having a harsh inner critic can really tear us down. If you are used to thinking about yourself critically, try and re-train yourself by rewording those negative, unkind thoughts into more helpful, useful feedback. Focus on the positive. Focusing on problems all the time can be very stressful and overwhelming. Next time you catch yourself dwelling on problems or complaints about yourself or your day, find something positive to counter it. Each day, write down three good things about yourself, or three things that went well that day because of your action or effort. Aim for effort rather than perfection. Some people get held back by their own pressure to be perfect and they lose out because they don’t try. If you think, “I won’t audition for the play because I probably won’t get the lead,” it’s guaranteed that role will go to someone else. You won’t know unless you try. Give yourself an opportunity to try and put your best effort forward instead of having an all or nothing train of thought. View mistakes as learning opportunities. Accept that you will make mistakes. Everyone does and they are a part of learning. Instead of thinking, “I always mess up” remind yourself that it’s just this specific situation and what can you do differently next time? Take it as a learning opportunity. Remind yourself that we are all different and have unique strengths. Focus on what you do well and cheer on others for their successes. Thinking more like this: “She’s a great basketball player — but the truth is, I’m a better musician than athlete. Still, I’ll keep playing because I enjoy it.” This approach helps you accept yourself and make the best of the situation. Everyone excels at different things. Take a chance and try something new. Allow yourself the space and an opportunity to try something new. Experiment with different activities to help you get in touch with your talents. Then take pride in your new skill and think about the good results. For example: I took a cooking class and found out I can cook, and it was not as hard as I thought. These positive thoughts become good opinions of yourself and add to your self-esteem. Warning Signs of an Abusive or Violent Relationship

• Checking your cell phone or email without your permission.
• Constantly putting you down and making you feel bad about yourself.
• Extreme jealousy or insecurity.
• Explosive temper.
• Isolating you from your family and friends.
• Trying to control your behaviour, what you do, where you go, who you spend time with.
• Physically hurting you in any way.
• Possessiveness.
• Telling you what to do.
• Pressuring you to do things you don’t want to do (including sexual activity). Adapted from: http://www.loveisrespect.org