'Thrive' is a small program that I created a few months ago geared towards providing junior employees with the opportunity to improve the essential soft skills needed to be a success in the business environment.

I have had the pleasure of working with two groups of employees from the TCI Sports Commission. The first group finished up last Thursday. We had such fun and learning as we dove deep into the idea of mindset and the level of professionalism required to 'thrive' in diverse fast paced workspaces. 

Last week, Mrs. Guilmise had the pleasure of joining a group of teachers from the Department of Education in Grand Turk to be trained on 'The Brain Power Classroom,' a program that focuses on building mindfulness, focus and emotional wellness in students. They spent time being trained by facilitators from New York, and then had the opportunity to try out the strategies and techniques that they learned with students at Ona Glinton Primary School and Eliza Simons Primary.

Learn and Lead looks forward to supporting schools as they embark on a journey to improve the daily wellness of their students. 

We are very excited to add a new coaching program to our repertoire. We are often asked whether we provide support for mature students returning to higher education and in need of writing support. This program, created and coached by Ms. Tatiana Handfield, is perfect for individuals entering higher education and wanting to improve their academic writing skills.  

Program Description: Crafting an essay can be a daunting task for even the most experienced writer. That's why we created a 6-part series for mature students that simplifies the process. Our series takes you step-by-step through the entire process, from brainstorming to proofreading and everything in between. Our comprehensive approach to essay writing is designed to help you develop your skills and become a better writer. With our series, you'll be able to craft well-written essays in no time!

Visit our Summer 2023 page for program description and registration!

As we are knocking on June’s door, many of our students are starting to prepare for their end of term exams. A common complaint that I get is that ‘my child doesn’t know how to study.’ If you are in this boat, not to worry, I have some tips the twill help.

Firstly, it’s important to remember that studying is a skill that can be taught. When our kids are not given instruction on how to study, they often just look over their pages endlessly with without a goal in mind. For studying success, we want them to have study strategies that can help them improve.
Start by looking at the subject areas that your child needs to study. In areas where there are example problems or papers that can be used, guide them through the practice questions that can be completed. Plan with them as to how many review questions they should get done within a certain period.

In subjects that require memorization of definitions and facts, it may be helpful to make some flash cards. Put the term on one side, and the definition or important facts on the other side. Teach your child how to go through the stack of terms and say the definition or facts orally before checking the answer on the back of the page.

When there is a lot of reading involved, suggest that they look at the headings of each section and turn the headings into questions. For examples, if the heading of a section is, “Natural Resources within the Turks and Caicos Islands,” guide them into turning this title into a study questions – “What are the natural resources found in the Turks and Caicos Islands?” Writing the questions, they make in a notebook or on flash cards provides a great way for them to review content.
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In addition to the three strategies provided above, here are some important tips to keep central when supporting your child through exam season.

1. Organize for Studying Success – Decide where studying is going to take place. Ensure that the space is free of distractions during study time and has all the tools needed.
2. Plan a Study Schedule – When there are several subjects that need to be reviewed it can become overwhelming and students may need support managing their time. Look at their exam timetable, discuss with them which subjects may need more of their time, and draft a schedule for which subjects they will study when and for how long. See this schedule as a starting point and adjust as necessary.
3. Set Study Goals – Help your child decide how much content they need to get through in each study session or if there are any concept they want to master. This will help them to focus on the task at hand.
4. Consider their Learning Style – We all have our learning preferences. If your child is a strong visual learning, provide them with a whiteboard and markers to make things visual as they study. If they have a strong musical style, allow them to listen to instrumental music as they study. Learning styles inventories can be found online to help your child determine their areas of strengthen.
5. Encourage Intervals – It’s easy to expect longer study periods the closer that students get to exams. Remember that the brain needs time to rest, and focus can increase after breaks. Encourage your child to study hard, and to enjoy their breaks. 

Today I had the pleasure of working with the Royal Turks and Caicos Police Force. The Acting Commissioner of Police and team members took a deep dive into the topic of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. This is an essential topic to explore for today's management teams. We focused on the following areas:

• Creating a Mindset for Inclusive Leadership
  
• DEI Terminology
  
• Stereotypes, Bias and Microaggressions
  
• Generational Gaps
  
• Creating a Culture of Inclusion.  

It was an absolute pleasure working with this team, and I look forward to continuing this work with The Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force.

Last night it was a pleasure to join the Rotary Club of Providenciales  to discuss Mental Wellness for Mental Health Awareness Month. In our time together we look at mental health, stress management and work-life integration. 

Rotarians and their guests were encouraged to spend the time learning about mental health, gaining strategies for stress prevention and stress management, and evaluate their work life balance. Our closing activity encouraged them participants to evaluate where they are in 8 domains of their life and make a plan for where they would like to be in order to achieve their own 'work-life' balance. 

Yesterday I had the pleasure of working with the Executive Management Team of the Financial Services Department. This was the final session in a series of team building sessions undertaken by the FSC. Soft Skills training is essential to the success of today's workplace. Participants enjoyed working together to explore understanding paradigms and managing team development, emotion intelligence, interpersonal skills, and creating synergy.

All the best to team FSC! It has been a pleasure working with you!

May is Mental Health Awareness Month. Mental health refers to our feelings, our emotions our thinking and our moods. As parents it’s important to understand that mental health is not simply the absence of a mental disorder, but that it is a state of well-being. A healthy parent-child relationship has a great impact on a child’s mental health, so firstly, always look for opportunities to develop and maintain a strong relationship with your child and presence in their lives. You are likely their most consistent role model.

According to the CDC, “Being mentally healthy during childhood means reaching developmental and emotional milestones and learning healthy social skills and how to cope when there are problems. Mentally healthy children have a positive quality of life and can function well at home, in school, and in their communities.”

Children, all over the world, have been through a lot in the last few years. Many of them have had to cope with great change, great loss, and had to make many shifts. With this, many emotions have come, and it’s important that we give our children a safe space to feel these emotions and to work through them.

A mentally healthy child doesn’t mean that they will always be happy. With the increase is social media, it’s important to highlight to our children you can’t tell what someone feels like by what they share online. Children gain the mistaken belief that if they aren’t always feeling positive emotions, that something is wrong with them. Take the opportunity to explain to them that just like physical health, we all have mental health. Feeling angry, stressed and down is part of life, just like it’s normal to feel happy, confident, excited, and care-free. Good mental health is about experiencing both types of feelings.

Here are my top 5 tips to help navigate mental health with your children.

1. Encourage Connections – Look for ways to connect and provide a listening ear for your children. Leave out the shame, pressure, and judgement, and focus on being present.
2. Provide Opportunity for Physical Activity – Encourage being active. Whether it is playing organized sports, basketball in the driveway, going for a walk, or having a dance party in the kitchen, look for ways to exercise daily.
3. Practice Mindfulness – Guide them in becoming aware in the present moment. This can be simply slowing down for a moment of awareness in nature, of gratitude, or taking a breath. Look for ways to help them focus on the present moment, rather than the past, or potential future.
4. Always be Learning – Although our children are always learning in school, look for ways to expand their learning at home. Whether it’s with you in the kitchen, or a video on YouTube, we live in a time that allows for continuous access to information.
5. Build Resilience – Resilience is the bounce back skill. The thing about resilience, is that it’s not something we build in in difficult times, but rather we draw on. Therefore, look for ways to help your child build their resilience daily, so when they need it, it’s there for them to draw on it.
6. Break the Stigma – Our culture sometimes creates an environment of shame around the topic of mental health. Be intentional about emphasizing that we all have mental health just like we have physical health. 

For Age specific recommendations on supporting Mental Health and Welbing of your children, visit UNICEF parents.