Sign Up For Orientation!
Don’t forget to sign up for an orientation session to get familiar with the Thrival Kits program! This 30 minute session will grow your confidence in mental health promotion and provide you with the necessary tools to
make implementing Thrival KitsTM simple and fun! Orientation sessions take place every Thursday from 3:30-4pm until the 30th of November.
Three orientation sessions took place in October. Facilitators who have taken the training have found it very informative, practical, and worth the short time investment.
For questions about orientation, please email dvermette@cmhawpg.mb.ca
Facilitator Forum
Engage with the new Facilitator Forum section in the Engage and Exchange Hub! This is a safe space to share ideas and questions with other Facilitators. We encourage Facilitators to check out the Forum on a regular basis and post their tips and strategies, or pose a question to your fellow Facilitators. Engage in forum discussion for a chance to win some Thrival Kits swag!
Facilitator Resource Spotlight
In 2022-23, the Centre for Healthcare Innovation was contracted to support a comprehensive evaluation of Thrival Kits that included 16 classrooms (199 students). Facilitators provided useful feedback that has resulted in revisions to the Thrival Kits program this year including additional activities and resources. As we work toward
our goal of providing an exceptionally high quality program, further development and consultation is expected to take place during
this school year with more enhancements to the program expected for the following school year.
The additions made to Thrival Kits this year build on the theme of engaging with nature and our natural environment. Child development research demonstrates that grade 4 to 6 students begin to see the world in broader ways as they develop the capacity to think more abstractly about themselves and the world around them.
The Facilitator Guide is your manual for the entire program. It will guide you step-by-step through each activity. There have been many enhancements to the Facilitator Guide which includes some activity options and grade variations. The beginning section of the Facilitator Guide has all of the information and research about the program.
If at any point during the year you forget some important information about the program, it will be in the facilitator guide.
Name the Newsletter Contest Winner!
Congratulations to Ashlee Laurin-Clark, a grade 5 teacher from Angus McKay Elementary School, who has won the Thrival Kits Name the Newsletter contest! The Thrival Kits Newsletter will be formally called
“I picked this name because the newsletter would be a great way for teachers to connect with one another on how we’re using the kit,
a way to share stories, which books we connected to which activity, share some examples, how we are connecting the kits to the curriculum/grade, etc…
If I could feel “konnected” to other teachers who are using the program, the possibilities to incorporate the Thrival Kit into the classroom would be endless!”
Kit Konnections! Read how Ashlee came up with Kit Konnections. →
Thrival KitsTM Facilitator Resources
World Kindness Day is just around the corner on Tuesday, November 13th!
Each year, the Random Act of Kindness Foundation celebrates World Kindness Day to help make kindness an everyday part of our lives.
Check out the Random Acts of Kindness Foundation website to learn more and explore the many resources available to create a kinder environment in your school.
The Mental Health Commission of Canada publishes a newsletter called The Catalyst. This edition discusses the importance of mental health in the workplace, and how to start the conversation. The article focuses on
the story of children’s author Robert Munsch and his experience with mental health. Click here to read the article.