Guidance
The guidance department is equipped to provide a full range of personal, academic and career counselling services. Appointments may be made at the guidance counsellor’s office outside class hours. The student must show the appointment slip when leaving and returning to class. Please note that the guidance counsellor’s hours are posted outside the office.
Radical acceptance
Sometimes you’ll run into a problem that’s simply out of your control. You may think “This isn’t fair” or “I shouldn’t have this problem” as a result, you feel anxious, angry or sad.
How about you consider the Radical acceptance, known as a healthier way of thinking. Instead of focusing on how you would like something to be different, you will recognize and accept the problem or situation as it is. Remember, accepting is not the same as liking something. Learning to accept the problems that are out of your control will lead to less anxiety, anger, and sadness when dealing with them.
Situation: You find out that school mid-term exams and supplemental exams are delayed because of the strike.
Typical Thinking: “This isn’t fair —What about my exams? My school performance will be affected. They can’t do this to us.”
Radical Acceptance: “It’s frustrating that I can’t go to school and planned activities are postponed, but I accept that my teachers are fighting for their rights, and this is out of their and my control.
Negative feelings will usually pass, or at least lessen in intensity over time. It can be valuable to distract yourself until the negative emotions go away. The acronym “A.C.C.E.P.T.S” serves as a reminder of this idea.
Activities: Engage in activities that require thought and concentration. This could be a hobby, a project, or work.
Contributing: Focus on someone or something other than yourself. You can volunteer, do a good deed, or do anything else that will contribute to a cause or person.
Comparisons: Look at your situation in comparison to something worse. Remember a time you were more angry or sad, or when someone else was going through something more difficult.
Emotions: Do something that will create a competing emotion. Feeling sad? Watch a funny movie. Feeling nervous? Listen to soothing music.
Pushing away: Deal with negative thoughts by pushing them out of your mind. Imagine writing your problem on a piece of paper, crumbling it up, and throwing it away. Refuse to think about the situation until a better time.
Thoughts: When your emotions take over, try to focus on your thoughts. Count to 10, recite a poem in your head, or read a book.
Sensations: Find safe physical sensations to distract you from intense negative emotions. Wear a rubber band and snap it on your wrist, hold an ice cube in your hand, or eat something sour like a lime.
FREE apps in mental health that you can download both on the App Store or Google Play.
*Please keep in mind that these apps are not a replacement for psychological or medical treatment.
Healthy Minds- is a tool made to help deal with emotions and the stresses of everyday life. With this app, you can take advantage of a mood tracker, breathing exercises, stress relief activities, a journal, and more.
Mindshift-CBT- is a great tool to take control of your anxiety. The app tackles issues like worry, panic, perfectionism, social anxiety, and phobias.
MoodTools is a symptom tracker, a thought diary, to help combat depression and alleviate negative moods.
PTSD Coach - provides users with educational resources, self-assessment tools, stress managing tips like relaxation skills, and anger management.
Rise Up + Recover is for anorexia, bulimia, obsessive eating, binge eating, and compulsive eating. Users can log in their meals, emotions, and behaviours, and export their entries to PDF to share with their therapist.