News & Announcements

In the spirit of “Community Can’t Be Canceled,” Wellness is using Instagram (@acalaneswellness) to bring wellness-related advice, resources and connection to the school community. We’re working with staff and student organizations like Leadership and Bring Change to Mind (@bringchangetomindacalanes) to provide positive messages and practical guidance for challenging times. If you didn’t catch the launch of our positivity mindset program Three Good Things, you can learn more on Instagram @3goodthings_ahs. We’re trying to increase the reach to these accounts and to @ahs_dons because connection is what we all need the most. You’ll soon see us launch a mindfulness program based on the curriculum of Mindful Schools. We’ll be adapting the lessons for a short form initially and if there’s interest, we may explore the possibility for some live practices. Please tell your students how greatly they are missed and how strongly the entire Dons staff believes in their ability to not only rise to the challenge of the current crisis but to build remarkable resilience along the way. Stay tuned each week for more thoughts and resources. We remain, so grateful to our incredible Parents Club for this platform! (CS – 3/20@2:37pm)  

With school closure due to Covid-19 and more time to think as a result of social distancing, we need to reduce stress more than ever. This gift of more down time is perfect for students to catch up on sleep and perhaps to practice presence which we can model. Check-in with yourself throughout the day to ask, “How are things for me right now?” Planning for, protecting against, and ruminating on uncertainty is stressful. Worrying makes sense and so does planning but we can do those things and then shift our attention back to the present. We move out of our heads and into our bodies by sensing our internal experience and immediate conditions. What can I see, smell, hear, and feel right now? What’s happening around me– Are there people to connect with? Beautiful things to see? Opportunities to engage in learning or practicing skills? Am I safe, comfortable, at ease? Kids look to adults for cues so your regulated nervous system will co-regulate theirs. (CS)