Yesterday, Fort la Reine School wrapped up its ‘Sources of Strength’ week, a program that aims to help students understand and build on the strengths that contribute to their mental, physical, and emotional health.
Kellee Bousquet, Behaviour Coach for Fort la Reine School, leads the program as the ‘Sources of Strength’ trainer for the Portage la Prairie School Division. She explains how it emphasizes building and celebrating the different strengths each student possesses.
"There are eight core strengths in the program, and the more strengths you have, the better your well-being is," she notes. "We try to work on the ones we are lacking in and celebrate the ones that are going well. Strengths can change all the time and so we talk to the kids about all their strengths and how to build them.”
The strength categories include family support, positive friends, mentors, healthy activities, generosity, spirituality, physical health, and mental health.
Throughout the week, students participated in themed dress-up days with each day representing a different strength.
"Monday was ‘jersey or sports day’, which celebrated physical health and healthy activities," says Bousquet. "Tuesday was 'dress like a teacher day’, which focused on celebrating mentors. Wednesday’s theme, ‘twin day,’ celebrated the strength of positive friendships and Thursday is ‘pajama day’ and that is connected to mental health because they all get to stay in their pajamas all day.”
The week’s activities are carefully designed to connect fun, interactive events with built-in lessons to improve students' resilience and confidence.
Hailee, a grade 4 student at Fort la Reine explains she chose her former teacher to dress up as on Tuesday.
“I chose to dress up as Ms. Verwey. I like how she dresses because she wears tights and a hoodie with her hair in a ponytail braid.”
Hailee also chose to dress up as Ms. Verwey for ‘twin day,’ a heartwarming reminder of the lasting impact a great role model can have on students.
Bousquet highlights that the program doesn't end with the week. "We do a training session with grade sevens and eights in October, and throughout the year, there are six required activities that are part of the program," she says.
Students also participate in several exercises such as identifying their trusted adults and the "We Belong" activity. This focuses on inclusivity, showing students that diversity should be honoured and celebrated.
“‘Sources of Strength’ week is just one of those activities, so the students continue working on their strengths all year,” Bousquet explains.