Welcome to The Being Me School Program!

A Collaborative Approach in Increasing Social Emotional Competencies in Youth

Facilitator’s Guide

By Lucy Sloan BA Psych, ACCP, RPC, CAATP, CCAATP

Lil’ Steps Wellness Farm is excited to present the Being Me Program: A Collaborative Approach in Addressing Social Emotional Competencies in Youth. This program was inspired by our first published children’s storybook and activity booklet: Cindy and Cristabelle’s Big Scare.

The Being Me Program is an eight-session program that provides awareness, guidance, and education around understanding stress and anxiety. The other main focus is on the impact of stress on our feelings, thoughts, and actions. The program teaches evidence-based strategies to help foster positive mental well-being for children.

The students will each receive their own storybook to follow along and connect with during the program. They will also receive a fun and interactive toolkit, which contains sensory tools coinciding with the strategies taught throughout the program. Students will learn about and practice mindfulness, relaxation, piggy belly breathing, how to identify worry and fear in their body, how to gain control over worries with the help of the Goat Worry Box, and other helpful strategies.

We have also developed a take-home package for parents & caregivers to provide them with an understanding of the concepts and strategies their child will be learning in class. Our hope is that these strategies will be practiced at home regularly as this will maximize the success of the program for each child. Each session includes a handout to take home along with supplemental activities for the parent/caregiver and child to practice together.

As you work through the Being Me Program and begin to adopt the daily practices, please feel free to send any suggestions for improvement to us. A feedback form is included at the end of this guide for you to complete. Your constructive feedback will allow us to continuously improve the program and its resources that accompany it.

Sincerely,

Lucy Sloan, Owner, Lil’ Steps Wellness Farm

lilstepsfarm@gmail.com