No matter how old you are, we are all doing it. We get on our phones to check Facebook or our news sites and we just keep scrolling though each post, reading each article until we realized a couple of hours has passed. There is a term for this and it’s called “doomscrolling” and our…
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Did you know that in 2017, about 12.5% of Oklahoma high school students used tobacco at least once in the past 30 days? Nationally, the rate was 8.8%. Oklahoma’s rate on youth tobacco use has historically been above the national average. Additionally, around 1,500 Oklahoma kids under the age of 18 will become new daily…
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COVID-19 has and continues to affect us on a daily basis and in various ways, including our mental health. Most of our children may not have experienced the serious physical effects of the disease itself, however, their emotional and behavioral development has been greatly impacted since the beginning of the pandemic. So what are the…
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Motivational interviewing is a patient-centered, communication technique that is commonly used by counselors to help motivate clients change behaviors and to help them explore and resolve conflicts. Motivation interviewing is backed by research, showing its effectiveness to increase motivation in individuals who may have been unwilling to change in the first place. Motivational interviewing is…
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Children will say negative things about themselves and it is our role as caring adults to help direct them away from destructive self-talk. Constructive self-talk is very common and we all do it to ourselves and when we hear our children talk about themselves constructively, it may not raise any concerns. But how would we…
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It’s rarely talked about, but there is a relationship between oral health and mental health. People experiencing mental health problems such as anxiety, depression, and even prolonged stress suffer oral health problems at higher rates than the rest of the population. These oral health problems can include erosion, tooth decay, periodontitis, and loss of teeth.…
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We probably all have our “go-to” coping skills that we use in time of need, but what do we do when our trusty skills aren’t working? For many this is a time of unprecedented stress be it prolonged isolation, prolonged anxiety about health and safety, systemic racism, and more. Yes, there is much to be…
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We hope poetry week inspired you and your kids to create your own poems! Not a poet? No problem! We will show you how to make a poem collage from words cut out of magazines or newspapers to create that inspire you and connects to your story. You’ll need to gather any old magazines and…
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As we continue poetry week, check out this fun poem about our brains by Mr. R’s World of Science: Brain Poem Cradled in our cranium,Is where you’ll find our brain-ium,Enables us to think and do,Remembers what! Remembers who!When we’re feeling fine, or pained,We’re utilizing our large brain,Like we’re doing,When we think…Let’s us see, makes us…
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Poetry week continues… Here is a fun one by Shel Silverstein, which embodies the “win-win mentality” we’ve discussed in a previous post, but in the poet’s characteristically playful way! Hug O’ WarI’d rather play at hug o’ war,Where everyone hugsInstead of tugsWhere everyone gigglesAnd rolls on the rug,Where everyone kissesAnd everyone grinsAnd everyone cuddlesAnd everyone…
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OKPTA Cultivate 