22 / BACK TO SCHOOL 2020
Embracing Change Local Counselors Reflect on Coping with a New Social Landscape This Fall Structure, stability, & continuity “Children do best when there is structure, continuity, and stability; when things are predictable. Part of the problem with this situation is that it’s very unpredictable,” remarks Sally Hand, the Director and Founder of the local counseling center, The Heart and Hand Center. Sally and the center offer full-service counseling and therapy for all ages, specializing in Art Therapy, Equine Therapy, and other expressive therapeutic approaches to accompany or substitute traditional methods. Art Therapy focuses on free self-expression through painting, drawing, or modeling. Sally uses these different techniques to help her clients work through grief and trauma, while helping connect the mind, body, and spirit. Equine Therapy encompasses a range of treatments with activities involving horses and other equines. Sally operates out of the Emerson Center for The Arts & Culture, as well as at her ranch twelve miles northeast of Bozeman. Counseling centers and services around the country have seen a significant increase in clients over the past 5 months as uncertainties about everyday life from the
coronavirus remain present. The Bozeman Daily Chronicle thought it would be a good idea to sit down with clinical and school counselors, those that specialize in helping us all deal with things like uncertainty and grief, and see what advice they have to offer as the school year approaches. “It’s very, very stressful. The uncertainty creates stress and anxiety because children and parents are experiencing things they’ve never had to experience before in their lives. The first thing we need to do is just acknowledge that it’s anxiety-provoking to be in this situation. Then we have to accept that this anxiety is normal and ponder what we can do about that.” Sally explains how the most important step we can take to cope with these feelings of anxiety is by introducing structure, continuity, and stability in our lives. There are many things we can’t control during this pandemic, including the course of the virus itself. We should instead focus our time and energy on things we can control, like providing structure for ourselves and our families. Sally remarks that one of the most important things parents can do to provide structure is by preparing
balanced, on-time meals for their children. “It’s really important that parents get up and out of bed. They need to not be on their phones or computers. They need to make a nice balanced breakfast for their children (it doesn’t have to be a four-course meal). A bowl of cereal and a banana is fine too!” Providing this structure for your children at the start of the day will lay a solid foundation for them to build off of during their online schooling. It’s also an easy task that all can do! A second factor parents can control during this pandemic is creating realistic schedules for their children to follow while at home. “Parents need to create realistic schedules for their children that are doable and consistent; where they have a consistent time to get up in the morning that gives them plenty of time to do whatever they need to do. While parents can’t control coronavirus or what is happening in school, parents can control what is happening in their own homes.” “Part of the reason children do so well in school is because there is a structure that is impassionately carried out. Children thrive with structure; when they know this is my time for reading, and this is my time for break. There’s no loosey-
