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Health and Wellbeing: Integral to Belonging
Health and Wellbeing: Integral to Belonging
By Tracy Howard, Director of Student Success and Post Secondary Counselling and Swetha Srikanthan, School Social Worker
When alumni are asked what comes to mind when they reflect on their time at HTS, the word community is often shared. Community is what creates belonging and fuels self-worth and happiness, and is shown in the strong sense that HTS students have of being a part of something much bigger than just themselves. According to the Cambridge dictionary? “A sense of belonging is one of humanity’s most basic needs”.
Through the lens of the Student Success Department—including Student Success counsellors, Student Success coaches and our HTS social worker—a sense of belonging and a state of happiness cannot be viewed separately from student “success” as it relates to character, engagement and academics. Central to our individual and collective roles is the creation of an environment where students feel welcome, included, heard, empowered and safe—all of which foster a true sense of belonging and wellbeing.
At HTS we foster a sense of belonging through our “Circle of Care” framework which was designed to embody student wellbeing—keeping the student voice, lived experiences and narrative at the center of our care. Its purpose is to influence and support student belonging and wellbeing, including one’s physical, emotional, spiritual and mental health and by embedding this Circle of Care model in our daily practices we are able to support students in the development of skills like resiliency, self advocacy and self awareness.
In our Lower School educators focus on fostering a strong sense of belonging by introducing, building and scaffolding a culture of wellbeing. This begins with introducing an agenda that highlights the importance of self awareness, building relationships and resilience. There are also creative endeavors like the Big Heart Journey Workshop—a workshop on developing empathy and managing big emotions—alongside initiatives like house lunches, house competitions, the reading buddy program and annual breakaway trips.
In our Middle School, the advisor program focuses on wellbeing by offering regular check-ins with students and triaging to appropriate professionals at HTS for academic and emotional support. For example, the use of assessment calendars to ensure manageable workloads for students and FLEX programming to ensure student’s interests are supported. Social-emotional learning is also built into all middle school grades with monthly themes like self-awareness, self-management, decision making and conflict resolution.
In the Senior School division, educators manifest the Circle of Care through TAG programming, which includes a focus on mental health and wellbeing, social-emotional learning, coping strategies, transitions, and organization and time management skills. In addition, transition programming, post-secondary fairs, alumni events, cocurricular clubs/sports and the advisor programs set a precedence of maintaining a culture of inclusion which reinforces belonging and wellbeing at HTS. Students actively participate and engage in various activities to ensure connectedness is at the heart of everything we do.
It is evident that at HTS, the Circle of Care model promotes a sense of self and encourages collaborative care pathways for our community. This creates a climate of belonging which influences a culture of positive wellbeing. These collective efforts remind us that the Circle of Care model is much more than a framework, but rather a way of knowing and living at HTS.
If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.
