kathy@wildewoodlearning.com - Wildewood Learning

Three Strategies to Embrace Change

Change is here to stay; it’s a constant in life. You get to choose how you approach change, and your tools and strategies can make a difference in moving through a wanted or unwanted change in your life.

Gotcha Day

In the language of adoption, Gotcha Day is when your children arrive in your home. This week, 18 years ago, Gotcha Day happened for us. We adopted our four children from the foster care system 18 years ago: all siblings and all at once. We essentially became parents overnight!

mindfulness Resilience self awareness Self care trauma

Toxic Positivity and Emotions

Do you have a hard time confronting your emotions? How are you really feeling? Give way to naming sadness, disappointment, and anger. This is real progress for me: naming my emotions, feeling the feelings, and being brave to share.

emotions mindfulness Resilience self awareness Self care

Unwrapping Peace – Gift #4

The holiday season can be frantic for both adults and children. There are the usual day-to-day things: school, work, practices, and homework. Then add the school programs to attend, sporting events, holiday events, decorating, baking, and shopping; the to-do list can get pretty long! It can get overwhelming, and we all need to give ourselves a little grace during this time of the year.

Compassion mindfulness Resilience self awareness Self care

Unwrapping Peace – Gift #3

Welcome to my blog series on Unwrapping Peace. The first gift you received was to stop and notice, and the second gift was to slow down. I now present you with the third gift for the season: connect.

connection mindfulness self awareness

Unwrapping Peace – Gift #2

Here is gift #2 for bringing peace to your season, S-L-O-W D-O-W-N! We often say that time is moving so fast that we don’t have time to spare or that we want to slow down. What is stopping us from slowing down and taking a pause?

mindfulness Resilience self awareness Self care

Unwrapping Peace – Gift #1

What is so great about the Holiday Season? The cookies, family, friend, the bright lights, or giving gifts? These are all wonderful parts of this time of year, yet why do so many people report an increase in stress, depression, and anxiety?

holiday stress mindfulness Resilience self awareness Self care

Tip of the Week: Resilience is Hope

Resilience is the key to hope and strength. Resilience is the ability to withstand adversity and move through complex life events to adapt, change, and grow. Learning about resilience has given me hope.

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Tip of the Week: Know the Strengths of Youth

The mental health of girls is concerning. A report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) looking at mental health and suicidal behaviors from 2011 to 2021 indicates that 13% of high school girls had attempted suicide (30% had seriously considered it). That jumped to more than 20% for LGBTQ+ teens (45% had seriously considered it) (Youth Risk Behavior Survey Data Summary and Trends Report: 2011–2021).

self awareness strengths

Four Key Skills Needed For Safety

So many emotions are associated with the first few days of school: excitement, hopefulness, joy, nervousness, anxiety, and fear. Humans can hold more than one emotion at a time, so you can feel all sorts of emotions as the school year begins.

Imagine what a child might feel in those first few days of school.

anxiety Compassion education mindfulness