Coping With Stress
Each season of the year can bring with it a variety of different stress an anxiety inducing experiences. How can we cope with all of the uncertainty that dominates our ever changing landscape? We’ve put together a list of tips and resources that have proven helpful...
Seedling Nurturing
I have a super handy app on my iPhone, a life saver for any novice who enjoys growing plants. It is my go-to if my beloved flora is looking droopy or sad. All I have to do is pull up the app, snap a picture and presto, a specific Rx pops up to tell me how to care for...
Substance Use and Mentoring
Phoenix House Texas, a nonprofit drug prevention program shared valuable information to Seedling Mentors at our March Training. Their mission is to provide young people and their families vital education and life skills to avoid substance abuse. While current...
Loneliness and Social Isolation
Loneliness is a state of mind when one feels disconnected from others. People who feel lonely may feel left out, lack companionship, or struggle to connect. Related to loneliness, social isolation focuses on the lack of connections someone may have. In today’s...
What is Your Superpower?
Have you ever considered the qualities you possess that make you unique, make others feel important, or seem to present themselves right when you need them are actually your “superpowers?” Take a moment to consider what your special superpower is… what are some...
Practicing Vulnerability in Mentoring
It is no secret that being vulnerable in relationships takes courage. Renowned researcher of vulnerability, empathy and courage, Dr. Brené Brown says that “vulnerability is having the courage to show up when you can’t control the outcome.” This sounds like the...
Getting Educated about Bullying
As Mentors, we are curious and concerned if our mentee shares they are having difficulties with their classmates. We know most kids will experience various conflicts with a peer as they develop, and so we encourage them to “take the high road” and “not take it...
Let’s Grow Together
Human development is a lifelong process of physical, behavioral, cognitive, and emotional growth and change. As our mentee grows and learns new things each year, it is important for mentors to keep up! Understanding our mentee’s current developmental stage is...
Vulnerability in Mentoring
Vulnerability is often considered a weakness and something to avoid. Bestselling author Brene’ Brown, PhD, has devoted over 12 years researching vulnerability, and has found that uncertainty, risk and emotional exposure (vulnerability) is actually the birthplace of...
Navigating Tough Conversations
Has your mentee ever asked you a question or brought up a topic you found difficult to discuss? How prepared are you to have difficult conversations with your mentee? Topics like sex, politics, drugs or religion can be hard to talk about, especially with children....
A Primer on Pronouns and Gender Identity
More youth are identifying as part of the LGBTQ+ community than ever before in American history. A recent study found that as many as 1 in 4 young people identify as “nonbinary”, meaning outside of male or female. Additionally, 1 in 5 young people identified as...
Managing Stress
It seems like are constantly navigating extreme uncertainty. The hyper vigilance of staying safe, piloting constant change, and the effects of isolation and loneliness all take a toll. Fears and insecurity can create chronic stress which negatively impacts mental...
It’s Important
Given the significant social, environmental, and political events of the past year, it may feel like it’s more important now than ever to spend time with your mentee simply talking about their feelings to process all of the changes we’re experiencing. We always...
It Matters: Building Representation in Mentoring Relationships
On January 20, 2021, Kamala Harris was sworn in as Vice President, becoming the first woman, the first Black American, and the first South Asian American to hold the office. The importance of the moment was not lost – across social media, posts celebrating this...
Processing Racism-Related Trauma through Creative Expression
In the last few years, our country has begun confronting racism and racial injustice on a scale that we haven’t seen since the Civil Rights Movement of the late 1960s. Understanding the history, scope, and implications of systemic racism is a complicated undertaking...
Talking About Current Events
We carry so much every day, between health concerns, economic insecurities, and radical shifts in the way we interact with each other in our daily lives. The thought of trying to process any more events may feel overwhelming. As with any conversation you have with...
Fighting Racism Through Mindfulness
Jill Suttie of Greater Good Magazine, interviews Law Professor Rhonda Magee on how mindfulness-based awareness and compassion is key to racial justice work. For more than two decades Professor Rhonda Magee has worked to address issues of race, racism, and...
Somatic Experiencing and Mentoring
“The super-power of human kind is our capacity to connect; it is regulating, rewarding, and the major route by which we can teach, coach, parent, heal, mentor and learn.” Dr. Bruce Perry At Seedling we often refer to our mentors as having “super powers.” You have...
Cultivating Patience
Lately, it seems like everything in the world is happening at once. It’s easy to get caught up in the rush of deadlines, news, and the daily grind, and feel like we have to demonstrate tangible success every day. Research of human growth and development tells us that...
Mentoring and the Art of Validation
"When little people are overwhelmed by big emotions, it is our job to share our calm, not join their chaos” -L.R. Knost As Seedling mentors, our goal is to be a trusted friend, boost our mentee’s positive self-esteem and safeguard their opportunity to thrive! We...
Recognizing and Responding to the Effects of Trauma
The National Council for Behavioral Health reports that 70% of adults in the US have experienced some type of traumatic event at least once in their lives, that’s 223.4 million people. As Seedling mentors, we must be mindful that many of our mentees have already...
Is It Bullying?
In a recent Washington Post article on parenting, author Braden Bell presented his perspective on why it is important for children (as well as parents and caring adults) to be able to differentiate between mean or unkind behavior and bullying. As a teacher,...
Empathy – Perhaps The Greatest Human Regulator
On Thursday, January 24, 2019, Dr. Bruce Perry and Dr. J. Stuart Ablon spoke to AISD staff, students, and partnering organizations about their current research and work on The Collaborative Problem Solving Approach, a model that has shown great...
Recognizing & Reporting Child Abuse
Knowing the signs and behaviors that indicate something might be wrong in a child’s life is important information for caring adults and mentors, as it is our obligation to keep kids safe from harm and mistreatment. It is up to adults to recognize when something...
Child Abuse & Neglect
It’s hard to imagine someone intentionally hurting a child. Yet KidsHealth.org reports that nearly 1 million children are abused every year in the United States alone. This staggering figure reflects only confirmed cases of child abuse. Kids Health says,...
Ten Ways To Make Mentoring Effective For Kids with ADD/ADHD
Presented By Linda S. Classen, M. Ed., LPC Core Symptoms of ADHD: Poor sustained attention/vigilance to boring/routine tasksImpulsive/ age inappropriate focus/difficulty with self-regulationDiminished rule governed behaviorImmaturityDisorganizationPoor sense of...