When you start running open parachute lessons, there are a number of things that will commonly happen in a classroom. Depending on where your students are in their mental health journey, they’ll likely react in one of four ways.
These reactions are giving you insight into their level of mental health flourishing, and the purpose of the program is to give you a simple, structured pathway to move your students towards being more and more comfortable with mental health so that they have the tools to help themselves thrive.
Wise Aware:
These students are comfortable discussing and exploring all of the challenges they face, so they can effectively problem-solve any setbacks they encounter and help their peers do the same. These are the students who jump into discussions right away, and lead their class to becoming more wise and more aware as well. It’s fantastic if you have a student in your class that’s in this category, because it means that the exercises will flow without you needing to lead or guide much at all.
Insta Happy:
These students appear happy, but have been impacted by our culture's desire to appear like we 'have it all together'. They feel uncomfortable being vulnerable or truly facing challenges. They might say things like “I don’t need to talk about mental health” “I’m fine”, or “I can’t relate to this because I don’t have any issues”. This is a normal reaction if they’ve never had these types of conversations before, which is the case for lots of students if their parents don’t talk about thoughts and feelings.
You don’t need to force anyone to speak or participate, it’s ok if they hang back and observe others at first. Just let them know it’s normal to feel hesitant, and keep gently encouraging them. Even if they’re just listening, they’re still taking it in, and when they’re ready, they’ll be able to apply what they’ve heard - whether that’s in your class or in other areas of their lives.
Struggling:
These students face struggles that are impacting their mental health, and so they react to the material. They might make fun of the program or the students in the videos or in their class, or become disruptive to the learning process. You want to have the same boundaries for this as you would with any other unkindness or acting out behaviour. It’s really important that everyone feels safe and comfortable, and that won’t happen if students are being disrespectful. At the same time, it’s important to understand that this behaviour is showing you that these students have some intense buried pain.
The way you approach this is with empathy. For example, instead of “you need to quiet down and pay attention”, you can say “I really get that this is uncomfortable, we all feel that way sometimes! What can we do to get on track with this learning?”
Chaotic:
These students face overwhelming challenges, and haven't been taught skills for how to overcome these challenges, so they might get upset, overshare about their own struggles, or use examples of other students in their discussions, pointing out what THEY did that hurt their feelings.
This type of behaviour is actually pointing to the exact same thing as the students who resist the learning and are disruptive in class. They’re feeling pain that they don't know how to deal with. And because of that, your response can be the same too. You can say something like “I’m so sorry that you went through that, it sounds really hard! It’s normal to want to talk about our challenges. Let’s make sure you’re able to talk about that more if you need to with someone after class. For now, what’s really important is that we focus on what we can do to help ourselves with our challenges. How can we do that?”
Summary:
To put that all together, there are a few simple steps that you can use to respond to any student reactions:
#1. Show empathy: “I’m sorry this is hard for you”.
#2. Validate their feelings: “It’s normal to feel uncomfortable, or to act out, or to not want to speak up”, or whatever is happening for that student.
#3. Bring in the boundary: “how can we focus on learning the skills that will help us to get through our challenges a bit more easily?”
Remember, no matter what reaction you see in students, giving them the space to build skills of Courageous Independence is the most helpful learning you can offer them. The more they lean in now, the more helpful choices they will make for their own well-being long into the future.
If a student says anything that indicates they are in danger of hurting themselves or they are at risk, please see our Help Article: What do I do if my students get upset in class?
If you want more information on motivating disengaged students, please see our Help Article: How can I Motivate my Students?
