By Alysson Thomas, School Counselor

Resilience. Noun. The power or ability to return to the original form, position, etc., after being bent, compressed, or stretched; elasticity. Ability to recover readily from illness, depression, adversity, or the like; buoyancy.

Derech Emunah just entered the third week of teaching a school-wide program on mental health and resiliency called IHEART (www.iheartprinciples.com).

Richard Berger, a licensed marriage and family therapist, went for a week to complete training in the IHEART Program in London, England. Recently he started teaching it to Derech Emunah students and staff on Mondays for an hour each week.

Richard summarizes this program as “... a 10-week psychology course about how the mind works and where thoughts and feelings come from. IHEART stands for Innate Health Education and Resiliency Training. In short, the IHEART Principles course is based on a well-crafted curriculum focused on our innate health (our natural psychological wellness), rediscovering our inner resilience, and providing a concrete understanding of how thoughts and feelings work.”

The IHEART series of interactive lessons take students on a 10-week journey towards understanding how to access their innate resilience and wellbeing from the inside-out. Sessions consist of a mix of discussions, activities, self-reflection, animations, videos and group exercises.

Students and teachers are starting to learn about how thoughts inform feelings, and how external situations and our thoughts about them don’t have to make our day feel like it is an emotional rollercoaster.

The first 5 weeks of the program examine how our minds work, while the final 5 weeks address daily challenges we all face, such as stress, self-image, social media, and conflict.

For further information on the IHEART program, please look at the website www.iheartprinciples.com or contact Richard Berger at richard@rbtherapy.com.