Category: Skill Building Resources

Posts in this aws Studios.art category describe my mental health skill building resources available at my Teachers Pay Teachers / TPT store.

Back To Basics: Practical Mental Health Information

Published on by awsstudiosartLeave a comment

aws Studios is proud to celebrate May as Mental Health Month! The following is an article from Mental Health America:

Mental Health Awareness

Since the start of the pandemic, more people are talking about mental health. An increasing number of folks are starting to see it for what it is: one important component of your overall health and well-being, just like your physical health. But mental health conditions, resources, and conversations can still feel complicated and out of reach.

An image of an applique of hikers resting and viewing the distant mountain landscape signifying the importance of self-care, rest and relaxation for mental health.

Be Informed


Are there common warning signs for mental health conditions or crises? Specific factors that can lead to mental health conditions or even crises? What resources are out there – and how do I know if they’re right for me?

another image signifying the importance of rest and relaxation with an abstract collage of a beach scene with sand, waves, beach chairs and umbrellas.

Many people are learning about mental health topics for the first time. Having a widespread understanding of the topic can help you be more informed if you or someone you know is experiencing a mental health condition or crisis. Around half of people in the U.S. will meet the criteria for a diagnosable mental health condition at some point in their life, so everyone should know what to look out for.

Everyone should have the support needed to thrive. Communities that have been historically and presently oppressed face a deeper mental health burden because of the added impact of trauma, oppression, and harm. There’s often no one single cause for a mental health condition. Instead, there are many possible risk factors that can influence how likely a person is to experience a mental health condition or how serious the symptoms may be.

Know the Risk Factors


Some risk factors for mental health conditions include: trauma, which can be a one-time event or ongoing; your environment and how it impacts your health and quality of life (also known as social determinants of health like financial stability and health care access); genetics; brain chemistry; and your habits and lifestyle such as a lack of sleep.

An image of pool water signifying importance of bringing calm and beauty into our lives for better mental health.

Questions to ask yourself

Of course, understanding the risk factors for a mental health condition can be more difficult when it’s your own mental health. Take time to ask yourself about your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors to see if this is part of a pattern that may be caused by a mental health condition. Here are some questions to get you started:


• Have things that used to feel easy started feeling difficult?
• Does the idea of doing daily tasks like making your bed now feel really, really hard?
• Have you lost interest in activities and hobbies you used to enjoy?
• Do you feel irritated, possibly to the point of lashing out at people you care about?

Our society focuses much more on physical health than mental health, but both are equally important. If you are concerned about your mental health, there are several options available. You are not alone – help is out there, and recovery is possible. It may be hard to talk about your concerns, but simply acknowledging to yourself that you’re struggling is a really big step.

Mental Health Awareness Resources


Taking a screen at mhascreening.org can help you to better understand what you are experiencing and get helpful resources. After that, consider talking to someone you trust about your results, and seek out a professional to find the support you need.

While you may not need this information today, knowing the basics about mental health will mean you’re prepared if you ever need it. Go to mhanational.org/may to learn more.

Parent Sharing and How to Get Your Toddler to Behave!

Published on by awsstudiosart4 Comments

I am writing about parenting because it’s my hope that parents will find my to-be-published book “Adventures with phearnik!™” useful. Find out more about the book here. 

This post is about how I first got into mental health education as a parenting educator.  I got into parenting education because I wanted/needed my toddler to behave! 

Parenting struggles and parenting classes

I loved/love parenting education.  I was introduced to it as a participant in a parenting class.  Like I said, I was having a tough time and getting frustrated with my toddler’s behavior.  And I was stymied.  I was a high school and college graduate and I still didn’t have the answers for what to do. 

I asked my mother for help and she said, “Oh, I never had that problem.  You were so good.” It was obvious to me my mother didn’t remember hitting me with the yardstick when I misbehaved as a toddler!  And because of that experience, I wasn’t going to resort to using it with my children.  My mother wasn’t going to be any help.

A humorous illustration of the "old woman and the shoe" depicting parenting a lot of children.

I mentioned my frustrations to my health care provider.  She suggested I enroll in our HMO’s parenting class.  I was hesitant.  Weren’t parenting classes for parents involved with child protective services? Parents who were abusing their kids and had them taken away?  That wasn’t me.  I was just getting a little frustrated.  I ended up going, albeit begrudgingly, and feeling embarrassed.  And once there, I was so glad I went!  I came to love the class.  (By the way, of about 15 participants in the class, only one parent was mandated to go.)

Taught by HMO staff, the class used the “Systematic Training for Effective Parenting” program (Dinkmeyer and McKay). These techniques were found effective in raising socially and emotionally healthy children.  I loved the strategies and learning to direct my child’s behavior with love and understanding and calmer.  I loved it so much that I just had to spread the word.  This is me.  I am an educator through and through.  When I learn or find out about something that I get excited about, I want to share it.  So, I set out to be a parenting educator.

More Useful Parenting Information

Soon after I completed the STEP classes, another opportunity arose. A short course on conflict resolution came to town.  I like the term “conflict management” better as conflict cannot always be resolved. Something we learned in the course.  I sought out conflict resolution (management). Even though I struggled with my toddler’s behavior at times, my husband and I engaged in some arguments too.  (Makes one wonder how much that was contributing to the toddler’s behavior, right?) Anyways, I went to the conflict classes and loved what I learned there too! 

Right after that, I signed up to become a trainer of the EPIC parenting education program.  EPIC stands for “Every Person Influences Children” developed by Bob Wilson from Buffalo, NY.  A keen, visionary mom in our town was frustrated by the high rate of unintended teen pregnancies.  She believed in addressing the problem. Her strategy included providing parents in the community with a parenting program. The mom thought it could be an effective preventative strategy to help bring the rate down.  Along with some other moms, I traveled to Buffalo and received the  training and became an EPIC trainer.  We then came back home and started training parent groups. 

I trained the EPIC program for a little while but I felt that it wasn’t enough.  It was my belief that the parenting classes could use some of what I learned in the STEP program. In addition, it definitely needed pretty much everything I learned in the conflict resolution classes!  So, I developed my own parenting education course. 

I took a little bit from EPIC and a little bit from STEP and used most of the information from the conflict resolution classes.   I started teaching my curriculum at the NY State Education Dept. Board of Cooperative Education Services (BOCES) Adult Education Program in Syracuse, NY.  And guess what?  Yep, you got it!  I loved teaching that parenting education curriculum!  I especially loved getting parents together.  Parents who like me had some struggle with parenting their children and were hungry for some help, some answers. 

Parent-to-Parent, the Best Parenting Education

We had so much fun in those classes!  It was great to be able to facilitate their sharing of issues but, most importantly, the ideas and strategies that worked for them.  They may have been having an issue in one area of parenting but in other areas, they had great ideas for the other parents.  This was one of the things that I particularly liked in the STEP classes, when a parent would say, “Oh, that?  I don’t have an issue with that because this is what I have done when that happens….”  The parent sharing was the best.  Through my years as an educator and trainer, my colleagues and I would always agree that one of our most important teaching strategies was to facilitate the sharing of ideas from the students or participants to one another.

Commenting on blogs is a terrific way for readers to share their stories and what’s worked for them when it comes to parenting children.  What about you?  Have you ever participated in a parenting class?   Which one?  Did you like it?  Why or why not?  Do you have a child rearing tip or strategy that works/worked well for you that you’d like to share?  I would love to hear about it in the Comments/Reply section below and, as always, thank you for reading! 

Looking for resources?  Check out the National Parenting Education Network (NPEN), a national organization that promotes the field of parenting education and encourages information sharing, professional development and networking opportunities for individuals who educate and support parents.

Another Why “There’s a Mental Health Crisis Among American Children”

Published on by awsstudiosart2 Comments

Something’s Missing

In the NY Times article, “There’s a Mental Health Crisis Among American Children.  Why?: And the pandemic is not the only reason,” I noticed a missing “why”, a big one.

Tingley lists many reasons why we have a mental health crisis in this country. These include issues with data collection, the ability for more children to receive adequate and early mental health care. She also points out how the pandemic has added to  the crisis. But, she adds “rising numbers” of children and youth with mental illness was happening before Covid19. Less than 15% of these youth received treatment. 

A Lack of Mental Health Education

A picture showing to little girls hugging to emphasize the need for more mental health education.

As a mental health educator, the “why” there’s a mental health crisis in the US that I see missing is the lack of mental health education.  The NYT article and others about the state of mental health in the US usually  emphasize the issue of accessing treatment as the number one reason.  But treatment for mental illnesses is a “downstream” strategy, a way to administer to those who are ill.  They are often emergency life-saving measures.  On the other hand, mental health education is an “upstream” strategy.  Its purpose to arm individuals with the things they need to know and do to maintain mental health and prevent mental illnesses and the need for treatment as much as possible. 

Making Mental Health Skill Building Fun and Easy

Because of the lack of mental health education, states like New York and California have made or are making it a law. These laws work to ensure mental health education happens in schools.  It’s too bad we need laws to make mental health education take place.  Teaching and learning the skills of mental health isn’t hard.  And it can be fun!  In my last post, I talked about learning the social and emotional skill of acknowledging fear. Embracing a “little fear” helps us move beyond anxiety to a place of thriving.  For all healthy skills, it helps to understand why we need the skill and why it works.  To learn the skill of acknowledging fear, it helps to understand how our brains work when we’re experiencing it. 

Fear is a powerful emotion.  In its basic form, it keeps us safe.  And in our early human development, tuning into fear was essential for survival.  The thing is, even now hundreds of thousands of years later, fear still wants to react in its primal way.  A lot of fear we experience isn’t a life-or-death. Because of this,  we need to embody the skill of calming our primal brain areas down and tune into the areas that provide a more modern, logical and practical  approach.

I like how Dr. Steve Peters explains this in a simplified and fun way. Helping to clarify the complexity of brain science, Peters breaks it down. He conveys how our “emotional thinking machine” “The Chimp” needs to placate “The Human,” the area of thinking and planning. Says Peters, “You are not responsible for the nature of the dog but you are responsible for managing it, keeping it well behaved.”  Just as “you are not responsible for the nature of your Chimp but you are responsible for managing it.” And that’s a mental health skill! 

So, yes, we may be in a mental health crisis. But we don’t need to wait for laws and our schools to put a dent in that crisis. Mental health education can be provided now.  As parents and adults, we can help build the skills of mental health in our children. And, more importantly, for ourselves – in fun and engaging ways.  That’s what my picture book, “Adventures with phearnik!™”  is all about.  It’s a fun way to learn how to keep your social relationships and emotions healthy! 

What about you?  Could you use a fun way to help your child not be so fearful or anxious?  Could you yourself use the same!?  “Adventures with phearnik!™” can help! 

Social and Emotional Health Education Teaching Strategies Engage Students with Art

Published on by awsstudiosartLeave a comment

A Writer and an Artist

I am a Gemini.  Born between May 21 and June 21. I have always thought the Gemini symbol of The Twins defined me well. The two distinct personalities or personas speak clearly to my being an artist and a writer.  Most of my posts to this point have been about my art.  It’s time for me to blog about my writing, in particular, my social and emotional health teaching strategies.

Parenting Education

Two little girls hugging

I started developing educational curricula and teaching strategies as a Parenting Educator.  For many years, I provided programming for parents including single moms and single parents and other caregivers.  As a new mom, I participated in the  “Systematic Training for Effective Parenting (STEP)” program presented by my health care provider and a series on conflict resolution presented by the New Justice Conflict Resolution Services in Syracuse, NY. 

Then, I became a trainer. This was for the “Every Person Influences Children (EPIC)” parenting education program.  Taking parts from all three of these programs, I created and taught a parenting education program. I then taught it for the NYS Board of Cooperative Education Services’ (BOCES) Adult program. 

I loved parenting education, sharing what I had learned and helping other parents.  This work extended into programming I did for in-home day care providers enrolled in the Onondaga County Day Care “Magic Bus” program.    Implementing literary and culinary arts into this curriculum provided fun and engaging activities for both the children and the care providers.

Mental Health Education

After receiving a Masters in Health Education, my curriculum development continued to focus on mental health, providing social and emotional learning (SEL) teaching strategies for K-12 teachers, parents, youth workers, foster care caseworkers and foster parents. 

A illustration of an old woman and the shoe with lots of kids living in the shoe.
A picture of the cover of Final Episode a communication skills resource for high school students.

Award Winning Curriculum

After receiving a Masters in Health Education, my curriculum development continued to focus on mental health, providing social and emotional learning (SEL) teaching strategies for K-12 teachers, parents, youth workers, foster care caseworkers and foster parents. 

During this time,  the NYS Department of Education hired me as an External Consultant to assist in  developing a high school/”commencement level” parenting education curriculum guide.  For the guide, I created, “Final Episode™: Resolving family conflicts with communication,” a commencement level learning experience.

I was thrilled when this curriculum met the State’s ‘Academy for Teaching and Learning” requuirements. With an intense peer-review process, the Academy seeks to award well designed K-12 curricula.

“Final Episode™” incorporated many different art disciplines. These include theatre/drama arts and a “Document Based Questionnaire.” A DBQ engages student learning using paintings, comics and other graphic artwork. This leads students on an entertaining, self-directed journey to learn about how to communicate in safe and healthy ways. 

“Final Episode™” and my other curricula illustrate how my art connects with my mental health curriculum.  Perfect examples of my “gemininess!”  

If you would like to receive an outline of the Final episode curriculum, click here for a free pdf!

Engaging teaching strategies

Overcoming Anxiety During the Pandemic

Published on by awsstudiosart2 Comments

sunrise in the preserve

My 2020 and 2021 collages, “Sunrise in the Preserve” and “Sunrise near Bellacina” are currently showing in the Venice (Florida) Art Center’s new “Near and Far” show (running now through February 11, 2022).  The two works together in a series of three (including “Sunrise on the Bay”) tell the story about how creating art during the confines of the covid19 pandemic helped me maintain and, possibly, strengthened my mental – social and emotional – health. 

Isolated in the first many months of the pandemic in 2020, I found solace in my small studio.   The unassuming, demure space provides me with plenty – the secure comfort I desire for my creating.  Ever since I was a little kid, I have always enjoyed the confines of small, big-enough-for-only-me spaces.  The enclosed spandrel (the space underneath the stairs leading up to the second floor of our house) was my indoor playhouse.   Every morning after breakfast, I couldn’t wait to play under the stairs with my dolls, in my own private, cozy representation of my family’s kitchen, complete with a 1950’s toddler sized white metal kitchen sink, stove and refrigerator.  It was the safe sanctuary that my natural introversion craved.

Like the enclosed spandrel, my two, small, big-enough-for-only-me studio spaces (one in upstate NY and the other in Venice, Florida) provide me with the safe and secure calm I desire for my creative focus.  In this soothing space, I  relax and, along with my collage practice, destress.  It was in my Venice studio where I “got through” the early pandemic months (and the later ones too) with peace and relaxation. 

sunrise near Bellacina

Creating collage – the cutting and securing paper or fabric to a ridged surface – helps me manage my mental wellbeing.  Scissors and X-Acto knives (slim, small knives with similarly slim razor blades for cutting my materials) are, for me, therapeutic.  The concentration and attention required to accurately slice fabric or paper flows through my body. It calms my arms, hands and fingers down into a focused peacefulness.  Again, the concentrated practice allows me to exhale my stress and tension.

sunrise on the bay

Collage also satisfies my desire for a challenge. It provides me another way to take care of my mental health.  Stimulating our brain with challenges and problem solving helps to improve our  mindset. This helps to make us feel more positive about the future.  It helps to build confidence and gives us something to focus on. Problem solving takes our minds off the things that cause anxiety.  Creating a picture that represents a story with Impressionistic-like simplicity is my challenge and goal.  But the pandemic in early 2020, created an additional challenge. The challenge of trying to find materials needed for my collaging (remember, at first, stores closed completely)! 

my work desk in my demure studio!

One of the reasons I made pictures of a sunrise was because the only ridged surface I had at the time to build my collages on was a piece of florescent orange cardboard leftover from another project (I totally can’t remember what that was)!  The bright orange became the  perfect background to represent the dramatic streaks and peaks of the morning’s rising sunlight.  Another challenge was obtaining colored paper to cut and collage the sky and foreground.  Again, the only thing I had on hand were magazines.  Even though magazines are not the best choice when considering a picture’s longevity and its archivalness,  the “Venice Magazine” about Gulf Coast living,  provided me with a broad selection of colors; the heavier cover paper becoming my favorite choice to weave into my sunrise representations.

Many artists relate their practice to helping them with strengthen their mental health. During the scariest early days and months of the pandemic, my “art saved me” (as it often does).  It provided me a way to escape from the worries of what the virus.  My secure and safe studio gave me focus. It illuminated a silver lining to my isolation – that of creating three related collages.  Even the show’s opening night helped me grow my social health. My husband and I met another artist and his wife who also live in Venice.   The four of us closed the reception down. We were the last to leave. We enjoyed a conversation of getting to know each other, exchanging numbers and promises to get together again.

How about you?  Did/do you find solace  during the pandemic creating art and or crafts?  How does art or craft making affect your mental health?  Have you noticed ways art helps to strengthen your social and emotional health? I would love to hear from you in the “Leave a Reply” below.