Advancing Humanity

Dalia Hesham is an International Education Consultant who provides insight on how schools can effectively open in the midst of this pandemic. Dalia says that we need to look at school communities individually and get creative to support students and staff to align with local and government mandates, ensuring we address concerns properly. Additionally, grouping students meaningfully and identifying key people involved while structuring the school day will help students flourish, even ones who are remote learners. Looking at data and addressing the unique needs of the school is paramount to a successful transition in a positive way. Dalia says that when we engage parents they are more invested, and they become part of the solution. Having them involved as much as possible will benefit the school with careful consideration of laws and regulations such as through HIPAA so child protection and safeguarding is important. Using transparency with parents shows them that their children’s mental health and wellbeing are being looked after. Dalia also says that teachers’ mental health and well-being needs to be addressed so we can strengthen relationships within the building and leaders should model this for their staff. Having workshops within schools for self-care is important as well as professional development. Harvard, Oxford, Pennsylvania Universities have free online courses that would be supportive of teachers for professional development right now. Educational leadership would be useful too as “leaders have been born” due to COVID-19. Dalia coaches people through an educational leadership course through ImproveEd. Also, CPD courses around child protection and safeguarding children, contagion, remediation and reading strategies would be useful as well. Dalia’s advice to parents who are also school leaders is to take it easy and start off small so you do not get overwhelmed. Also, it is important to ask for help and look for parents to volunteer using their strengths to build a strong community. Dalia says that sometimes it is ok to say “no”. With regards to opening up schools, Dalia says to use students who will help with positivity and have staff get creative in making some of the new rules fun such as using colored soap when handwashing. Additionally, some suggestions are staggering start times, meal time adjustments, reducing traffic within hallways, ensuring all staff and students follow CDC guidelines, have students learn from each other in small groups and considering needs of each age group. Again, identifying key people within the school community is important in this transition and having tours of the school prior to starting, even virtually or externally, may help with the adjustment. With technology, innovation and the human element of connection with the world coming together over the last couple of months, such as the United States, the United Arab Emirate (UAE), the United Kingdom (UK), Canada, etc. getting together to figure out how to move humanity forward, it is essential that we consider all people who are stakeholders, including parents, so we can unite. Our next generation of children will need to be exposed to how we are working together and adapting to a new way of learning in order to have a thriving future. LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/dalia-hesham Website: www.improve-ed.com AdvancingHumanityPodcast.com

Marnie Prokator is a community educator and photographer. She discuss overdose, the opioid crisis, and how we should address addiction with family members and with community members. She also discusses marijuana as a gateway drug and how drugs are distributed in our community. With community education and a harm-reduction approach to treatment, we can understand those who are addicted and how to best support them. www. AdvancingHumanityPodcast.com Marnie's photography: www.facebook.com/makstudiosphotography

Ayush Chopra is the SDGs for Children (https://www.sdgsforchildren.org/) and a student at Ahlcon International School. He says "I looked at the world as a place where every flower had the opportunity of blooming and every plant had the right to grow,” and his focus is on basic human rights through freedom of education, speech and equal opportunity. Ayush references notable citizens of the world such as Ellie Wiesel, Abraham Lincoln, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr., Mother Teresa, and you can see that each of these leaders have a common trait that radiates through Ayush - genuine compassion for other human beings. Ayush also shares his story of being bullied and how that helped him envision a better school environment for others. His message is sincere, and his future is as bright as his contagious smile. Ayush says, "I truly believe that success is not winning alone." If more of us adults could think like him, this world would truly be a safer, more habitable and happier place to live. BOOK: “Shaping a Fairer World” PODCAST: https://www.sdgsforchildren.org/podcast.php *Podcast with Wizard Ayush* WEBSITE: https://www.sdgsforchildren.org/ APPAREL: https://www.sdgsforchildren.org/shop.php PROJECTS: https://www.sdgsforchildren.org/projects.php #shapingafairerworld #SDGsGreenCampaign #SDGPosters #SDGsStories #KeepTheHopeAlive #1MinuteWithSDGs #SDGsSurvey Twitter: https://twitter.com/SDGsForChildren Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/SDGsForChildren YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCP_lVHgZmZt9TwLCV5kmgig AdvancingHumanityPodcast.com

A Retired High School Psychology Teacher, he has developed a leadership program to help our youth take on new roles to enhance their skill set and set them up for their future. Young Leaders provides powerful tools to help young adults be intentional as you grow into more responsibilities and freedoms, owning the experiences of your life. It also encourages self-love and self-appreciation by empowering you to connect with peers using different communication styles. You will learn how to manage your inner world and stay positive in responses to potentially negative or hurtful outside influences, including social media. “Happiness is an inside job” (Paul Mend) Participants will learn to: Build an internal sense of self - build confidence in who you are and own your inner power in any situation Change beliefs - identify limiting, paralyzing beliefs and change them into powerful beliefs Drive internal motivation - develop and utilize internal motivation to succeed Create a compelling vision - Determine a clear image for what you want most in your life Manage attitudes and emotional state - recognize how to manage attitudes and unstable emotions in response to external circumstances Influence effectively - lead yourself and others through challenging circumstances Enhance peer communication - learn how to better adapt to any communication style Build stronger leadership - learn how to recognize reactive, destructive behaviour patterns, and lead others to refocus on goals Website: https://www.growth-u.com/ Email: [email protected] Call 205-488-2605 “Engaging Your Teen Students” Virtual Summit - EducationVirtualSummit.com HumanitySpeaker.com

Stephane Grenier of Mental Health Innovation a former soldier who served in Rwanda during the genocide in 1994 and coined the term “moral injury”. Now, he is the Founder and Lead Innovator of Mental Health Innovations, a company that trains business leaders to support their staff members in a unique way. His experience as a soldier vets him as one who truly understands what it is like to be exposed to trauma, though he argues, he was not traumatized. He does not agree that there should be so many rules and legislation around mental health issues such as PTSD, which is a presumption that does not serve the business industry well. Stephane also says that we have developed too many policies that disempower managers to appropriately interact with their employees where the “clinical narrative has invaded the workspace”. He believes mental health is too complicated and could be simplified in a way to empower leaders to address their staff in supportive, non-clinical ways and that it is less relevant in the workplace. According to Stephane, the narrative needs to be de-medicalized and leaders need to learn skills. In his training program, they role play and engage in interactive scenarios to get them to practice how they would formulate how they would support their employees under difficult circumstances. He argues that they can change management behaviors who may be heavily focused on productivity, though need to improve their relationship building with staff who would respond more positively. Don’t wait until someone is sick; build the relationship now, and it will pay out. His program rehumanizes people and the peer support model he uses compliments everything else that is in place such as the EAP, benefit program, etc. He says that there is evidence that peer support will help integrate people into society and back into the workplace better, so it imperative for us to train leaders for the future of humanity, Buy Stephane’s Book: After the War https://www.amazon.ca/After-War-Surviving-Changing-Culture/dp/0889775338 Website: https://mhic-cism.com/stephane-grenier/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mental-health-innovations-consulting/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/s_grenier YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkLF78tiP4Xk7hTQY4_WC7A AdvancingHumanityPodcast.com