 
The Coordinated School Health Unit and Project AWARE are excited to announce that registration is now open for the next two Educator Wellness Workshop opportunities.
This opportunity, hosted through a partnership with Full Circle Wellness, is open to all educators within Montana who have not had the chance to participate in past workshops and is designed to provide a menu of mini-sessions meant to grow and care for educator’s minds, bodies and souls so they can persevere in growing and caring for the minds, bodies, and souls of their communities. Protecting educator mental health and overall well-being is our top priority in creating a more resilient, responsive educational system for all involved. In this wellness workshop, educators will be submerged in several evidence-based and healing-centered practices. They will learn to cultivate these practices into everyday life, harnessing neuroplasticity and reaping many other positive benefits for themselves and their classrooms.
The OPI and Full Circle Wellness have hosted workshops in Bozeman and Fairmont Hot Springs. Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive with educators asking for the opportunity to be expanded! Here are some highlights of the feedback from participants.
“This was the best educator gathering I have ever participated in. It is an experience I wish I could have every August prior to the start of the school year. What an incredible way to end the summer and prepare for the school year.”
“I am so grateful to have had this opportunity to engage with fellow educators. This was a much needed relaxing and uplifting experience! My hope is that this opportunity is available every year!!!”
“This was the first training in 21 years that I left rejuvenated and ready to teach instead of exhausted and overwhelmed, THANK YOU!.”
“The Educator Wellness Workshop is the most impactful learning I have experienced as an educator. Not only did I calm my stress and refocus my intentions, I also gained tools that will provide lasting wellness to me and to those I share this practice and experience with.”
The next two workshops are now open for registration. Capacity for this event is limited to 20 participants so please register early as previous workshops have filled quickly! Please note that the provided registration links are the only way to secure your participation. Registration is limited to one workshop, please choose the workshop that fits your needs.
February 1st and 2nd, 2025 Educator Wellness Workshop
Location: Ft. Benton, MT at the Grand Union Hotel
Additional Information: Winter 2025 Workshop Flier
Full Agenda: Winter Workshop Agenda and Session Description
To register for the Ft. Benton Workshop please complete all sections of the required Ft. Benton Registration Link.
April 12th and 13th, 2025, Educator Wellness Workshop
Location: Glasgow, MT at the Rundle Suites
Additional Information: Spring 2025 Workshop Flier
Full Agenda: Spring Workshop Agenda and Session Description
To Register for the Glasgow Workshop please complete all sections of the required Glasgow Registration Link.
Renewal units and lodging will be provided for the workshop in addition to mileage, and meal reimbursements at the state-approved rate.
Any questions or issues with registration, please contact Courtney Hubbs, Project AWARE Program Manager at Courtney.hubbs@mt.gov or call 406-438-0473. For more information about the workshops, please contact Katie Mayfield with Full Circle Wellness at 406-539-7736.
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Help Create a Rural Health Network for Occupational Therapy
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Dog Tag Buddies is honored to be a recipient of a Rural Health Network Development Planning Grant through the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). This one-year planning grant will help Dog Tag Buddies develop a strategic plan to create a Rural Health Network of Occupational Therapy Professionals to help meet the mental health and wellness needs of rural Montana Veterans and their families, as well as the communities in which they live. Dog Tag Buddies is looking for feedback from entities that utilize Occupation Therapy Professionals in Montana to help with the project. Please take a few minutes to respond to this survey.
OPI Offers Student Vaping Prevention Presentations
The OPI continues to offer free student vaping prevention presentations to all Montana school districts. Student vaping has impacted most Montana school districts, and our goal is to support your work to help students resist using commercial tobacco products, including electronic cigarettes. We offer 3 coordinated age-appropriate presentations developed for grades 4-5, 6-8 and 9-12. Each presentation lasts 30-50 minutes, depending on how much instructional time you can share with us. We find classroom sized sessions to be more engaging for students than school-wide assemblies, so we can schedule several presentations each day.
In the last five years, our instructional coordinators have presented to over 30,000 students and the feedback has been good:
"I just liked how relatable it was for kids my age."
"I liked how there were real people sharing their stories to help us not want to start or continue vaping."
"The presentation used scientific facts from scientists to prove that vaping is harmful for teenagers."
Most students responded that they learned something new about the harms of vaping and that the presentation reinforced why they don't vape. We are encouraged by students who tell us the presentation helped them decide to quit vaping.
Follow this link to inquire about scheduling presentations for your school.
For more information contact Dr. Beth Dominicis or Kris Minard.
SWATTING INCIDENT: A swatting incident is a false threat reporting of a serious incident to elicit a significant response from police and other emergency services.
On December 5th multiple schools across Montana were placed on lockdown due to threats of school violence. The threats were unfounded, known as swatting incidents, but until schools could verify the veracity of the threats, schools followed their safety procedures. OPI wants to thank the teachers, administrators, and first responders who followed their Emergency Operations Plan (EOP). It is through regular drills and review of EOP that staff and students are able to respond quickly and correctly when an actual emergency happens. Per Montana Code Annotated 20-1-402: There must be at least eight disaster drills a year in a school. Drills must be held at different hours of the day or evening to avoid distinction between drills and actual disasters. Be prepared!
The OPI Emergency Planning & Safety website has some after-action report templates. These are designed to help schools and districts reflect on the effectiveness of the drill or actual emergency situation after it occurs. This will help schools identify areas where things went well and areas where changes may need to be made to better prepare and respond in the future. To find the templates click on the “Drills & Exercises” tab and scroll down to the after-action report templates.
For more information contact OPI School Safety Specialist: Dr. Burke Wallace by email or at 406-594-0059.
School climate refers to the quality of school life and impacts all those who interact with schools. There are many benefits associated with a positive school climate, including:
- Increase in student academic performance & graduation
- Increase in student & educator emotional wellbeing
- Increase in student ability to overcome challenges
- Safer schools with fewer discipline referrals
Newly adopted legislation now requires all Montana school districts to begin measuring the climate of their schools (reference: Administrative Rules of Montana (ARM) 10.55.801). Conducting a school climate survey provides community members with an opportunity to share their experiences and enables school leadership to better understand what school is like for various stakeholder groups. Survey data can help schools make informed decisions and better provide a safe and supportive learning environment.
The Office of Public Instruction recently released a resource for districts to utilize for reviewing school climate data and prioritizing school improvement strategies. The School Climate Data Interpretation Guidance: Making Data-Driven Decisions to Foster Safe and Supportive Learning Environments document encourages collaborative partnerships between schools and community members and provides step-by-step guidance to analyze school climate data and make data-informed decisions to strengthen the climate of a school.
This is an excellent tool to help schools fulfill their school culture accreditation requirement. If you are interested in having a member of OPI facilitate the new guidance document for your school please reach out to OPI School Safety Specialist: Dr. Burke Wallace by email or at 406-594-0059.
Youth Vaping Impacts Communities
Follow this link to watch a "community conversation" about preventing youth vaping at Beaverton Public Schools in Beaverton, OR, and consider how you might duplicate this same kind of event in your community.
There was not a huge crowd present, but posting this recording online has allowed over 500 viewers to listen to the discussion and gain valuable information from school district personnel as well as the attendees.
The Beaverton Public Schools panel included a principal, a school nurse, an HPE teacher and health curriculum coordinator, and a substance use prevention counselor... all knowledgeable about the impact of student vaping on schools, the impact of vaping on a student's health and well-being and about quitting resources.
Lorenzo Curtis, a 23-year-old attendee asked the million-dollar question: "How do we help students prioritize their academic and personal success and growth over the immediate gratification these substances bring them?" Especially when that immediate gratification can harm the parts of the brain that control attention, learning, mood, and impulse control and lead to a lifelong addiction to nicotine. Youth who report they vape to relieve symptoms of stress don't realize that vaping can do just the opposite. According to the Centers for Disease Control, "nicotine addiction or withdrawal can contribute to feelings of stress, anxiety, and depression, or make these feelings worse."
We can surely learn from other schools around the country. Parents are often the missing link when it comes to communicating about the harms from youth vaping. Check out all the vaping awareness resources Beaverton Schools have shared on their website.
Please contact Dr. Beth Dominicis or Kris Minard for more information about helpful tobacco use prevention resources for your schools and know that cessation help is available for your students at My Life My Quit.
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The OPI is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to people with disabilities. If you need a reasonable accommodation, require an alternate format, or have questions concerning accessibility, contact the OPI ADA Coordinator, 406-444-3161, opiada@mt.gov, Relay Service: 711.
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