Mental Health, Consent, & Boundaries w/ Cheryl-Ann

People will forget what you said, what you did, but they will never forget how you made them feel. What’s the power of consent and respecting boundaries? How do you navigate without being offensive when your boundaries are pushed aside culturally? Today, Cheryl-Ann, a mental health expert, global school counsellor, workshop facilitator, and founder of Weekes Enterprise LLC, joins us in the show! In the session, Cheryl-Ann shares her career journey transitioning from the business world to finding her passion in counselling, why boundaries are important for students and educators, the power of consent, and how to gain trust from your students as an educator. Additionally, she discusses the power of listening rather than being defensive and why impact is more important than intention. Ultimately Cheryl-Ann expounds on the challenges of communicating through the screens with your students, why it’s hard for kids to be vulnerable in front of computers, and the need for weekly or biweekly advisory lessons in every school. Besides, what is the best way to help an educator who is not comfortable doing an advisory program? Is it up to the educators to figure it out? Tune in for more! Timestamps [00:25] A couple of housekeeping items [01:59] Introducing the episode [02:24] Cheryl-Ann’s background [03:21] About Cheryl-Ann’s TCK workshop and what it means [04:12] How Cheryl-Ann got started in her counselling journey [07:07] When Cheryl-Ann delved into the topic of consent and boundaries [10:52] How Covid has helped people have conversations around consent and boundaries [15:05] Gaining trust from your students as an educator [18:12] How to make students know they matter in a virtual world [21:30] Challenges of communicating with your students through the screens [24:03] What Cheryl-Ann would fight to teach in her industry [25:47] Should there be an advisory period inside every school [27:28] Best way to help educators who are not comfortable doing an advisory program [29:24] To connect with Cheryl-Ann Let’s Connect To connect with Cheryl Ann ● Twitter: https://twitter.com/bajanweekes?s=20 ● LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cheryl-ann-weekes-b077878a/ ● Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bajanexpatschoolcounselor/ ● Website: https://weekesenterprise.com/ More resources ● Head over to iss.edu/events to see future PD's that ISS is offering for the SY 22-23. ● Join the Diversity Collaborative platform-https://info.iss.edu/sign-up-diversity-collaborative