April began with Easter break and we all had the opportunity to unwind, relax or travel, like in my case. I visited two beautiful places, one in Spain and one in Ireland. I was gathering resources for the upcoming editions. April is full of important dates and awareness days.
April is the National Stress Awareness Month and it has been held every April since 1992 to raise awareness of the causes and cures for our modern-day stress epidemic. It is the time where we have an opportunity for an open conversation on the impact of stress. Therefore I prepared two articles to help us maintain a healthy life-work balance. Psychologist Sylwia Kuchenna wrote an article about healing our inner child, which involves recognising the unresolved emotional wounds from our childhoods and taking steps to address them. Carmel Buckley will tell us all about the Indian Head Massage and all the benefits associated with this treatment. I visited Carmel in her sanctuary and I felt amazing afterwards. Nicola Culloty – Cognitive Behavioural Therapist and founder of Full Circle CBT – gives us insights into Vicarious Trauma: An Occupational Reality for Special Needs Assistants. Very interesting article with strategies ready to use.
April is also the month of Autism Awareness. Therefore I organised a webinar about ‘Dismantling Culinary Culture With Neurodiversity’ and ‘The role of SNAs and SEN teachers while supporting students acquiring life skills in a school setting’. I also invited an author of a book called ‘’The Strengths – Based Guide to Supporting Autistic Children’’. In the interview, Claire O’Neill is telling us all about this approach and how we can implement it in school.
April 23rd is recognised as World Book Day, which was established by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on April 23, 1995. This date is chosen because it is the anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare and prominent Spanish chronicler Inca Garcilaso de la Vega. I invited two incredible authors who wrote books for children. What I personally like about these books is that they are helping children with mental health, they give strategies and they teach how to cope with certain emotions. Katie O’Donoghue wrote a book about ‘’The Little Otter Who Tried’’ and Jackie Farell wrote a lovely book called ‘’My busy Popcorn Mind’’.
April 21st is National Tea Day. I am planning to organise a virtual tea party where you can join me on Instagram (@sna_zone). I am sharing a few ideas on how to celebrate Tea Day: host a tea party with friends and family to sample a variety of teas, visit a local tea shop and sample some of their specialty blends, plant a tea garden and experiment with growing your own tea leaves, take part in a local tea ceremony or even try making your own tea blend! You can also host a tea-tasting event and invite friends to sample their favourite blends or donate to a tea-related charity or organisation.
There is also much more happening in April but for all of us the 22nd of April should be marked as an important date in our calendar as it is the Earth Day! Earth Day is celebrated on April 22nd every year and is a great opportunity to show our appreciation and respect for our planet. We can do as little or as much to protect our common mother earth. Here are some ways to celebrate: plant a tree or start a garden, pick up litter around your neighbourhood, turn off the lights and unplug electronics when not in use, use reusable shopping bags, buy local, organic, and sustainable products, reduce, reuse, and recycle, educate yourself and others on environmental issues, participate in an Earth Day event or clean-up, avoid single-use plastics and support sustainable and green businesses.
This issue is as special as any other but from edition to edition I always have the feeling of gathering the best topics and then a new month approaches and I begin to have the same feeling over and over again. I should also mention that I was invited to a podcast called ‘’If I were the Minister of Education’’ by Simon Lewis where I had the opportunity to represent SNAs and have a voice. As always, I am grateful for any opportunity to speak out as an SNA. I also wrote an article comparing my answers with the Artificial Intelligence Chat GPT.
I hope you will enjoy reading it. Don’t forget to read our Not-So—Secret Diary of an SNA by Jackie Walsh. Dive into the Travel Zone and have a look into the dress/suit collection in the Fashion Zone. Enjoy your reading!
Chat soon as May is coming!
Yours,
MAGDALENA LANDZIAK
EDITOR
