During challenging times, practicing gratitude is a skill that may help us cope with great stress, sadness, anxiety or depression. In their work with students and teachers throughout the year, Acknowledge Alliance’s therapists and resilience consultants often emphasize the many health and well-being benefits of recognizing and expressing the things we are grateful for. Research has shown that gratitude is consistently linked to greater happiness, and has even been shown to help people be more patient, improve their relationships and sleep better.
As part of our Project Resilience social emotional learning lessons for elementary and middle school students, our resilience consultants share that:
“Our brains are wired to think negative thoughts first, to keep us alive and safe. It’s harder to think positive thoughts, so we have to work at it. We have to practice thinking positively to be able to think positively more often.”
You can start cultivating gratitude today by trying an activity that our team uses with students in Project Resilience: Share your kind thoughts and gratitude with others by writing, drawing, or sending a message. Write a compliment or thank-you note for someone in your home, share a message of gratitude with a friend over a phone call or text, or draw a picture of something that makes you feel happy and display it for others to see. Members of the Acknowledge Alliance team put this into practice and shared their messages of gratitude:
“I am grateful for my support system. My boyfriend, family, and friends for sticking with me through my most difficult times. Each and everyone of them has a special place in my heart. I am blessed to have such amazing beautiful souls in my life. Forever grateful!”
- Aylin Hernandez, Resilience Consultant
- Lee Lucca, Finance and HR Director
“I am grateful for all those who seek peace.”
- Susan Esterly, Vice Chair of Board of Directors
“I am grateful for such a wonderful CCP team.”
-Julianna Bianes, Assistant Director of Clinical Training & Collaborative Counseling Program Psychotherapist
“I am grateful for the teachers in my life who have taught me, sharing their knowledge, skills and tools, and also for my friends who give me kind and loving feedback that helps me learn how to be a better person.”
- Nancy Highbarger, Board of Directors
“In a world gone crazy and divisive, I am so grateful to be working at an agency where we focus on healing, so that youth, young adults, and educators can be in the world with increased empathy, trust, and a positive sense of self. I'm also grateful to be working with a wonderful team of professionals who are passionate about caring for the people with whom they work.”
- Judith Gable, Collaborative Counseling Program Clinical Supervisor & Consultant
“CCP Team, Thank you for all that you do! You are appreciated more than you know. It is truly an honor to work with such esteemed individuals with such hearts of gold.”
- Kristal Navarro, Collaborative Counseling Program Director
"All of our staff inspire my gratitude. I am honored to work with all of you."
- Sharon Navarro, Executive Director