When it's time to have difficult conversations with other people, it can be difficult to know when and how to have them. The need to have difficult conversations can lead to avoiding the conversation altogether. Avoidance tends to lead to misunderstandings, passive aggressive communication, pent-up emotions, and many other negative results. When we learn how to be assertive and communicate healthily, we can tackle these tough conversations with empathy and honesty.

​Difficult conversation examples include:

• Hurt feelings
• Break-ups or divorce
• Workplace mistakes or employee under-performance
• Death
• Talking about safe sex with your child
• Establishing boundaries

We may even give excuses for not wanting to have difficult conversations sometimes, like, lack of time or not the right time, fear of a negative reaction, fear of being disliked, or it's "easier" not to.

Below are some resources to help you or your students handle difficult conversations:

• 6 steps to help you tackle difficult conversations
• We Have to Talk: A Step-By-Step Checklist for Difficult Conversations
• Talking about tough topics with children 2-8 years old
• How to Handle Difficult Conversations at Work
• How to Have a Respectful Conversation About Racial Justice
• Teaching Tolerance: Discussing Race, Racism, and Other Difficult Topics with Students
• 11 Difficult Things To Consider Saying To Your Partner For A Healthier Relationship
• Talking to Children about Death and Dying

Self-Compassion is the ability to extend kindness and compassion to oneself. Just as we show compassion to others who experience rough times and give them the space and time to grieve, make mistakes, or feel their feelings, we should be doing the same for ourselves. Sometimes we are most critical and hard on ourselves than we are on others. 

According to Dr. Kristin Neff, there are three elements of self-compassion:
1. Self-Kindness vs. Self-Judgment
"Self-compassionate people recognize that being imperfect, failing, and experiencing life difficulties is inevitable, so they tend to be gentle with themselves when confronted with painful experiences rather than getting angry when life falls short of set ideals."

2. Common humanity vs. Isolation
"The very definition of being “human” means that one is mortal, vulnerable and imperfect.  Therefore, self-compassion involves recognizing that suffering and personal inadequacy is part of the shared human experience – something that we all go through rather than being something that happens to “me” alone."

3. Mindfulness vs. Over-identification
"Mindfulness is a non-judgmental, receptive mind state in which one observes thoughts and feelings as they are, without trying to suppress or deny them. We cannot ignore our pain and feel compassion for it at the same time.  At the same time, mindfulness requires that we not be “over-identified” with thoughts and feelings, so that we are caught up and swept away by negative reactivity."

Below are resources about Self-Compassion:
Self-Compassion Flocabulary Lesson
Self-Compassion: Be Kind to Yourself Lesson
Social and Emotional Curriculum: Compassion in Action
6 Science-Based Self-Compassion Exercises
The 5 Myths of Self-Compassion
The Transformative Effects of Mindful Self-Compassion

The theme for 2022 focuses on the importance of Black Health and Wellness. The Association for the Study of African American Life and History said this about the theme, "This theme acknowledges the legacy of not only Black scholars and medical practitioners in Western medicine, but also other ways of knowing (e.g., birthworkers, doulas, midwives, naturopaths, herbalists, etc.) throughout the African Diaspora." ASALH 2022 Theme

Here are some facts from Everyday Health about Black Health and why it's important to focus on:

• Mistrust of the healthcare system among Black Americans negatively impacts their health
• High maternal mortality in Black women Is representative of a larger problem
• Black young adults ages 18 to 25 experience higher rates of mental health problems and lower rates of mental health service utilization compared with their white counterparts.
• In 2018, 2.4 percent of Black Americans ages 18 to 25 made a suicide attempt, compared with 1.5 percent in 2008.
• Although more common in white Americans, studies find that Black Americans with a-fib are more at risk,
• African Americans are twice as likely to develop Alzheimer's Disease as white Americans.
• Black Americans experience the highest overall mortality rates and the most widespread occurrence of disproportionate deaths due to COVID-19.

 Below you'll find resources about Black History Month & this year's theme:

• 12 Black American Health and Wellness Pioneers
  
• How racism in US health system hinders care and costs lives of African Americans
• Black kids and suicide: Why are rates so high, and so ignored?
  
• Knowing the Past Opens the Door to the Future: The Continuing Importance of Black History Month
• The Lasting Impacts of Segregation and Redlining
• 17 Black Mental-Health and Wellness Resources to Follow on Instagram
  
• Black History Month: A Medical Perspective: Chronology of Achievement