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VIRTUAL�SELF-CARE

Module One

How many of you are in a building where you are actively talking about how teachers are taking care of themselves? Not many are.....self-care gets pushed to the side. It can seem a little ‘fluffy’ or we don’t have time due to other priorities. If you don’t take care of yourself, you end up dreaming of other professions.

The set up: is to make sure helping professionals understand the impact stress has on their lives, which includes the impact it has on the students they are supporting. Much of the beginning of this module is about helping them understand this isn’t new and trendy (the research around the impacts of danger/stress started in the late 1800’s). We want to set the stage that stress is real and it has real implications when we are working in education. We will cover some definitions to make sure we are all talking about the same thing, some stats on how stress impacts students and systems in the educational setting, the importance of reflection and how we can’t really talk about how to work with youth who have experienced trauma without talking about how the adult is functioning. This requires self reflection as part of the big picture and self reflection in the moment.

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Objectives

Define stress and possible stressors

Discuss Professional Quality of Life

Develop a plan for self-care

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Let’s Think About Privilege For a Minute

Is taking care of yourself a privilege?

What responsibilities do we have?

A participant once suggested that self-care was a privilege. This made us think deeper --- we recognize that if someone suggests something is a privilege and you are resistant, it is worth a deeper reflection.

You can think of self-care as paying to go to yoga class, having the finances to take a meditation course, learning about self care in college classes, having time to get a massage, time and finances to schedule time with friends.

You can also think about it remembering We are wired to protect and take care of ourselves. We have access to our breath 24/7. Self care can be taking a deep breath, praying, locking yourself in the bathroom for two minutes, going for a walk.

So let’s define privilege:

So You want to talk about race: Privilege in the social justice context is an advantage or set of advantages that you have that others do not. The privileges are not due 100 percent to your efforts.

When someone asks you to check your privilege they are asking you to pause and consider how the advantages you have had in life are contributing to your opinions, actions and how the lack of disadvantages in certain areas is keeping you away from full understanding the struggles others are facing and may in fact be contributing to those struggles.

Maybe it’s one, maybe it’s both. AT the end of the day, we have a responsibility to make sure we are able to care for kids WHICH MEANS WE ARE TAKING CARE OF OURSELVES

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TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF

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Why Start with Self-Care?

“The best thing about being a teacher is that it matters. The hardest thing about being a teacher is that it matters EVERYDAY.”

-Todd Whitaker

Ed Week

What Great Educators Do Differently: A Conversation with Todd Whitaker

By Peter DeWitt on October 4, 2011

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�WE ARE STARTING HERE BECAUSE�Responsible and Informed Educators Practice Self-Care

Know Yourself

Take Care of Yourself

Achieve Better Outcomes for Students

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In the Moment�Strategy

Stop, take one deep inhale & exhale
Drop your shoulders
Soften your belly
Approach with kindness
Feel the love in your heart

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Let’s Practice!

Prime the brain

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DEFINING �STRESS

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Physiology

Studying emotions in late 1800’s/early 1900s
Discovered physiological response to being frightened
Coined “fight or flight”

Life events can � impact the body.

Walter Bradford Cannon

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1447286/

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Defining Stress

Term stress coined in early 1930s
“Non-specific response to any demand”
Stress is different for everyone
Stress is not always bad

The American Institute of Stress https://www.stress.org/what-is-stress

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3 Types of Stress

Positive Stress

Normal and essential
Brief increases in heart rate and hormone levels

Tolerable Stress

Stress response activated to greater degree
More severe, pro-longed

Toxic Stress

Strong, frequent and long-lasting events
Causes impairment (brain functioning, immune system)

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4928741/

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TEACHER STRESS & TEACHER EFFECTIVENESS

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Dysregulation

What might be your reaction in your mind or body when a student calls you a name, defies you, or hits you?

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Teacher Satisfaction & Stress Levels

MetLife Survey of American Teacher (2013)

Teacher satisfaction declined by 23% from 2008 to 2013
51% of teachers reported high stress levels several days per week
Only 2% of teachers reported not experiencing stress

Gallup (2014)

46% of teachers report high rate of daily stress

Tied with nurses for second highest stress rate

www.metlife.com/assets/cao/foundation/MetLife-Teacher-Survey-2012.pdf

https://www.rwjf.org/en/library/research/2016/07/teacher-stress-and-health.htm

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Impact of Teacher Stress

School organization
Job description
Work resources
Social-emotional competence

Teacher Stress

Low performance
Absenteeism
High turnover

Teacher Consequences

Lower student achievement
Decreased student and family engagement
Higher education costs

Student & System Consequences

(2016, September 1). Teacher Stress and Health - Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Retrieved October 10, 2017, from https://www.rwjf.org/en/library/research/2016/07/teacher-stress-and-health.html

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Teacher Stressors�https://www.rwjf.org/content/dam/farm/reports/issue_briefs/2016/rwjf430428

When teachers lack the skills to manage social and emotional stress in the classroom, students demonstrate lower behavioral and on-task performance.

(Marzano, Marzano, and Pickering 2003).

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Let’s Chat

What reinforced or challenged your thinking so far?�
What have typically been the biggest stressors on educators in your building? What are they today?

Virtual

Discussion

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PROFESSIONAL QUALITY OF LIFE (PRO-QOL)

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Professional Quality of Life Scale

Positive Aspects

Negative Aspects

Professional Quality of Life Manual: https://proqol.org/uploads/ProQOL_Concise_2ndEd_12-2010.pdf

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The Cost of Caring

Compassion Satisfaction

Positive aspects of caring professions
Pleasure derived from your work

Compassion Fatigue: negative aspects of caring professions

1. Burnout

Gradual onset
Negative feelings such as frustration, exhaustion, hopelessness, efforts make little difference

2. Secondary or Vicarious Trauma

Work related trauma (both primary and secondary)

http://www.figleyinstitute.com/documents/Workbook_AMEDD_SanAntonio_2012July20_RevAugust2013.pdf

The Professional Quality of Life scale helps professionals in caring professions assess both the positive and negative aspects of their careers.

Compassion Satisfaction is the positive aspects derived from helping others and satisfaction professionals gain from their work.

However, we also know that with this satisfaction comes the “cost of caring.” The ProQOL also assesses the negative aspects associated with caring professions or Compassion Fatigue. The ProQOL breaks negative aspects into two components: Burnout and Secondary/Vicarious Trauma. Most of us have heard of and have an intuitive understanding of Burnout, which is associated with negative feelings such as frustration, exhaustion, hopelessness or feelings that the effort at work makes little difference. Typically these feelings are have a gradual onset, which is often referred to as Compassion Fatigue. Secondary/Vicarious Trauma is when we are exposed to others trauma in the work setting or stressful events. For example, the traumatic death of a student at school or a student suffering severe abuse or neglect. The ProQOL also takes into consideration with Secondary Trauma the idea that primary trauma may occur at work. For example, assisting with a severe injury at work or a school shooting.

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Vicarious Trauma

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wN5BqCKO9DY

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Signs of Compassion Fatigue

Difficulties concentrating
Fatigue
Depressed and anxious moods
Negative thoughts
Unwillingness to take on new tasks
Isolation from or avoidance of others
Lack of enjoyment from activities that were once enjoyable

Pickens, I.B. & Tschopp, N. (2017). Trauma-Informed Classrooms.

http://www.ncjfcj.org/sites/default/files/NCJFCJ_SJP_Trauma_Informed_Classrooms_Final.pdf?ed2f26df2d9c416fbddddd2330a778c6=ydvjjdzpjw-yqpjvzmw

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Self-Assess

What is our current state?

Take 10 minutes to

complete and score

the Professional Quality of Life Scale

Your own reflection.

We will share out our experience of taking the self-assessment.

We will not share out specific details�

**Provider Resilience is a free App that allows you to �complete Pro-QOL electronically and scores.

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Let’s Connect

Discuss the Pro-QOL with your team.

What do you like about it? What don’t you like?
How would you use this with your staff?
Would it be helpful?

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SELF-CARE

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Compassion Resilience�Also Includes.....

Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction – Trauma Sensitive Schools

Module 4: https://dpi.wi.gov/sspw/mental-health/trauma/modules

In this slide we introducing the idea of compassion resilience. This means that we begin to build up our resiliencey skills as educators to balance out or even out weigh the stress and fatigue that can come with being an educator.

According to the resource found on the compassion resilience toolkit website (which is cited on the bottom of the slide), compassion resilience for educators is defined by three different indicators. https://compassionresiliencetoolkit.org/schools/compassion-resilience/.

First

The ability to maintain our physical, emotional and mental well-being (using energy productively) while compassionately identifying and addressing the stressors that are barriers to learning for students,

Identifying and addressing the barriers to caregivers/ parents and colleagues being able to effectively partner on behalf of children, and

Identifying, preventing, and minimizing compassion fatigue within ourselves.

Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction and their Trauma Sensitive Schools Project defines compassion resilience as containing four components. They indicate that we can increase our compassion resilience by having the following in place:

Expectations: having defined and realistic expectations for self and others

AN example of this is to Establish realistic expectations for yourself and others (e.g.: leave work by 4:30, cook dinner 3 nights a week)

Boundaries: appropriate boundary setting for both individual and system

For example this would include Setting priorities and learning to say no

Staff Culture: work environment and connection with colleagues
Self Care: focus on caring for oneself, including mind, spirit, strength and heart.

AN example of this is to Eliminate drains and establish healthy habits

Replace social media browsing with expressing gratitude

Replace early morning email with setting priorities for day

Resilience or Self-Care is also about setting realistic expectations, priorities and boundaries.

Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction and their Trauma Sensitive Schools Project defines compassion resilience as containing four components.

Expectations: having defined and realistic expectations for self and others
Boundaries: appropriate boundary setting for both individual and system
Staff Culture: work environment and connection with colleagues
Self Care: focus on caring for oneself

While we are going to focus on self-care, we believe there is more to developing compassion resilience. A PPT to consider establishing a district or building culture for self-care is posted with Module 1 utilizing data, systems and practices.

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Self-Care

IS NOT.....

Selfish
A once a week thing
Spontaneous
Not the same for everyone
Not something that others need and you don’t

IS.....

Responsible
Planned and intentional

In-the-moment strategies throughout the day
Scheduled long-term strategies

About what works for you
May address multiple life domains
We all need it!!

MIDWEST

NETWORK

PBIS

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Self-Care Strategies as Part to Build Compassion Resilience

Self-Care

In the moment strategies

Long term strategies

We need to practice them

We need to self-reflect.

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Long Term Strategies

Gratitude List (App)

Walking or other exercise

Yoga

Keep a piece of paper on your desk or at the end of the day write down what’s right, what’s done and what felt good

Progressive muscle relaxation

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Now we are going to move into ideas of long term strategies. Remember to use that self-care wheel to help identify a couple of different domains and strategies that work for you.

First you could consider downloading and using a gratitude app or having a gratitude journal. This helps you take the time to identify what is going right in your world and over time begins to shape how you look at the world. A good example of this is a friend of mine who provides a regular update about her cancer treatment that always includes what she is grateful for, rather than dwelling on the hardships, identifying all that is going well.

Other strategies include walking or other exercise Remember it doesn’t have to be a jump from couch potato to waking six miles. Look for what you can do that is reasonable, doable and manageable. Give yourself to start with walking around the block. Be kind to yourself.

Yoga is another long term strategy. Yoga is great for body and breath awareness, The physical practice of yoga is in itself a regulating activity..moving body and breath together.

You could decide to Keep a piece of paper on your desk or at the end of the day write down what’s right, what’s done and what felt good. This would help you remember that even in the midst of chaos, there are things that are right and are going well.

You could also begin to practice progressive muscle relaxation. This is the practice of identifying different areas of your body, tensing that area and then relaxing it. You can find all sorts of free resources on the web about progressive relaxation. This can be a great practice for people who have insomnia.

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Long Term Strategies

Practice one breath before speaking

Routines for regulation (2 deep breaths before you check your email, when you hear the phone buzz, etc)

Learn meditation (Mindfulness, TM, Christian Centering Prayer, Mantra meditation, Dihkr)

Guided meditation app (Calm App, Headspace, etc)

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Other long term strategies that help build resilience include:

Deciding that you are going to develop the habit that you take a deep breath before you speak

Developing routines for regulation that you do throughout your day, for instance taking two deep breaths before you check your email, or two deep breaths every time your phone rings or buzzes.

Learning meditation is also a great strategy. There are many many forms of meditation to explore. including mindfulness, transcendental meditation, Christian Centering Prayer, Mantra meditation, or Dikhr.

Finally, you might consider downloading a free guided meditation app (for instance Calm, Headspace). I have great anecdotal stories of people who began using the app and began sleeping better and began feeling less stressed during their very chaotic day.

These are just a few examples, there are many many more. All you need to do is get interested and open google!

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Self-care has multiple domains

Not the same for everyone

Can vary for ourselves based on time or situations

Consider multiple domains for your plan

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Self-Reflect �& Plan

Take some minutes to review the Self-Care Assessment
Identify 2 domains you feel you would benefit from additional self-care
Identify at least 1 strategy for each of domain

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How do your results look different now than they typically might?

Share out loud as a large group.

Virtual

Discussion

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Self-Care

In the moment strategies

Long term strategies

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HAVING A COVID 19 SELF-CARE PLAN

We need to recognize we can bring predictability and structure to our external day

Bring structure to the chaos

Bring structure to screen time, sleep and eating patterns

(Perry, 2020)

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COVID Self-Care Strategies

Look for reputable sources, not too much time on news (you can control and structure)

Need a regulating activity after you watch the news

Define a therapeutic dose of our strategies

(Perry, 2020)

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CONNECTION During COVID

The major form of regulation is connection

The major buffer to stress is the degree of connectedness

We need intentional ways to be connected!

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(Perry, 2020)

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SELF CARE IN THE MOMENT IS�Self-Regulation

“The ability to manage your emotions and behavior in accordance with the demands of the situation. It includes being able to resist highly emotional reactions to upsetting stimuli, to calm yourself down when you get upset, to adjust to a change in expectations and to handle frustration without an outburst…”

https://childmind.org/article/can-help-kids-self-regulation/

CALMING YOURSELF

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In the Moment�Strategy

Stop
Look for 3 things you see
Listen for 2 things you hear
Pay attention to one sensation you feel in your body

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Let’s practice!

MIDWEST

NETWORK

PBIS

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Stop & Relax body and mind for an instant

Take one inhale and exhale

Calming and accurate self-talk: statements you always use (slow down, breathe, I can handle this)

Exhale for a count of six

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In the Moment�Strategies

MIDWEST

NETWORK

PBIS

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Re-orient yourself by admitting how you feel and remind yourself you are okay

Feel my feet activity

Belly Breathing

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In the Moment�Strategies

MIDWEST

NETWORK

PBIS

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Self-Reflect �& Plan

What are triggers to activate your stress response?

What ”in the moment” strategy will you commit to?

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A few more tips…

To help it stick

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Compassion Resilience�Also Includes.....

Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction – Trauma Sensitive Schools

Module 4: https://dpi.wi.gov/sspw/mental-health/trauma/modules

In this slide we introducing the idea of compassion resilience. This means that we begin to build up our resiliencey skills as educators to balance out or even out weigh the stress and fatigue that can come with being an educator.

According to the resource found on the compassion resilience toolkit website (which is cited on the bottom of the slide), compassion resilience for educators is defined by three different indicators. https://compassionresiliencetoolkit.org/schools/compassion-resilience/.

First

The ability to maintain our physical, emotional and mental well-being (using energy productively) while compassionately identifying and addressing the stressors that are barriers to learning for students,

Identifying and addressing the barriers to caregivers/ parents and colleagues being able to effectively partner on behalf of children, and

Identifying, preventing, and minimizing compassion fatigue within ourselves.

Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction and their Trauma Sensitive Schools Project defines compassion resilience as containing four components. They indicate that we can increase our compassion resilience by having the following in place:

Expectations: having defined and realistic expectations for self and others

AN example of this is to Establish realistic expectations for yourself and others (e.g.: leave work by 4:30, cook dinner 3 nights a week)

Boundaries: appropriate boundary setting for both individual and system

For example this would include Setting priorities and learning to say no

Staff Culture: work environment and connection with colleagues
Self Care: focus on caring for oneself, including mind, spirit, strength and heart.

AN example of this is to Eliminate drains and establish healthy habits

Replace social media browsing with expressing gratitude

Replace early morning email with setting priorities for day

Resilience or Self-Care is also about setting realistic expectations, priorities and boundaries.

Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction and their Trauma Sensitive Schools Project defines compassion resilience as containing four components.

Expectations: having defined and realistic expectations for self and others
Boundaries: appropriate boundary setting for both individual and system
Staff Culture: work environment and connection with colleagues
Self Care: focus on caring for oneself

While we are going to focus on self-care, we believe there is more to developing compassion resilience. A PPT to consider establishing a district or building culture for self-care is posted with Module 1 utilizing data, systems and practices.

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A few tips for expectations and boundaries:

Establish realistic expectations for yourself and others (e.g.: leave work by 4:30, cook dinner 3 nights a week)
Set priorities and learn to say no

Professional Development goals for the year --- how does the new committee align with those goals?
Set 2-3 priorities for the day

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Expectations

For Yourself and For Others

Realistic
Balance priorities
Forgiving and acknowledging

Examples:

I expect 2 nights a week of all family home and no plans.
I expect to leave work by 4:30 each day.
I expect to workout 3 days per week.

Clear is kind. Unclear is unkind. -- Brene Brown

What is an expectation in your life you might need to reconsider?

How do the priorities outlined in boundary setting phase support setting your expectations?

For example, if my priorities are quality time with family, my own self-care, and professional growth, then an expectation should not be that my laundry is always caught up, floors vacuumed and meals prepped. However, these are hard expectations for me to adjust and let go of. So it doesn’t mean they don’t happen, but if I am forced to choose between catching up on laundry or going to a playdate with my daughter, I need to prioritize the playdate.

We also need to be forgiving of when we do not meet an expectation. We are not perfect and good news is....you always have another opportunity. This is the importance of tracking our habits and having a reward for completing desired behaviors.

Finally, Brene Brown says: Clear is kind. Unclear is unkind. in relation to expectations with others, but it true with ourselves as well. Don’t shuffle around the hard conversations to be kind as that ends up disappointing everyone.

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Boundaries - Prioritizing

Learning to say “no”

Before committing to a new task, ask ourselves:

Alignment with priorities
Draw on a strength
Time commitment
What will be missed or not done

On a post –it identify:

3 top priorities
3 strengths

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Healthy Habits

Consider drains in your life --- replace with a healthy habit.

Drain: Feeling rushed in morning

Healthy Habit: Allow yourself more time in the morning

Drain: Scrolling social media

Healthy Habit: Focus on expressing gratitude

Drain: Deciding what to make for dinner daily

Healthy Habit: Meal plan on Sundays

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Healthy Habits

Consider drains in your life --- replace with a healthy habit.

Drain: A never ending to-do list or others’ needs changing your to-do list

Healthy Habit: Set 2-3 priorities for day; then check email

Drain: Constant emails

Healthy Habit: Establish times for responding to email

Drain: Rushing from activity to activity

Healthy Habit: Create small times for stillness

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�Add In the Moment Strategies to Daily Routines�Create a Habit

Use mindful passwords to trigger pause
Pause before common tasks
Pause before a high stress activity

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Schedule Your Self-Care

Create a plan

Schedule when your 2 strategies from domains will happen each week
Identify new habits (e.g.: prioritizing, expressing gratitude, stillness) you will commit to
Identify cue, routine and reward for each habit

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Let’s Connect

Wrap-up with your team

What is 1 strategy you will add to your Self-Care plan that you haven’t used in the past?�
How will you help your staff start to develop their own Self-Care plans?

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ADDITIONAL SOURCES

American Institutes for Research (AIR). (2019). Trauma-Sensitive Schools Training Package. Retrieved from: https://safesupportivelearning.ed.gov/building-trauma-sensitive-schools

Brandi Simonsen, D. M. (2015). Class-wide Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports . New York, New York, United States: The Guilford Press.

Craig, S. E. (2016). Trauma-sensitive schools: Learning communities transforming children'slives, K-5. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

DeWitt, Peter (2011). Ed Week: What Great Educators Do Differently: A Conversation with Todd Whitaker.

Kent McIntosh, S. G. (2016). Integrated Multi-Tiered Systems of Support, Blending RTI and PBIS. New York, New York, United States of America: The Guilford Press.

OSEP Technical Assistance Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (October 2015). Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) Implementation Blueprint: Part 1 – Foundations and Supporting Information. Eugene, OR: University of Oregon. Retrieved from www.pbis.org.

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ADDITIONAL SOURCES

Nakazawa Jackson, D. (2015). Childhood Disrupted: How Your Biography Becomes Your Biology, and How You Can Heal.

Siegel, D. J. & Bryson, T. P. (2012). The whole-brain child. New York, NY: Bantam Books Trade Paperback Edition.

Souers, K. & Hall, P. (2016). Fostering resilient learners: Strategies for creating trauma-sensitive classroom. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. SAMHSA’s Concept of Trauma and Guidance for a Trauma-Informed Approach. HHS Publication No. (SMA) 14-4884. Rockville, MD: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2014

Wolpow, R., Johnson, M. M., Hertel, R., Kincaid, S. O. (May 2016).

The heart of learning and teaching: Compassion, resiliency, and academic success. Washing State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction.