HOW TO BUILD WELLBEING

By Sophie Lerat Head of Department (Language Acquisition) –Senior School

In our department, we have focused on our wellbeing. We work on a group project every day—having lunch together, organising outings, taking time for conversation, being attentive to colleagues’ needs, offering to take on playground supervision, and, of course, the avocado project.

At school, we have been working with AISNSW on wellbeing, which focuses mainly on the mental health of students. I attended a workshop run by Powerful Partnerships and led by Jodie Davey, which allowed me to refocus on our wellbeing as adults and teachers. Jodie is an education professional who later became a consultant, and she is the founder and leader of Powerful Partnerships. She surrounds herself with specialists in all her training sessions and ensures her approach is well-informed.

This programme was, first and foremost, a moment of pause and reflection. In Thrive Your Way, we began by discussing the concept of authentic happiness. The PERMA model (Positive Emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, Achievement) resonates with the self-determination theory and its three pillars: autonomy, relatedness, and competence.

After reviewing essential definitions of psychological safety and sharing some enlightening statistics (60% of teacher absences are related to mental health, and depression rates in our profession are four times higher than average!), we moved forward.

What has brought us to where we are today as educators? Participants were invited to draw their journey— an excellent activity to start the year in our departments and a constructive way to introduce ourselves. Knowing oneself well helps manage mental health, and knowing one’s team well creates a healthy environment. Sometimes, we recognise signs of stress in our colleagues before they do. We shared strategies for managing pressure, both individually and as a team.

I was captivated by the circles of control, influence, and concern, which proved to be a powerful tool for putting things into perspective. I plan to use this in our team during an upcoming meeting—probably during the reporting period—to help us look at tasks and issues differently. Covey’s time management matrix was also introduced as an organisation and time management tool. Everyone talks about time, or the lack of it—oh, if only!

As with every training, the greatest benefit came from the connections made. We listened to how other schools manage staff wellbeing institutionally, but we also shared personal stories and ideas for micromindfulness breaks, such as starting our meetings by practising gratitude, gathering in the atrium for coffee, or walking around the oval while listening to the life around us.