The Long Return

By Constance Easton, Co-ordinator, Mental Health, SEL, and Counselling, Richmond School District Navigating social and emotional supports in uncertain times also important. Scheduling our time

Not long ago, life as we knew it turned upside down. On March 23 of this year, the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence and the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) conducted a survey of more than 5,000 people worldwide. Participants were asked to describe how they were feeling in their own words. More than 95% of the responses reflected unpleasant feelings; the top five were anxious, fearful, worried, overwhelmed, and sad. Only about 6% of the sample mentioned positive emotions like feeling hopeful or grateful. Many people reported feeling lost and rudderless in this “new normal.” Learning (SEL) can help us map our journey. Beginning with the self, we can take care of ourselves through self-awareness and self-management. A dysregulated adult cannot regulate or co-regulate a student, much like a dysregulated leader cannot effectively co-regulate and lead their community. We know from work done by the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence that teachers who developed their own SEL skills not only improved their own well-being, but also improved the social, emotional, and academic

MODEL

Based on work done by trauma specialist Kevin Cameron, we need to acknowledge that, PRODUCT TEACH for many of us, this has been STAFF & a significant event that has STUDENTS affected us on many different levels. Accordingly, there are key points to keep in mind in order to make sure we can move forward together through the CONTACT LISTEN next few months. Cameron named five key components to this healing process: listen, connect, protect, model, and teach. Staff are at the heart of this circle. We also need to be given opportunities to process what development of their students. Adults has happened, acknowledge what who recognize, understand, label, and we have lost, and consider what can regulate their own emotions are less be gained as we move forward. Only likely to report burnout, demonstrate then will we be able to support our higher levels of patience and empathy, students’ mental health and model encourage healthy communication, resilience. and create safe student learning Since the middle of March, most of us have been trying to make sense of our new reality as we struggle with the environments. SEL will be an essential skill for adults, especially as schools begin to reopen. uncertainty of the future and wonder All of this begins with teachers. how to find a path forward. CASEL’s How do we create a self-care plan step is to acknowledge our limits and set appropriate boundaries to honour them. Understanding that we cannot do more with less, it is important to have routines in place to structure our day and to give us comfort. This applies to our students as well. We all thrive under predictability and we need to feel safe to learn.

We also need to take care of our bodies by nourishing them with healthy food, getting enough sleep, and keeping them moving to maintain the energy we need to be resilient and flexible in this changing world. Balancing working from home with time spent in the classroom is five pillars of Social and Emotional that leads to resilience? The first

and prioritizing self-care is critical to avoiding burnout, even when it means saying no or letting go of some things we did before this new reality.

Part of listening to ourselves is acknowledging the effects of this pandemic on our experience as educators: the huge learning curve of teaching virtually, the new reality of returning to schools under COVID-19, and the stress of uncertainty which is reinforced daily by a barrage of social and mainstream media. According to psychologist Kelly McGonigal, regularly remembering the reasons why you became a teacher, reflecting on the students’ lives you have touched, and seeing stress as an opportunity to grow may ease feelings that you have no control over your life. The idea is to reframe your perspective by changing the story you tell yourself about the experience you are having.