Tending to Wellness Inspiring Schools to Create Healthy Workplaces for All Staff
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ecause of the uncertain and stressful nature of education right now, we certainly do not have to tell you that now more than ever tending to your health and well-being is essential. Finding ways to care for your physical, emotional, and social wellbeing can be challenging, and this struggle can lead to lower self-confidence, greater frustrations and exhaustion and eventually burnout. OEA Choice Trust operates with the belief that no matter their role, all school employees should have the support they need to be physically, mentally and emotionally well. Healthy worksites reduce employees’ stress, boost energy and morale, and promote better balance in life – a win for educators, staff, administrators and students. To this end, OEA Choice Trust has focused on promoting the overall well-being and resilience of Oregon educators and staff — needed more now than ever before. Fostering well-being and resilience is imperative in creating a positive, caring and healthy environment where educators, students and families are engaged and work together to meet the daily demands of education. OEA Choice Trust’s school employee health, well-being and resilience model is a holistic approach that recognizes the dynamic interaction between individuals and the places where they live, work and play. From the Trust’s perspective, “individuals are better able to put health promoting behaviors and resilience skills into action when their workplaces practices and social norms collectively create the opportunities to be healthy, safe, supported, engaged and challenging.” A key strategy to achieve OEA Choice Trust’s vision is grant making — public school districts, ESDs and community colleges can apply for grants of $100,000 to be used over a 5-year period to create employee wellness programs. These grants have been used to improve the health and well-being of all school employees. The next School Employee Wellness Grant opportunity is just around the corner with grant applications due April 2021. For more information, please contact Asta Garmon at asta@oeachoice.com Credits: Thomas Patterson
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EA Choice Trust encourages you and your colleagues to make your self-care a priority, which in turn can provide a protective cushion when life gets tough. Doing so will enable you to better cope with stress and nurture positive connections with your colleagues, friends, and families. To help you get started, the following are proven steps to support your self-care journey from Francoise Mathieu’s recent TEDx talk. n Take Stock: What’s draining you? Identify the main drains on your energy – relationships, environment, body, mind, spirit and work. What gets in my way of making changes to protect my health? n Identify your warning signs: When I’m overwhelmed – what does it feel and look like? What are your physical and emotional warning signs? Learning your top three warning signs can help you catch things early before you become too depleted. n Pick your battles at work: The field of education is complex and often under-resourced. Some of us deal with these realities more successfully than others. If you work with colleagues that are frequently negative or engage in naysaying, consider making more strategic alliances at work. Venting occasionally is fine, daily gripe sessions are unhealthy and not constructive. n Develop a community of support: Research shows that social support is one of the best strategies to address exhaustion and burnout. Who do you spend time with at home and work? Can they be there to help you stay on target with your self-care goals? – Consider finding some compassion buddies to help keep each other accountable for our self and collective care.
n Reassess where you are at regularly:
Start where you are ready to make change. Start small and find ways to integrate self-care into your day. Take gentle stock weekly; practice selfcompassion, grace and celebrate! Below are some of OEA Choice Trust’s favorite resources and strategies to help you take active steps to maintain your social and emotional well-being at work and home. These resources can be used individually or consider how to use them with colleagues to create community support for each other’s self-care and wellbeing. For example, Elena Aguilar’s book, Onward: Emotional Resilience for Educators can be read on your own or create a book club with fellow staff to learn and use her strategies together. Another idea is to watch Shawn Achor’s Ted Talk, The Happy Secret to Better Work and couple this with a “21 days of Gratitude Challenge” to boost the emotional well-being of your colleagues. To find more ideas and resources to bring collective care and wellness to your workplace, visit OEA Choice Trust’s website at https://oeachoice.com/schoolemployee-health-and-wellbeing/ Featured resources include: n The Blueprint for School Employee Wellness n A Resource Library with activities, resources, books and Ted Talks that support a wholistic approach to health and well-being n Monthly Blogs TODAY’S OEA | FALL/WINTER 2020
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