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Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 Behavioral Interventions

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Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 Behavioral Interventions

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A great resource!

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PBIS World | A Complete Tier 1 Through Tier 3 Positive Behavior Interventions & Supports System

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PBIS World is in no way affiliated, associated, or connected with any other website, entity, organization, or federal, state, local, or other government agency, department, program, policy, organization, or initiative.

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10 Mental Health Tips for Teachers during the Covid-19 pandemic

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10 Mental Health Tips for Teachers during the Covid-19 pandemic

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Erin McClintock

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, teachers, school counselors, and school employees have remained acutely focused on supporting their students and continuing to do their jobs at this time. In some cases, this may mean teaching, care-taking (whether for children or other loved ones), and continuing to work through the same challenges that everyone else faces. While resources related to mental health have been (rightfully) front and center for supporting students, parents, and others, less focus has been paid on maintaining mental wellness for teachers and educators who are also trying to find balance in our new normal. That's why we put together some mental health tips for teachers during COVID-19 and beyond.

10 Mental Health Tips for Teachers Balancing Life and Remote Teaching

Here are ten teacher mental health tips you can start practicing today.

1. Control the Controllable During COVID-19 & Beyond

There are certain things that you simply cannot control right now: who will be impacted by COVID-19, whether it will be you, how things will continue to evolve. But there are some things that you can control: how you spend some of your time, what you choose to prioritize, what types of media you consume (and how frequently) and your mindset, to name a few. By focusing on the things that you can control and prioritizing the ones that are healthy, you can help to put your mental wellness front and center.

Webinar | Mental Health Strategies for Teachers and Students

In honor of Teacher Appreciation Week and Mental Health Awareness Month, experts from the EVERFI team are partnering with the Jed Foundation to ensure you have the resources necessary to support your mental wellness and that of your students. In this webinar, we explore activities and strategies around mental well-being that can be used in the classroom or virtually, as well as providing tips and tricks for educator self-care.

2. Carve Out Time for Self-Care to Maintain Your Mental Health

Now, more than ever, we are acutely focused on remote teaching , physical health, and preventing illness- washing hands and engaging in other healthy practices. But it is just as important, for maintaining mental health, to try to carve out some time to prioritize the other things that help us feel balanced: for some, it is exercise, for others, it is reading, journaling, meditation, or spending time doing a hobby. And, if you are someone who isn't sure what you can do for your self-care, simply the act of doing can help maintain your mental health .

3. Get Your Body Moving to Help Your Mental Wellness

One of the biggest challenges for many educators during this time is how hard it is to be sedentary- you may be used to moving around, physical transitions from one room to another, or even your usual lunchtime walk with a colleague. As you work around your schedule, set a timer or create breaks for you specifically to move around- this might mean moving around your house, or taking a walk around your building or neighborhood- obeying physical distancing recommendations, of course. Anything to get your body moving will help manage your mental wellness .

4. Model Self-compassion

Now, more than ever, we need to be incredibly kind to ourselves to help maintain mental wellness. We teach students this all of the time- the basics of self-compassion, kind self-talk, and growth mindset . Now is the time to also turn it inwards. In doing so, you'll benefit your own mental wellness and also be able to model it for others in your life.

5. Set Reasonable Expectations (for yourself and others)

Collectively, we need to acknowledge that we are still in the midst of a pandemic and distance learning- and that it is not business as usual. Things are going to be different, and that is okay. We can't expect to be as productive, or on top of it, or together as we once could. If you are one of those, like many, who is trying to balance educating with care-taking or educating your students on top of your own kids, there is no possible way that you can be all things to all people all of the time. By setting small, realistic goals and expectations around what you actually could be capable of, you will be setting yourself up to feel much more fulfilled and help maintain your mental health.

Webinar | Empowering from Afar with Social Emotional Learning

Although most of our social interactions these days occur at a distance, helping students work on social emotional skills can still have a big impact. Developing courage and grit, strong communication, and empathy can all help students make the most of their time in quarantine.

6. Communication is Vital for Maintaining Mental Health for Teachers

Let people know what is going on- especially colleagues and supervisors. By being transparent about what you are experiencing, and with what things may be helpful, you can bring them in and potentially expand your own network of resources and support. You may also be modeling healthy communication for other colleagues to follow suit.

We live in an "I'm sorry" culture. Consider how often you apologize, and the ways in which you can stop. Be unapologetic about taking time for yourself, setting realistic goals, setting boundaries, and being clear and transparent about what you are capable of (and what you need). This is one of the hardest things to do for many, but oh so important for maintaining mental health and wellness.

8. A Dedicated Work Space Can Improve Mental Wellness

This is a psychological trick that helps you to both be more productive, and to disconnect from work more easily. When working from home , we can quickly fall into an unhealthy balance between work and life, especially if you are working in the areas of your home in which you're also living. By creating a dedicated workspace: even if it is just one corner of your home that you designate as "work only," you can do two things: you can send an outward message to those in your life that when you are in that space you are working, and also an internal message to your own brain that signals when it is work mode and when it is time to disconnect.

9. Set Office Hours While Remote Teaching

By controlling and identifying specific times in which students or colleagues can reach, you will be able to both set boundaries while remote teaching, and will also provide a designated time in which students know that they can reach you during distance learning. Tools like Class for Zoom can make it easier for 1:1 conversations during class while other LMS platforms allow you to set office hours in the platform. Some districts have done this work for us, but for others remote teaching, it may need to be something that we do ourselves to help maintain our mental health while working from home.

Remote Learning Resources for K-12 Educators

By providing a catalog of digital learning resources focused on the skills needed for life - skills in social-emotional learning, health and wellness, financial capability, and career readiness - you have the tools to bring meaningful remote learning to students.

If you feel like you are having a tough time, and are struggling in any way with enjoying things, balancing your mood, or finding time to take care of yourself- or if you have any thoughts of hurting yourself- please reach out to a counselor. All of the resources that we shared for students can also be utilized by educators. Psychology Today has a fantastic therapist directory, and your health insurance can also help you locate a counselor, most of whom have switched to offering telehealth services. What we are experiencing right now is hard- and trained professionals across the globe continue to mobilize to serve as front-line responders for our minds in the same ways doctors have for our bodies during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Resources:

Crisis Text Line: Text SHARE to 741741

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-TALK

SAMHSA National Helpline: 1-800-662-HELP

NAMI HelpLine (M-F 10am - 6pm EST): 1-800-950-6264

Disaster Distress Hotline: 1-800-985-5990 or Text TALKWITHUS to 66746

Erin McClintock lead's EVERFI's impact work in mental health, wellness, and social and emotional learning. She holds a graduate degree in Counseling Psychology, completed her post-masters studies in Trauma and Addiction Counseling, and has extensive experience as a practitioner in community, school, and collegiate mental health.

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10 Teacher Mental Health Tips During COVID-19 & Beyond

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Erin McClintock Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, teachers, school counselors, and school employees have remained acutely focused on supporting their students and continuing to do their jobs at this time. In some cases, this may mean teaching, care-taking (whether for children or other loved ones), and continuing to work through the same challenges that everyone else faces.

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Engaging in a self-care routine has been clinically proven to reduce or eliminate anxiety and depression, reduce stress, improve concentration, minimize frustration and anger, increase happiness, improve energy and so much more. Carve out some time for a self-care routine.

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Secret Sauce

Why Self-Care For Teachers Is Crucial

But true self-care may not be what you think.

A Healthy School Community Starts With Self-Care

"How are you?" has recently become a very loaded question. March 2020 presented unexpected challenges that have deeply impacted each of us. The COVID-19 Pandemic has left no one untouched. Even the stable field of education has been shaken with educators, students and parents forced to adapt to school closures and virtual learning.

This has been an overwhelming, anxiety producing, and stressful situation for many educators. Individuals in leadership are being asked to make difficult decisions with little information, and many educators are trying to teach students remotely while simultaneously teaching and caring for their own children at home.

In western culture, and especially in fields like education, unboundaried devotion to work has become the norm. Some of the pressure comes from the work demands of developing and providing instruction, but the true weight comes from the emotional labor teachers invest in their students and their students' families. Amid a crisis like the one we currently face, that emotional weight can feel unbearable - especially with the powerless feeling of not even being able to connect with many students and colleagues.

Educators are burnt out, stressed, fatigued, and demoralized, and many are now coping with trauma. Whether their own, their students, or both, that trauma can show up for educators as symptoms similar to those of their students - withdrawal, anxiety, depression, and chronic fatigue.

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Understanding Self-Care As Self-Preservation

Often the antidote to educator emotional fatigue is presented as "self-care", the social media version of which looks like a cute trip to brunch or a picturesque vacation. While that kind of indulgence was out of reach for many educators before the pandemic, now with social distancing and suspension of most every day activities it's completely out of the question. With few outlets for self-care educators' personal traumatic stress is building daily. Not only that but most are also absorbing the anxieties of their students. Compounded with their own existing stressors, this secondary traumatic stress (STS) is creating a level of overwhelm that necessitates teacher self-care that's more radical than a bubble bath.

Real Teacher Self-Care Is Rooted In Self-Love and Self-Preservation.

Deep self-care demands an acknowledgement of our core needs for wellness and healing. Activists and first responders have preached and embodied the importance of this work for years. Activist, writer and educator, Audre Lorde, has written prolifically about the importance of self-care as self-preservation. Lorde makes three points:

1. Self-care is not indulgence or lavishness, it's prioritizing what you need to be a healthy, whole person.

2. Caring for oneself in a society that values productivity over personhood is a radical act of resistance.

3. Consenting to a culture of burnout will not allow us to prevail in moments of turmoil and stress (like the one we currently face).

Why Teachers Need Self-Care Now More Than Ever

Theimportance of self care for teachers is not a new concept. For years the stressors for educators in low-income or under resourced schools have made headlines. The rise in school shootings, the pressure from high-stakes testing and the constant budget cuts for public schools nationwide have made the job of "teacher" one of the most challenging in our society. While the popularity of mindfulness practices in school and social emotional learning initiatives have equipped educators with some amazing resources to mitigate the effects of their intense realities, these techniques aren't enough to meet the unimaginable emotional demands of a pandemic.

Self-care tips for teachers usually focus on coping. These self-soothing practices do serve the purpose of managing stress and anxiety. Unfortunately, these quick fixes and escapes are only addressing problems at their surface, not creating daily rituals, practices, and interactions that result in a transformed sense of being. That work requires a bold devotion to ourselves and a belief that we're deserving and capable of experiencing wholeness.

That work requires a bold devotion to ourselves and a belief that we're deserving and capable of experiencing wholeness.

In a recent conversation, one FuelEd alum stated "I feel like I've been pushed into a swimming pool and I don't know how to swim." In the same conversation she spoke to the "withdrawals" she is experiencing from not being able devote all of her energy to work.

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Educators don't need life rafts, they need swimming lessons.

Being immersed in extremely relational work, educators need skills for thriving in relationships. They don't need distractions from the above mentioned feelings of withdrawal, but rather guidance to unpack the root cause of those emotions. We're all being cracked open in unexpected ways that can either lead us to deeper healing and growth or result in breakdowns and burnouts. Simply activating the self-care skills we have are no longer enough. We're being called to learn new ways of prioritizing our wellness in a fast changing reality as a means of self-preservation.

As one teacher shared in a post for edutopia:
"Setting boundaries that separate work time from personal time is only a first step. To help and support others, we must become avid caretakers of ourselves . . . We may feel that if we don't get a task done, our students will suffer or programs will fail. However, if we become mentally exhausted, overtired, or drained of energy, we risk a complete shutdown mentally or physically-and at that point, no tasks will get done."
In simple survival terms, caring for oneself is the foundation of being able to care for others. If we go one layer deeper, beyond our current crisis state, it's important to note that sustainability in the field of education was already elusive and is now a major cause for concern. Investing in sustainable self-care strategies for teachers will make longevity in this line of work possible.

Research shows that secure attachment relationships between students and their caregivers are established through consistency over time. While showing up for students in the midst of crisis is a brave and daunting task, the real goal should be to escape the traps of burnout so those students can return to the same school community in the months and years to come. Finding balance and perspective are necessary to preserve your mental health and remain present for each other as we continue to cope and heal.

True self-care is an investment in the quality of the relationships we hope to foster in our homes, schools, communities, and beyond.

Attachment-based self-care tips for educators

Let's quickly review all the things self-care is not. Self-care is not consumerism. It is not a restrictive diet. It's also not avoiding your responsibilities or ignoring the people who care about you. Binge watching and getting lost in social media are also not self-care.

When we get rid of the superficial and consumerist layer of "self-care" there's powerful, quiet work to be done so we can build secure relationships. What do attachment-based self-care qualities look like in this moment? They're activities that you can do for yourself that make you feel seen, safe, soothed, and secure.

Commit to having your own emotional needs met. Investing in your personal health regime whether that's focusing on better sleep, increasing counseling sessions, or exercising in a way that makes you feel good are all healthy, lasting ways to make you feel soothed.

Model good boundaries. Taking time off for personal and mental health, logging off entirely when not "at work", or declining additional work projects in order to prioritize your own rest and balance are ways you can invest in feeling personally safe.

Be aware and accepting of all feelings, needs and perspectives. Respecting others' approach to grieving and healing while also asking others to respect your process creates an opportunity for secure communication that can help you to feel seen.

Remain emotionally available. Prioritizing meaningful, interpersonal connection and self-exploration over compulsive and distracted behaviors. This might look like long phone calls with friends or starting a daily journaling practice. Invest in a predictable person or practice to support an experience of feeling secure.

To create the kind of world we desire in the present and future, we need to nourish sustainable and joy-filled lives; lives that gain their meaning beyond our ability to meet deadlines or external expectations. Prioritizing joy and wellness is a radical act. When we do this, we're pouring back into ourselves so we can overflow with care for others. By investing in our wholeness, we indirectly create more whole and empowered communities.

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