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Leo et. al (2022) implemented a mixed-methods study to explore workplace stress and job satisfaction during COVID-19.  They distributed a survey to 752 education professionals, both instructional staff and school support professionals, in new York State working in different districts and communities, thus collecting data from teachers who work with students of various socioeconomic statuses.

The survey instrument used in this study was meant to identify any disparities among educators of different genders and those who were caregivers.  Through quantitative analyses of the survey data and qualitative analyses of the open-ended survey question, the researchers found that female educators have experienced higher levels of stress during the pandemic related to both COVID-19 and work (Leo et. al, 2022, p. 14).  The data also highlighted women's struggle to balance work and personal challenges, reporting higher levels of stress than me with children and men without children.

Implications of Research:
As the data in this study shows, female educators struggle with work-life balance as they fulfill their professional and personal responsibilities as a mother. Thus, researchers suggest that school and district administration support their teachers through a positive school climate and improved childcare options. Furthermore, state support in paternal leave, universal pre-K, and head start programs can help parents handle financial and family responsibilities as well (Leo et. al , 2022, p. 16).

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Gendered impacts of the COVID 19 pandemic a mixed method study of teacher stress and work life balance

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Myers et. al (2020) investigated how social work educators utilize self-care practices within their own professional lives, what supports help and harm self-care, and how systems support self-care (p. 578).

The researchers utilized an online survey that collected 123 usable responses. 81 of the participants were in social work programs and the rest were field instructors.  The survey showed that the participants identified more often with psychological, physical, and social activities than they did with spiritual and professional self-care practices (Myers et. al, 2020, p. 584).

Implications of Research:
When participants responded via the online survey, researchers saw that strong supervision and supportive relationships with colleagues helped bolster one's perception of positive administration support (Myers et. al, 2020, p. 584).  However, may participants pointed out the need for more institutional support.

Helpful Self-Care Strategies:
Participants responded that setting boundaries, protecting their own time, and being committed to the self-care process were key in modeling positive self-care (Myers et. al, 2020, p. 584).  Several self-care/stress management utilized by participants include:

-exercise
-nutrition
-health
-family and friends
-faith
-meditation and mindfulness
-nature
-relaxing
-self-awareness
-sleep
-music

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Protecting others from ourselves self care in social work educators

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Kaihoi et. al (2022) explored educators' stress support networks among 370 educators in 17 different elementary and middle schools.  Specifically, these researchers wanted to investigate from whom educators look for support in managing their stress and whether stress support networks are linked to educators' emotional stress and burnout (p. 4).

Researchers found that educators were more likely to look for support from organizationally proximal colleagues, such as those in the same role or those who taught the same grade or subject.  Furthermore, results show that some educators sought out those who were either the same gender or race as them (Kaihoi et. al, 2022, p. 11).  In addition, when educators who were early in their career were supported by more experienced colleagues, there was less associated burnout.

Implications of Research:
This study shows that educators often seek support networks as they go through stress and burnout. So, this can be used to educators' advantage if administration designs interventions and supports that draw on the idea that emotional wellbeing is a shared experience among close colleagues versus just an individual's sole experience (Kaihoi et. al, 2022, p. 14). Thus, supporting educator mental and emotional health needs to be a priority for districts AND school buildings.

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Teachers and K-12 Students' Mental Health

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Teachers and K-12 Students' Mental Health

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Deaton et. al (2022) used consensual qualitative research methods to explore educators' experiences with student mental health.  The study showed that participants were not trained or informed in how to respond to students' mental health needs, so oftentimes they were unable or unprepared to manage behaviors and utilize different intervention strategies while trying to meet each student's needs.  Furthermore, these feelings led to teachers' feelings of sadness, confusion, and helplessness.

Implications for Research:
Trainings should be offered so that teachers can manage their own emotions while helping students cope and coaching them through their own trauma and mental health issues. Furthermore, increased interdisciplinary collaboration can help provide teachers with training, consolation, and coaching so that teachers feel prepared and can help their students.
Research shows that the more a teacher understood a student's situation and mental health needs, the more they worried about the students after they left school.
The researchers suggest training in mental health literacy for both in-service teachers and pre-service teachers. Also, they suggest annual mental health trainings for teachers to adapt to their students' needs as well as personal consultation with professionals.

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Psychology in the Schools - 2022 - Deaton - Teachers  experiences with K‐12 students  mental health

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Seo and Yuh (2021) investigated educators' work-related stress, teacher-child interactions, mindfulness, and resilience (p. 1209).   They gave 370 early childhood educators self-reported questionnaires and found that high stress was associated with low levels of interactions with children.  Furthermore, work-related stress was negatively connected to emotional, verbal, and behavioral interactions with children (Seo & Yuh, 2021, p. 1215).

Implications for Research:
Researchers suggest that there should be more programs and policies that support teachers in reducing work-related stress in early childhood educators.  Furthermore, this study's findings show that mindfulness and resilience are helpful tools for educators.  These two aspects of self care can also be incorporated in the practices of preservice teachers (Seo & Yuh, 2021, p. 1216).

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Tim Pressley (2021) investigated the correlation between COVID-19 and teacher burnout, both of which contribute to the need for self-care practices within the educations system.

Pressley found that teachers were experiencing high levels of stress in lieu of instructional pressures and the state of education.

Implications for Research:
Pressley suggests that schools support teachers through instructional, technological, and/or emotional means.  The research also points to providing teachers with a mental health day to support their own self-care.  In addition, districts and schools need to support teachers' communication through their own forms of clear communication across building and district levels. Finally, Pressley's research shows that supportive environments and instructional guidance can help ease teacher anxiety and increase teachers' efficacy.

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Pressley_2021_Factors Contibuting to Teacher Burnout during COVID-19

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Wicke and Nelson (2021) examined personal and professional stress in middle school teachers.  They utilized a case study design to collect data regarding stress, burnout, pressure from administration, assessments, workload, discipline, and motivation, to name a few.

The researchers found that personal and professional stress intersected in four ways:
1. intersecting relationship stress
2. intersecting environmental stress
3. coping with relationships
4. coping with environment

Examples of the above categories include stressful coworkers, relationship stressors at home with kids and spouses, new teacher stress, and raising their own children in the midst of COVID-19, to name a few (Wicke & Nelson, 2021, p. 226).

Implications for Research
1. Allowing teachers to focus on their own emotional, physical, and cognitive health could increase their happiness and job satisfaction as well as the teacher shortage problem in our nation
2. Coping tools such as exercise, journaling, mediation, cleaning, and napping can be used to cope with stress
3. Teachers can focus on using coping strategies, a healthy work-life balance, collaboration with others, support among coworkers, and support from their staff  (Wicke & Nelson, 2021, p. 228).

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Effective interventions provide three levels of support:
1. primary support: adjusting school environment by providing more social and behavioral supports, increasing positive school climate
2. secondary support: teaching teachers ways to reduce stress and encourage resiliency
3. tertiary supports: school leaders and mental health professionals support staff who are struggling individually (Brunzell et. al, 2021, p. 93).

The following can have direct relevance on teachers' wellbeing:
1. increasing self-regulation
2. increasing relational abilities
3. increasing psychological resources

Overall, teachers need to understand trauma, identify teaching strategies that are trauma-informed, and use techniques to improve personal wellbeing

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Rankin (2022) describes how teachers can use different strategies to prevent burnout.

1. set personal boundaries
Example: don't schedule meetings or do work  through your whole lunch period
Example: take personal brakes between work
Example: put down the phone or shut down the computer

2. Limit social media
3. Don't work from home
4. Limit when and where work email can reach you
5. Focus on one thing at a time whenever you can
6. Practice mindfulness practices
7. Read summaries of current research
8. Teach with an instructional style that works best with your personality
9. Have your own personal life with people and things you enjoy
10. Stay organized with a "To-Do" list
11. Stay organized with a calendar

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Donahoe (2018) describes how our students' childhood trauma can affect teachers' wellbeing and emotional/mental health.

If we ourselves have experienced trauma, we can help struggling students or students who are traumatized. There are several things we can do if we have experienced trauma and have worked with students:

1: We have to heal ourselves.
2: We can be honest with our students if we overreact or speak harshly by apologizing
3. Wait to respond when our emotions are running high
4. We can consult with other teachers to help handle a tough situation

Overall, teachers can learn emotional regulation, effective communication, and social tools that we can use when working with our own students who are struggling.

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Donahoe_2018_Teaching With Trauma _ Edutopia

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According to Mental Health America, teaching is one of the most stressful jobs in the country. Several ways teachers can help themselves as suggested by MHA include:

1. Setting boundaries early on and KEEPING them
2. Focusing on what we can control, not what we can't.
3. Moving our Body
4. Keeping in Touch with Friends and Family
5. Keeping Up with Self-Care
6. Maintaining Reasonable Expectations

We can help other teachers by:
1. Checking in on each other
2. Keeping each other accountable for self care
3. Expressing gratitude
4. Taking time to laugh
5. Paying attention to nonverbal cues
6. Lending each other support

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If you’re feeling tired and disengaged, there’s a good chance it’s related to trauma, secondary traumatic stress, and/or “battle fatigue.”

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https://youtu.be/ZsaorjIo1Yc

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Drowning in Empathy: The Cost of Vicarious Trauma | Amy Cunningham | TEDxSanAntonio

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https://youtu.be/7keppA8XRas

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How to Manage Compassion Fatigue in Caregiving | Patricia Smith | TEDxSanJuanIsland

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdUR69J2u6c

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Gewertz (2021) explore different ways districts and teachers can help improve overall mental health, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic.

1. Talk openly about mental health issues...and be vulnerable about your own!
2. Train your team to spot early signs of mental health struggles
3. Ask yourself whether you fully recognize your teachers' needs
4. Create systems of support
5. Check-in with each other
6. Inquire about what groups need support and what kinds

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Teachers' stress and anxiety have soared and their morale has plummeted during the pandemic, a flammable combination that could burn them out and lead them to leave their jobs. It's more important than ever, experts say, for districts to support their teachers by looking after their mental health.

Even before the pandemic, districts were paying more attention to teachers' mental and emotional wellness, offering sessions on mindfulness, yoga, exercise, and healthy eating. But COVID-19 has created wildfires of mental and emotional suffering across all job sectors, including teaching.

The consulting group McKinsey & Co. surveyed 1,000 employers, and 90 percent reported that the pandemic was affecting the behavioral health of their employees. The Kaiser Family Foundation found that rates of anxiety and depression have quadrupled during COVID-19.

The toll on K-12 teachers appears to be particularly acute. One study found that during the pandemic, teachers were more likely to report feeling stressed and burned out than other state and local government-sector employees. Eighty-four percent of teachers surveyed by the EdWeek Research Center in March said that teaching is more stressful than it was before the pandemic.

RAND Corporation researchers found that between May and October 2020, the proportion of K-12 educators seriously worried about burnout rose from one quarter to 57 percent. In another study, those researchers found that one-quarter of teachers said they were likely to leave the profession when they finish the 2020-21 school year, a rate that-if it were to materialize-would be more than triple the normal rate of attrition.

Teachers' jobs-stressful even before the pandemic-have become even tougher, with longer work hours, struggles to engage students remotely, repeated pivots from hybrid to remote to in-person instruction, not to mention fears that they-or their loved ones-could get COVID-19.

Those dynamics make it "particularly important right now" to tend to teachers' mental health, said Jill Cook, the president of the American School Counselor Association. "Districts need to understand that and take action," she said.

In a joint report last summer, ASCA and the National Association of School Psychologists urged districts to provide "psychological triage" not just for students, but for staff, to address trauma and intense stress caused by the pandemic. A new guidebook from the U.S. Department of Education urged districts to step up emotional support for their staff members, even as they focused intensely on supporting students traumatized by the events of the last year.

So how can districts make their teachers' mental health a priority? EdWeek sought out the advice of workplace mental health experts, researchers, and school districts that are prioritizing the issue. Here's what they said.

1) Talk openly about mental health issues, including your own

"Making mental health visible is key," said Darcy Gruttadaro, the director of the Center for Workplace Mental Health at the American Psychiatric Association Foundation. "We need leaders to talk about it. It's the 800-pound gorilla in the room."

District and school leaders should look for every opportunity to talk about how difficult the pandemic, and discussions on racial injustice, have been, and how "we all have mental health struggles," and need support, she said.

Administrators should take care not to overuse email in conveying their support for psychological wellness; there is no substitute for eye contact on such a sensitive, important topic, Gruttadaro said. District officials and principals should use Zoom and face-to-face meetings-schoolwide, or in smaller groups or one-on-one-to express concern, support, and commitment to providing care, she said.

It's also important for leaders to show their own vulnerability, experts say. Sharing their own struggles and self-care practices sends a powerful message that mental health struggles are normal and accepted, experts say.

As a leader, you can include your therapy appointments in your public Outlook calendar, or mention that you see a therapist. Create a storytelling event where colleagues share their experiences with mental illness. Take a few days off and set your out-of-office message to say you won't be answering email so you can fully recharge.

All these things-embedded in a culture of support for a "mentally healthy workplace"-can encourage people to share their difficulties and seek help, said Natasha Krol, head of client services and a principal at Mind Share Partners, a nonprofit that advises organizations on workplace mental health.

Avoid burying your colleagues' emotional difficulties under a blanket of cheerful pep talk, says Carrie Kamm, the senior director of equity in the Oak Park Elementary School District 97 in Illinois.

"What doesn't work is toxic positivity," she said. "You have to respond to the temperature in the room. When you try to push past the energy in the room and just stick with the agenda, that's a problem for people."

2) Train your team to spot early signs of mental health struggles

Experts increasingly suggest mental health training for leadership teams. Kristi Wilson, the superintendent of the Buckeye Elementary school district in Arizona, has engaged a consultant to train district leaders, principals, and counselors in seeing that a work performance issue might be a mental health struggle in disguise. "It's about recognizing when you, or someone else, needs help," she said.

District and school leaders might also consider training a group of willing employees to serve as mental health ambassadors who build awareness and connect colleagues to resources. It's an increasingly popular strategy in the business world, and would translate well to K-12, Krol said.

Conducting regular surveys or using pulse checks such as this burnout self-test, as the Tulsa, Okla., district does, can help leaders track their teachers' wellness.

3) Ask yourself whether you fully recognize your teachers' needs

In a March survey by the EdWeek Research Center, 7 in 10 district leaders said teachers' emotional and physical well-being rank high on their priority list, but fewer than one-quarter of teachers said those things were a high priority in their districts. Asked what their schools or districts had done to support teachers' well-being, only 29 percent of district leaders-and 16 percent of teachers-said their school or district had provided adequate mental health benefits.

Mental health issues often hide in plain sight. Studies show employees are reluctant to share their struggles or ask for help. A 2019 study by Mind Share Partners found that even before the pandemic, 6 in 10 employees had experienced symptoms of mental illness in the past year, but most never told anyone at work about it.

4) Create ongoing systems of support, like virtual groups and call lines

Like most of the district leaders EdWeek interviewed for this story, Chicago's work to support its staff is part of a larger, ongoing program to build strong social-emotional support for students. As a part of that work, Chicago created virtual support groups for teachers, principals, and assistant principals, facilitated by staff from a community mental health partner and the district's office of social emotional learning.

Only a few teachers signed up for the "circles of support" group early in the year, but as more schools have reopened in the district, participation has picked up, said Hellen Antonopoulos, the district's executive director of social emotional learning. Increasingly, teachers are requesting sessions for their own schools, rather than connecting with their colleagues districtwide, Antonopoulos said.

When the district runs its "healing circles" for school administrators, it's careful to allow principals and assistant principals from the same school to sign up for separate groups, and it also has its outside partner conduct the sessions.

"We wanted it to be an opportunity to exhale, to meet with people who get it, and not to worry about something they share in confidence," Antonopoulos said.

The Tulsa district created teacher and principal call lines. District social workers and counselors, and staff from the office of student and family support services, help callers connect with support resources, or pay a visit to help, said Stephanie Andrews, the interim executive director of Tulsa's student-and-family office.

In one recent example, a school leader used the line to report that his teachers, who'd returned to on-campus teaching two weeks earlier, were miserable. Staffers from Andrews' office visited and saw that the teachers were grieving for all they'd lost during the pandemic.

"The trauma they experienced, but also the time they'd lost with their students, and the progress" were taking a toll, Andrews said. "Here they had worked really hard, and their students aren't where they thought they'd be academically."

Andrews' office called in grief therapists from a community partner group, who agreed to provide free weekly sessions to help teachers process their feelings.

5) Build a culture of check-ins

Many employees dread the time-suck of meetings. But they can be a key lever in building a mentally healthy workplace, experts said. For district and school leaders, those gatherings can be an opportunity to engender a culture in which genuine inquiries about colleagues' well-being-and supportive responses-are woven into daily practice.

In the Oak Park district, four "culture and climate coaches" have helped district and school leaders build emotional check-ins into nearly every meeting and professional learning day during the pandemic.

"I've changed how I hold meetings," said Kamm, of the Oak Park district. "I started telling people more often, 'If you're not able to do this today, that's OK,' and asking, 'Do you need a 15-minute coffee with me today?' I also increased my one-on-one check-ins with people from monthly to a few times a week."

6) Recognize that some employee groups may need more support than others

Black and Latinx employees, as well as those in the LGBTQ community, were far more likely to experience symptoms of mental illness, from anxiety and sadness to nightmares or paranoia, according to the Mind Share Partners study. And Black and Latinx employees are also much more likely than their white peers to have lost loved ones to COVID-19, or to have been sick themselves.

Don't assume all employees need the same supports or services, experts say. Through conversations, surveys, and other methods, inquire.

7) Reduce barriers to getting services within your employee assistance and health insurance programs

Leaders should find out how widely these services are used, and investigate what might be standing in the way, experts say. Teachers might have a tough time getting counseling through their health insurance plans, for instance, because in-network counselors are often booked months in advance or not taking new clients.

Gruttadaro advises district leaders to press their health insurers to beef up those networks. "Leverage your buying power," she said.

The Hamilton County school district, which serves Chattanooga, Tenn., tried to reduce barriers a different way. It waived the typical 60-day waiting period for full-time employees to use their health benefits, which include mental health care.

"We could see the stressors on our employees, the weight of the pandemic," said Penny Murray, the district's chief talent officer.

The district also made free, same-day virtual counseling available to all 6,000 employees, including its 1,000 part-timers, through the community partner that runs its school-based clinics.
EdWeek Librarian Maya Riser-Kositsky provided support for this article.

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Teachers' Mental Health Has Suffered in the Pandemic. Here's How Districts Can Help

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Teachers' stress and anxiety have soared and their morale has plummeted during the pandemic, a flammable combination that could burn them out and lead them to leave their jobs. It's more important than ever, experts say, for districts to support their teachers by looking after their mental health.

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Said (2022) encourages teachers to reset their excitement for teaching.

1. Unpack your values and be okay with asking for help
2. Recenter yourself and remind yourself of your values
3. Use small projects as a way to get yourself excited for the next school year
4. Use relationship-building activities at the beginning of the school year
5. Integrate hands-on learning designs
6. Use music to make connections
7. Prioritize kinesthetic learning

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It can be tough to find a way toward joyfulness when you’re overwhelmed, but you can reset and reignite your energy for teaching.

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According to Leichtman (2022), researchers have been trying to measure burnout for years.  The Leichtman Burnout Scale helps provide an understanding of burnout for educators. This article explains the following four levels of burnout and how teachers can address their burnout.

Level 1: Passionate but Overwhelmed
Level 2: Overwhelmed and Becoming Cynical
Level 3: Cynical and Approaching Exhaustion
Level 4: Complete Exhaustion and Breakdown

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For decades, researchers have sought out ways to measure burnout. While some methods have gained popularity in research (most notably the Maslach Burnout Inventory), all burnout measures face criticism. Many argue that burnout cannot be easily diagnosed, let alone understood, making any method of measurement questionable at best. Unfortunately, the lack of clarity makes it more difficult for burned-out workers to find solutions.

The Leichtman Burnout Scale (adapted from my dissertation research) seeks to provide a clear understanding of the burnout process specifically for educators. While my dissertation research focused on new teachers, the research in the field of burnout is consistent for veteran teachers in relation to the four categories below.

While each individual case of burnout has different causes, variance in symptoms, and varying thresholds, there are noticeable trends. These trends can help teachers see how burned out they are and what they should do immediately to overcome that stage of burnout. This scale has identified four levels.

Level 1: Passionate but Overwhelmed

Passion can lead to burnout. It’s very difficult to burn out of something you don’t care about deeply. A passion for teaching leads to commitment, which encourages you to work harder and take on more tasks. This tipping of the scale begins the cycle of burnout. The following are some indicators:

Low feelings of self-efficacy (I’m not good enough)

Negative coping strategies (addictions, unhealthy habits)

Limited pursuit of passions or hobbies outside of work

If you identify with this first level of burnout, it’s time to employ positive, proactive coping mechanisms. Further reading can help you cope with life’s stressors by applying positive coping strategies.

Level 2: Overwhelmed and Becoming Cynical

While the first level is infused with passion and a variety of positive feelings, level two of burnout may be the first time you actually feel exhaustion. At this point, you begin to take on an unmanageable load of work and pour your heart into your students. Instead of seeing the hoped-for results (higher pay, easier course loads, less paperwork, positive results on evaluations and student exams, etc.), you notice more work and responsibilities being sent your way. This is the point where you may begin to feel cynical toward the profession.

The indicators are as follows:

High levels of stress

Quick to become irritated (at work and home)

Bringing work home and not completing it

Feeling like there is never time for friends or family

Guilt from not doing enough for students

If level two describes you, a strong mentor can help you manage your responsibilities and reduce your feelings of stress and cynicism. Understanding the roles of mentor and mentee and how to find a good mentor is invaluable.

Level 3: Cynical and Approaching Exhaustion

Continuing from level two, the third level of burnout reaches you at your most cynical point. You may feel like it is impossible to be a good teacher. This stage may have you feeling like everybody and everything is at fault for the state of education. You continue to take on too many tasks and overextend yourself at school, but without the feeling that it will make a difference. The cynicism and exhaustion of this step may follow you home, impacting relationships and time spent outside of work.

Indicators may look like these:

Isolation (in and out of work)

Feelings of paranoia (every school policy, program, etc., is out to get you and make your teaching day harder)

A constant feeling that school goals and your goals will not be met

A refusal to engage in professional development

Once you have reached this stage, two strategies can create a positive, meaningful impact. Role reduction and mental health support from outside of the workplace are both effective ways to mitigate the damage of the third level of burnout.

Level 4: Complete Exhaustion and Breakdown

My sincere hope and wish is that no reader of this article identities with level four. Once you have reached this point, there are two options: quit or recommit. Burnout has spread throughout your life, challenging your personal wellness and your professional goals. Level four is pure survival mode, leading teachers to decide to leave the classroom (or transfer to another school) or to dig deep and restore their initial passion for teaching.

The following are signs of level four:

Feelings of exhaustion every day (including holidays and summer)

Drastic increase in sick days/mental health days

Lack of optimism for career and personal life

Unusually frequent physical symptoms (colds/flus, stress-related illnesses, hospitalizations)

All hope is not lost at level four, but it’s vital to take action before your health deteriorates further. At this stage, prioritizing and purpose seeking are two incredibly useful strategies.

It’s never too early to work against burnout. Wherever you fit on this scale, try applying these strategies to protect your wellness and your career.

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How Burned Out Are You? A Scale For Teachers

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A four-stage framework can help teachers understand the burnout process—and what they can do to protect their well-being and career.

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Kellett (2022) explores how providing opportunities for students and staff to engage in mindfulness can provide additional emotional supports within the school day.

This resource provides several mindfulness practices to do weekly and monthly for both staff and students. It also provides ideas for picture books to use when supporting the area of focus.

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Providing opportunities for students and staff to participate in wellness practices can start with one dedicated day each week.

With fewer Covid-19 restraints, teachers and students returned for the 2021-22 school year and worked to reestablish best practices and norms. At my school, staff members felt a building-wide need to review social skills, increase emotional support, and add mindfulness strategies into our weekly morning meeting practices.

When we discussed our plans, a teacher shared that her children's school had "Wellness Wednesday" activities. This inspired us to shape our building goals similarly, and our own Wellness Wednesdays were established as an intentional day each week for the entire building to take a breath, find moments of mindfulness, slow down, reset, and recharge.

How to Implement Student Wellness Support

As the school counselor, I acted as the creator and contact for the Wellness Wednesday initiative. I communicated wellness information in a shared document so that it remained in a central location that teachers could bookmark for easy access. I maintained the document and uploaded new ideas throughout the school year.

Weekly practice: The shared document contained a bank of mindfulness practices that ranged anywhere from 3 to 5 minutes. Ideas included a breathing exercise, a mindfulness freeze dance, a gratitude exercise, and mindful coloring. Each activity and exercise was presented in a Google Slide with live links in it for all staff members to access. Teachers and students were asked to choose one practice from the bank to complete as an entire class each Wednesday.

Monthly practice: As well as the weekly mindfulness practice, the second Wednesday of each month included an "Extended Wellness Wednesday" opportunity. In preparation, staff observations of current student needs were shared with the counselor, administration, leadership team, and invested staff members, who in turn chose each topic. This allowed a universal message and practice to occur once a month for all students.

During Extended Wellness Wednesday, the entire school began the day via video, with a collective breathing practice and a common SEL topic led by the school counselor. This video encouraged classroom discussion and application.

Happy: A Beginner's Book of Mindfulness, by Nicola Edwards, supported the benefits of mindfulness.

, by Elaine Vickers, was a springboard for discussion during gratitude practice.

The Boy With Big, Big Feelings, by Britney Winn Lee, encouraged students to identify feelings and discuss self-regulation.

, by Peter H. Reynolds, gave students the opportunity to celebrate their individual strengths and identities.

A Little Spot of Flexible Thinking, by Diane Alber, promoted adaptation to change.

, by Susan Verde, provided excellent examples of empathy and compassion for others.

I Am Courage, by Susan Verde, allowed students to apply positive affirmations.

I utilized picture books to support each area of focus for the monthly announcements. Here are some examples:

Each follow-up activity for the monthly topic lasted 8 to 10 minutes. Many of the extension activities were created by adapting information learned from social and emotional learning (SEL) sites or were sparked through creative counseling techniques. For example, after reading The Boy With the Big, Big Feelings, students practiced the social thinking skill of identifying the size of the problem. Using a chart, students used sticky notes to write a problem and placed them on the chart of reactions that matched the size of the problem. Based on their responses, mindfulness practices were offered to support emotional regulation for students to use.

For gratitude practice during a monthly November session, classroom teachers were given a gratitude scavenger hunt for students to complete. Students had about 10 minutes to find everyday moments to show gratitude during the hunt. Students chose from a list of categories to focus on, such as "something that makes me happy" and "something useful to me in the classroom."

As an extension activity, each student wrote one response of gratitude on a strip of paper to add to a classroom paper chain, which served as a visual reminder for the entire school year. Each SEL activity that students engaged in provided an opportunity for mindful practice, teacher-student rapport, and building community.

How to Implement Staff Wellness Support

The staff mindfulness opportunities gave space and celebrated time for adults to try a practice. We wanted our teachers to have the same positive experiences as our students. Mindfulness practices aid in creating a calm, safe, and healthy classroom environment for everyone. Students and staff flourish when they're in a learning space that values relationships, healthy mindset, empathy, and compassion.

Monthly practice: During Extended Wellness Wednesday, adult extension ideas were provided in a staff slide in the shared wellness document. Ideas were intended to support staff well-being and not as an added responsibility. These monthly scheduled opportunities, in addition to the weekly classroom practices, encouraged staff to enjoy each other, share, feel cared for, and pause.

A small team of volunteer staff members, including the building principal, administrative assistant, and counselor, transformed our conference room. This space reflected the monthly topic and sparked creativity and play. If students worked on finding their joy that day, then the staff did as well. Examples of room transformations included a small relaxation corner, a chance for staff to paint feelings with watercolors, and a Bring Your Own Mug (BYOM) day for staff hot chocolate and coffee provided by the building principal.

Additionally, students and staff were encouraged to sport "wellness wear" and spirit shirts to help provide an added layer of comfort. Occasional casual dress isn't new to education; however, for our staff, a small shift in the daily professional attire felt like a welcome, enjoyable change. Teachers looked forward to midweek casual dress day to regroup and reset comfortably. They felt more playful, calm, and light.

Monitor the School Community's Wellness Response

The positive staff reaction was enlightening and contagious and gave everyone a chance to catch their breath at a time when educational stressors were difficult to navigate. The fact that a wellness time was encouraged for staff, as well as for students, contributed to an optimistic building atmosphere. With so many unknowns in our school community during the pandemic, we wanted to find simple, accessible, and predictable ways to settle our minds and bodies. It was important that we worked through new norms together and with as much understanding and grace as possible.

As pandemic restrictions loosened, we still found great value and necessity in our wellness practice. Direct teacher involvement created a partnership with staff and students, and as a result, we plan to continue Wellness Wednesdays for the 2022-23 school year. On evaluation, every grade level and specialist group identified Wellness Wednesdays as a positive outcome for students and staff. It provided an excellent opportunity for us to embrace our school community. Our hope is that these strategies are habit-forming for all and become ingrained daily practices.

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Establishing a Culture of Mindfulness in Elementary School

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Providing opportunities for students and staff to participate in wellness practices can start with one dedicated day each week.