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Feel free to share any wellness resources for teachers! We will add this resource to our Teacher Wellness Resource Padlet.

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Boston Acupuncture Project provides acupuncture in Boston and Hyde Park at sliding scale rates to provide accessibility to those in the community.

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Community acupuncture treatments at Boston Acupuncture Project (74 Fairmount Ave, Hyde Park) are "by donation" on Friday, January 27, 2023 with 50% of proceeds benefiting Hyde Park's Racial Equity and Justice (REJ) Forum. Suggested donation: $20-$60. Appointments are strongly recommended and face masks are required.

Our sliding scale has not changed. Boston Acupuncture Project builds community by providing widely accessible and affordable acupuncture. Boston Acupuncture Project is here for you - and thanks to you. We need to average $35 per visit. We want to keep our sliding scale at $25-$55 for as long as possible. In order to continue to stay open and provide treatments, our clinic needs to average $35 per visit. (This assumes we're averaging 40 visits per week.) This is a literal average - every dollar counts! But to keep it simple, let's break it into 3 tiers:

The Small Steps Healing Project is named after Dr. Tolbert Small. This past Saturday, Eana arranged for Dr. Small fly out and speak in Dorchester. We learned more about Dr. Small's trail-blazing life and work as a Black physician and activist.

Co-op members get 20% off up to 3 community acupuncture treatments in October 2022! If you're not already a co-op member, learn more about Dorchester Food Co-op and consider joining.

Join 4 Corners Yoga + Wellness for 2 free/donation-based outdoor yoga classes followed by relaxation acupuncture! Register on their website or just drop in.

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Community acupuncture treatments at Boston Acupuncture Project (74 Fairmount Ave, Hyde Park) are "by donation" on Friday, January 27, 2023 with 50% of proceeds benefiting Hyde Park's Racial Equity and Justice (REJ) Forum. Suggested donation: $20-$60. Appointments are strongly recommended and face masks are required. Our sliding scale has not changed.

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JP Centre Yoga- Boston, MA + Livestream Classes

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JP Centre Yoga- Boston, MA + Livestream Classes

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Tiered Pricing Rates based on access and equity. (This includes an optional BIPOC discount rate).

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Yoga Class Descriptions, Different Styles of Yoga in Boston - JP Centre Yoga

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Our diverse and highly skilled team of yoga teachers offers a variety of styles of yoga classes - from heat building vinyasa flow, to structural alignment, to nervous system nourishing restorative - to meet you where you're at in your yoga practice.

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List of Teacher Discounts (Shopping + Wellness) 

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List of Teacher Discounts (Shopping + Wellness) 

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Teacher Discounts Guide: The Ultimate List of Stores

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A list of 150+ brands that offer a teacher discount in the USA. Enjoy exclusive savings at hundreds of stores if you are employed as an educator.

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List of Wellness Resources for MTA Members!

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List of Wellness Resources for MTA Members!

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A complied list of a variety of wellness services across the state for teachers! In this site you can find everything from massages, yoga classes, and discounted memberships.

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Throughout this pandemic, some of our vendors might be unable to offer their MTA discounts in order to maintain financial stability. If you can, please consider supporting these small businesses anyway, as they've supported our members for many years.

Take advantage of more than 350,000 discounts nationwide, including 250,000 mobile offers with Access.

Create your member account and you'll gain access to lots of great benefits, such as:

Bimonthly giveaways

Member-only deals

Theme park discounts

BJ's Wholesale Club discount

Nationwide discounts through Access

Theater tickets

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Throughout this pandemic, some of our vendors might be unable to offer their MTA discounts in order to maintain financial stability. If you can, please consider supporting these small businesses anyway, as they've supported our members for many years. Take advantage of more than 350,000 discounts nationwide, including 250,000 mobile offers with Access.

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Teachers receive 20% monthly dues + $0 initiation fee and no commitment! https://lynxfitnessclub.com/first-responder-form

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Lynx Fitness Club is a forward-thinking, luxury club with an emphasis on community and customer experience. We believe that all people should strive to live pain-free, healthy, and well-rounded lives. We believe that fitness, nutrition, and mindfulness are nature's "medicine" and can lead to a higher quality of life for all. We believe in redefining what "fitness" means for the everyday individual and we strive to lead individuals of all fitness levels towards a healthier lifestyle. We believe that together, we can get there. The only question is, do you believe? Come live a longer, healthier life with Lynx.

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Lynx Fitness Club is a forward-thinking, luxury club with an emphasis on community and customer experience. We believe that all people should strive to live pain-free, healthy, and well-rounded lives. We believe that fitness, nutrition, and mindfulness are nature's "medicine" and can lead to a higher quality of life for all.

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Discounted classes and membership for public school educators.

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Daily yoga classes, workshops, meditation, teacher training, near Westfield, West Springfield, Agawam, Granville, Feeding Hills, Granby, Suffield, CT

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Massachusetts and Rhode Island Therapists of Color Directory

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Massachusetts and Rhode Island Therapists of Color Directory

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Massachusetts & Rhode Island Therapists of Color Directory

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Blog: Educators: You Have Permission to Take Care of Yourself, Right Now by Megan Sweet, EdD

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Blog: Educators: You Have Permission to Take Care of Yourself, Right Now by Megan Sweet, EdD

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Educating our youth is a calling that draws some of the most hard-working and dedicated people. Teachers are also prone to burnout-in fact, last year, public school teachers

their jobs at the highest rate on record. Educators, it's time to start showing yourself care and compassion, right now.
We enter this field with our eyes wide open that the pay is low and the work hours are long. Most of us also understand that educating our students will take all the love, attention, and energy we can spare. Education is a calling because, despite all these things, we do it anyway.

While educators are incredibly giving towards their students, we don't treat ourselves with the same level of care. Overwork is a badge of honor that many of us wear proudly. We tend to equate the number of hours we put in as a measure of our (and our peer's) dedication to our students.

The thing is, this kind of logic just doesn't make sense. In a job where the physical, mental, and emotional demands are so high, how can we possibly continue to give our all every day if we have not spent time taking care of ourselves? If we imagine our reserves of energy like a bucket, we cannot continue to give from that bucket without refilling it. Many of us, however, empty our buckets and continue pushing forward without taking the time to rest and rejuvenate. We shouldn't be surprised, then, that we are prone to burnout and often leave the profession just a few years after entering it.

It's time that educators start filling their buckets by embracing self-care and self-compassion. Self-care means caring for oneself. Examples of self-care include getting enough rest, exercise, and healthy foods. Self-compassion means treating oneself with patience, kindness, and understanding. When we practice self-compassion, we use our mistakes as opportunities to soften and be vulnerable. Instead of beating ourselves up, we show ourselves heaps of love.

Additionally, research conducted by Juliana Breines and Serena Chen (2012) has shown that when we show ourselves compassion after a setback, we are more likely to take action towards improving in the future. In short, self-compassion helps us to feel better, rebound from our challenges, and fuels us to keep going down the path of self-improvement.
You might try these guided mindfulness practices:

Megan Sweet, EdD is the Director of Training at Mindful Schools. She brings more than two decades of experience as a school teacher, school and district administrator, and a leader in school transformation. She's an experienced Network Lead with a demonstrated history of working in the education management industry. Her doctoral degree focused on Educational Leadership and Administration and she is skilled in Educational Consulting, Lesson Planning, Educational Technology, Instructional Design, and Curriculum Development. Megan is also a published author of An Educator's Guide to Using Your 3 Eyes: How to Apply Intellect, Insight and Intuition to Promote Personal and School-Wide Transformation. Guided 12-minute Practice for Self-Kindness
Guided 12-minute Practice for Stress
How can you start showing yourself care and compassion, right now?

1. Pay attention to your inner voice. Notice your self-talk and ask: Would I say this to my best friend? If the answer is no (and it probably is) then start giving yourself a bit more love and curb the negative self-talk. It's not helping!

2. Make a list of ten things that bring you joy. Examples include exercise, reading a book, or watching a favorite TV show. Try to fit at least one of these activities into your life consistently.

3. Prioritize how you spend your time. Make a list of all of the things you are doing each week. Break them into Must-Do and May-Do categories. See if you can replace some of those May-Do's with things from your joy list.

4. Take a break. Educators are notorious for working all-the-time. The problem is, the work never ends unless you choose to step away. If you are not refreshed, you are not working at your best anyway, so start reclaiming some of those nights and weekends.

5. Start a mindfulness practice. Mindfulness means being present in the moment, and meditation is a great mindfulness tool. Just meditating 10 minutes a day will make a significant difference in how you feel. Don't have 10 minutes in a row? That's okay, break it into two 5-minute blocks, do some conscious breathing on your walk to and from your car, breathe slowly and deeply at red lights. Notice how good it feels to take even one conscious breath.

In the end, learning to take better care of ourselves will enable us to continue to do what we love-educating kids! If we don't, then we will continue to burn ourselves out, and the churn of teacher and leader turnover will maintain the revolving door of people in and out of our students' lives. Our kids suffer when they experience persistent changes in teachers and teacher quality. Schools cannot maintain strong academic programs if the leadership changes year after year. If we really want to stay in our calling and educate our youth, we must learn to take care of ourselves first. Our students will thank us for it.

Breines, J. & Chen, S. (2012). "Self-compassion increases self-improvement motivation." Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. 38(9) 1133-1143.

Neff, K. (2013). "Resilience and self-compassion" [ lecture]. Empathy and Compassion in Society. Retrieved June 25, 2018.

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Educators: You Have Permission to Take Care of Yourself, Right Now - Mindful Schools

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Educating our youth is a calling that draws some of the most hard-working and dedicated people. Teachers are also prone to burnout-in fact, last year, public school teachers quit their jobs at the highest rate on record. Educators, it's time to start showing yourself care and compassion, right now.

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Trauma Counseling for Boston Teachers Union and AFT Members 

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Trauma Counseling for Boston Teachers Union and AFT Members 

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AFT members work hard-now more than ever-to educate, heal, help and serve our communities. Sometimes our own stress is compounded by a personal or workplace trauma; still, we struggle to be fully present for others. Now the AFT is offering a new, free benefit-trauma counseling-to provide help and healing for our members, whenever needed, wherever a member may be.

Trauma counseling

These AFT-paid trauma counseling sessions with highly trained therapists are completely private and set up to take advantage of the latest communication technologies-phone, text, video and even artificial intelligence. They are free and available to all active working members, including those on leave status. The broad list of covered injuries is both work-related and beyond, including:

24/7

Aggravated assault

Domestic violence

Sexual assault

Mass shootings/terrorist acts

Major disaster

At work

Bullied, harassed or threatened

Traumatized by witnessing a violent incident

Infection by contagious disease

Secondary trauma

Trauma Coverage is exclusively for AFT members. Please visit our Members Only benefits page to get started.

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AFT members work hard-now more than ever-to educate, heal, help and serve our communities. Sometimes our own stress is compounded by a personal or workplace trauma; still, we struggle to be fully present for others. Now the AFT is offering a new, free benefit-trauma counseling-to provide help and healing for our members, whenever needed, wherever a member may be.

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Blog: Teacher Wellness: 6 Resources and Ideas for Self-CAre by Jenna Buckle

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Blog: Teacher Wellness: 6 Resources and Ideas for Self-CAre by Jenna Buckle

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Teachers and staff members are on the frontlines of daily school life. From creating lesson plans, to grading papers, to attending to students' social-emotional needs, the caring adults in our classrooms are juggling immense workloads. The teaching profession can be equal parts rewarding and stressful.

Add in a worldwide pandemic and the shift to remote learning-and it's clear that teachers are struggling to keep up this school year. Unfortunately, we've heard from many district leaders that teachers' own self-care and wellness have often been the first to go during challenging times.
"You can't pour from an empty cup.""Put on your own oxygen mask first."
These aphorisms are helpful (and inspiring!) reminders- but how can we actually put teacher wellness into practice in school districts?

In this post, we'll first look at the research on teacher stress and why teacher wellness is important. Then, we'll explore six resources that can help your central office team reduce teacher stress levels and model the importance of self-care this school year.
Download Panorama's research-backed Teacher Well-Being Survey.

Why Is Teacher Wellness Important?

Teachers and staff entered the 2020 and 2021 school years at the precipice of a new, uncertain educational system-expected to do more with less. Going back to school, for most, meant grappling with the stresses of teaching virtually-or in a hybrid model -for the first time ever.

According to early data from over 13,000 school staff and faculty members who took their school or district's Panorama distance learning surveys in 2020, more than one in five educators were "quite" or "extremely" concerned about their well-being.

Even before the pandemic, educators were already experiencing burnout:

Although research on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on K-12 education is still emerging, a recent Tyton Partners report sheds light on the toll of the past year on teachers, as well as the resiliency of educators:

Among teachers who have left the profession voluntarily since March 2020, 44% did so primarily because of the pandemic. The most common reasons for leaving included stress and unfavorable conditions at their school.

Just 10% of educators identified "ensuring my own well-being" as a top priority pre-COVID. In the current academic year, over 29% of teachers responded that well-being is a priority, trailing only "ensuring student safety" and "incorporating technology into teaching and learning."

Overall levels of teacher job satisfaction are somewhat higher than their well-being levels this academic year, highlighting the resilience and persistence of teachers (see figure below).

Source: Tyton Partners

Teacher stress and burnout are often related to increased job demands-especially around testing and assessments, challenging student behaviors, a lack of decision-making power, and insufficient professional development on social-emotional learning (SEL) to support students' needs.

Unfortunately, issues like teacher turnover and teacher burnout can interrupt student learning and negatively impact students' academic, social, and emotional development. When teachers are stressed-and when school leadership does not create a positive work environment-teachers are unable to create the safe, caring, and supportive school communities that help students thrive.
1. Mindfulness Resource Pack
6 Self-Care and Wellness Resources for Teachers and School Employees

Focused on improving teacher wellness across your school or district? Looking for self-care strategies for yourself? Explore these resources to support your educators and tap back into the joy of the teaching profession.

What Is It? A packet of mindfulness activities and tools from Panorama Education, Open Circle, and other expert organizations. The resources (like a "Self-Care Practice Guide" and a Spotify playlist for Mindful Practice) are perfect for developing your own mindfulness practice and/or modeling mindfulness to staff and students. Think: Low-lift ideas for tuning up your physical health and mental health, so you can be of better service to students. [Download the toolkit]
4. A District Leader's Guide to Building Teacher Capacity for Social-Emotional Learning
What Is It? If you are tasking teachers with focusing on student SEL, adult social-emotional learning (SEL) should be a priority, too. This Adult SEL Toolkit-aligned to CASEL's Focus Area 2for SEL implementation-includes resources, templates, and professional development materials for supporting educator well-being and building teacher capacity around social-emotional learning. This toolkit has been downloaded by over 24k educators and administrators since its original release in 2019. [Download the toolkit]

5. Mindfulness for Educators: A Guide to Practicing and Facilitating Mindfulness
3. SEL and Self-Care Resources Related to COVID-19
6. A Comprehensive Guide to Adult SEL
What Is It? When the COVID-19 health crisis began, our team moved quickly to compile a list of informational resources, articles, and guides to support educators in practicing self-care and resiliency despite the circumstances. You'll find a collection of vetted resources on everything from managing anxiety to adapting to a distance learning environment. [Access the collection]

What Is It? T his guide is built on feedback from teachers, and shares how district and school leaders can support in creating the best social-emotional and academic learning opportunities for students. Learn actionable strategies for prioritizing adult SEL, offering support for classroom SEL, and delivering professional development around SEL. [Download the guide]

What Is It? Can't make our live mindfulness webinars? Bookmark this guide instead. In it, you'll learn how to develop a personal mindfulness practice (complete with a sample breathing exercise!), and how to get started cultivating mindfulness skills in students or other adults. You'll walk away with simple ways to work mindfulness into your daily life. [Read the guide]

This guide weds research and actionable strategies to create a 360-degree view of adult social-emotional learning in K-12 education today. Learn what it means to address the social-emotional needs of teachers and staff, learn about different approaches to adult SEL, and explore best practices for measuring and implementing adult SEL across your school or district. What Is It? [Read the guide]

Watch a Panorama Community Workshop: "Adult SEL and Wellbeing: You Can't Give What You Don't Have" [Bonus Resource]

Addressing Teacher Wellness During COVID-19: Teacher Wellness Survey

Do you know how your teachers and staff are doing and what support they need?

By elevating educator voices through feedback surveys, you can gather critical data on thequality of the work environment and take steps to improve teacher wellness and job satisfaction.
Learn more about partnering with Panorama to elevate teacher and staff voices this year.
Panorama's research-backed Teacher Well-Being Surveyhelps school and district leadership teams understand teacher perceptions and identify where support is needed. Example survey topics include:

Belonging: How much faculty and staff feel that they are valued members of the school community.

Well-Being: Faculty and staff perceptions of their own professional well-being.

Teacher Self-Efficacy: Faculty perceptions of their professional strengths and areas for growth.

Staff-Leadership Relationships: Perceptions of faculty and staff relationships with school leaders.

In Panorama's survey analytics platform, you can go right from exploring survey data to taking meaningful action. Playbook, our in-platform professional learning library, contains low-lift strategies from dozens of expert SEL curriculum partners-including self-care ideas for adults.

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Teacher Wellness: 6 Resources and Ideas for Self-Care | Panorama Education

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A guide to teacher wellness. Explore six resources for cultivating self-care and well-being, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Amorosa Wellness offers a variety of holistic healing and self-love techniques.

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Welcome to my scheduling page. Please follow the instructions to add an event to my calendar. A deposit of $25.00 is required within 2 hours of booking an appointment: Venmo: @amorosawellness

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Black-owned yoga studio that offers access to daily virtual programming such as, yoga classes, meditation, and social justice conversation circles.

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The mission of 4 Corners Yoga + Wellness is to support the Dorchester community and surrounding neighborhoods in taking charge of their health and well-being.

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What is TRILLFIT?

TRILLFIT is a black woman-owned boutique fitness brand on a mission to decolonize the wellness industry and promote front-row freedom and radical self-love through its signature cardio and strength classes. Our community uplifts BIPOC voices, celebrates each other every day, and promotes wellness for all people.

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TRILLFIT is a black woman-owned boutique fitness brand on a mission to decolonize the wellness industry and promote front-row freedom and radical self-love through its signature cardio and strength classes. Our community uplifts BIPOC voices, celebrates each other every day, and promotes wellness for all people.

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Mindfulness meditation and yoga sessions in the area of Newburyport and Salisbury. There are also virtual classes available.

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Testimonials
"Attending Meghan's meditation classes is one of the best things I have done for myself in a long time. Meghan provides a warm, welcoming environment. Her sessions blend research based information, thought provoking exercises and practical breath and movement techniques and tools to use everyday. I highly recommend working with Meghan!" -CF

"Meghan has been a wonderful teacher, providing a welcoming environment of caring coupled with great knowledge of yoga. In a short time, Meghan's classes have improved my outlook, health and happiness." -MM

Meghan hosts both online and in-person workshops. Join her for an in-person yoga and meditation class on the new moon of each month at Riverside Yoga, Newburyport, MA, or for one of her in-person workshops that take place in various locations in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire.

One-on-one online or in-person meditation sessions (for all ages) will cover: calming techniques, neuroscience, yoga poses and much more.

Online sessions are held through Zoom.

Join Meghan for a private online or in-person yoga session. Topics include: asanas (poses) for stress management and aligned with Ayurveda's recommendations for the current season.

Meghan hosts several yoga retreats per year. Upcoming events include a yoga and meditation retreat in Maui, HI in Fall of 2022 and in Nosara, Costa Rica at the famed Blue Spirit yoga retreat center in May 2023 as well as a yoga and meditation retreat soon to be scheduled for Newburyport August 21, 2022. Meghan collaborates with two experienced yoga instructors to offer a unique and unforgettable retreat experience.

Yoga practice, mindfulness, songs, stories, and activities for birthday (or any kind of) parties, customized to the age and ability level of the guests. Parties can be tailored for groups of children, teens, or adults.

Reiki means "universal life force energy" and is a gentle approach to stress reduction and healing. Meghan is now offering treatments at Riverside Yoga + Massage, Newburyport.

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Classes + Events - Awake Minds: Yoga + Conscious Living

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Testimonials "Attending Meghan's meditation classes is one of the best things I have done for myself in a long time. Meghan provides a warm, welcoming environment. Her sessions blend research based information, thought provoking exercises and practical breath and movement techniques and tools to use everyday. I highly recommend working with Meghan!"

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Therapy specific for teachers

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Teacher Talk offers therapy specifically for teachers. Our mission is to help teachers cope with work-related stress, avoid burnout, and enjoy longer, more fulfilling careers.