Building a Culture of Wellness

by Beth Houf

In my last post, Taking Time for You, I shared strategies and resources for self-care and wellness. As educators, we spend so much time serving others, we often forget to take care of ourselves. Making this practice an intentional focus better guarantees the likeliness that it continues and makes a positive impact on your life. This week I wanted to dive into how we build a culture of wellness in our schools and classrooms. I posed the question in the graphic below to our PLN on Twitter. I was overwhelmed by the amount of responses that were shared. There are so many examples of how schools are making wellness not a buzzword, but a way of life, for both students and staff.

The common theme shared was that to build a culture of wellness in your school or classroom, it has to be something that is planned for, intentional and goal-oriented. It is not a program or a side dish, but the way we do business.

At Fulton Middle School, we are nurturing this culture of wellness. We have an advisory period where social-emotional learning is the focus for each day. We learn how to manage our feelings, set goals, problem-solve and work through conflict. We learn meditation and breathing techniques. We also dig into digital wellness and how to manage the stress that social media plays into our middle school lives. (which is actually great for adults as well, I’ve found) We have also developed a calm room that is facilitated by our counselors. We also have worked to create success plans for students that are going through especially hard times. We institute break passes when emotions go overboard. Last year we were also able to create an Alternate Resource Classroom, ARC, to provide education in a different setting. We constantly analyze what is working and what isn’t and add practices and resources as needed. Our grade level and exploratory teams meet twice a week. One of these meetings are dedicated to students concerns and problem solving. Referrals are made to our building problem solving team, which meets weekly. We then work to meet the needs of students in a variety of ways. (this is a whole other post in itself:)

All staff has also been trained and get ongoing support on restorative practices. Helping students and staff talk through problems has drastically impacted our behaviors. We have found that our students simply did not have the tools to talk about conflict in a way that is solution-oriented. To be honest, I found that I didn’t always have these skills either. What is great is the tools and strategies I’ve learned at school about restorative practices completely work in my home life as well. We also do surveys and get feedback to add topics as needed. Our whole staff has taken part in ongoing training on trauma-informed practices as well as the secondary effects of trauma. This has become something that all new staff have as part of our induction program in our district for sustainability. Our district insurance has provided incentives for health screenings and different health/wellness challenges with fun incentives for those that would like to take part. What is even better is that these things are offered during our contracted time. Our November PD was completely focused on this topic. I was able to sign up for the PD I needed as well as get my flu shot and health check. I am lucky to work for a district that sees wellness as an ongoing process.

But Beth…isn’t this just “one more thing” to add to our overflowing to-do lists? How do I fit this in? It doesn’t fit in. You don’t sprinkle it on top. It isn’t a fad. We seem to be at an all time high of overstressed students and educators. Will we ever eliminate all the stressors that exist? Not a chance. Can we learn to take charge of what we have control over and better deal with the stress that comes our way? Absolutely. But it can’t happen by chance. We deserve to work in a job that doesn’t leave us completely empty each day. I was there. Our school was there. We made a concerted effort to change our reality. Are we perfect..no way…but we are getting better every day. We’ve found that when we take time to focus on our wellness and self care, the curriculum and standards, in turn, become more attainable.

Shelley and I hope that this blog post will help you as you look at ways of building a culture of wellness with your staff and students. Please share out to our #LeadLAP hashtag any other ideas you may have, as well as celebrations or questions. We are better together for sure!

And now a few examples from our PLN:

  • Every classroom has a wellness/calm area. There is an alternative lunch space for students who might need more quiet or less. Lunch and learn Fridays(extended lunch for students & teachers to eat together) and autonomy to build community-talk openly about mental health Kristina MacBury  @MacburyKristina
  • Model it.  If you are working around the clock and not taking care of yourself, your staff will do the same. (I’m working on this) We have hosted a Wellness Event in place of a staff meeting, sub for teachers so they get extra plan time when they need it. No judgment for days off. Christina Podraza @christinapod
  • Establishing a solid foundation of core values is essential. When there is trust in an organization people feel safe & know support is available. Whatever is needed is ours to respond to.  If this is how we behave then our work in this capacity will be known. Martha T Jaureguizar @MTJaureguizar
  • My friend Karine (@Mrs_KV ) does a self-care plan w/ all of her staff. She created a template for download too: http://learnforward.ca/hinge-points/  Daniel Bauer, @alienearbud
  • http://learnforward.ca/a-plan-for-flourishing-in-schools/  Karine Veldhoen @Mrs_KV
  • @TeacherFit19 is an online health and wellness program that is cheap. Like $500 for your entire staff for the year. We use it at Fred Lynn Middle School- @brewerhm got the program for us and we love it. Jonathan Alsheimer @mr_Alsheimer
  • We created a staff wellness room, separate from the staff room with comfy furniture, mindfulness activities, exercise equipment, music, soft lighting. Trish Goosen @trishgoosen
  • Model physical fitness to students! Work out in the weightroom, run/walk on the treadmills or on the track. It is engaging and awesome to workout next to students on the school’s equipment. Students do what they see! Cale Zuiker, @CaleZuiker
  • Mindful practice before the lesson and transitioning time between the period Step 1: Ujjayi Pranayama: Take three breaths in through the nose and out through the nose. Step 2: Power of Spoken Words- Tell I am happy & visualize a positive outcome students want to see. Nupur Sethi, @nupurssethi
  • One of my favorite things to do is to have the students create a unique handshake that we have as they enter the class. I know many teachers do this, but it creates a sense of love and family. I love teaching them how to greet someone and properly shake hands. Esther Concepcion @econcepcion31
  • We have “Woosah Wednesday” to start the day once a week. I signed up for the Calm app for educators for free at the beginning of the year and use videos and music from the app each Wednesday. It’s a great way to teach mindfulness and lets all of us start the day in a positive way. Kelly Honn @KHTeach5
  • Our school district has a great wellness program that includes cooking classes, meditation, and exercise classes. As a school, we always participate in the wellness challenges and come together as a team. We also adopted a mindfulness program call Calm Classroom that our teachers enjoy. Jamie Snyder@JamieMcS
  • Reading this as I develop a whole-school approach. Using positive psych curriculum from a couple of organizations. Using Resilience Project journals for staff and students. Staff tailored made with some ‘special vouchers’ we created. Joanne Willesee @poppywillowgirl

  • We have a staff lounge in which we eat together & do potlucks/celebrate ea other daily. For students, we offer these sessions (flyer). I’ve set aside a mindfulness room for use by students and staff. Counselors come into classrooms upon teacher request for sessions. I check in w/staff all the time. Dr. Kim Lu Lawe @kimlulawe

  • As we near the end of semester, we are offering these for students. And we send tips to teachers on how to do some of these activities in class with Ss. It also doesn’t hurt to start staff mtgs/collab mtgs w/a bit of mindfulness activity. Model it for staff. Dr. Kim Lu Lawe @kimlulawe

  • Our staff is blessed to be a part of our Educator’s Health Alliance wellness programs. It is so well organized with monthly challenges, a personal health assessment and daily email tips and recipes. Our staff received over $12,000 this past year in gift cards and grants. Josie @jfloyd25

  • Practice mindfulness as a staff in our staff meetings and PLCs. We also had a Wellness Day that promoted a variety of topics for our community. Judy Imamudeen @judyimamudeen

  • I host a Mindful Moments group once a month & do 1 to 1 if they prefer. We have a wellness choice day where the goal is to find something that will sustain and support you beyond that day. We have art, music, high & low energy physical activities, etc. Jacqueline Goodburn @PDwithJG

  • In our school, school hot lunch coupons are provided to teachers. To encourage a work-life balance, yoga, gym, swimming pool, zumba facilities are available free of cost soon after the school day so that teachers can participate. A movie evening was also initiated! Sneh Wadhwaney @sneh_wadhwaney

  • Providing safe spaces where students can share or just listen to others who are sharing common concerns is a critical beginning. It reduces stress by removing them from stress producing environments, and allows for coaching, comfort, and brainstorming school wide approaches. Althea Jones @althea_jones20

  • Getting teachers to understand self care and its importance. Training on secondary trauma care. A monthly staff outing. Having the courage to suggest the EAP for teachers struggling with anxiety or a specific traumatic event. Peer mentoring/coaching. We had a teacher that offered free Zumba in our gym on Wednesday. Find people’s hobbies and try to get your staff Interconnected. Too many times teachers feel like an island and do not lean on each other for strength. Center based special ed for 14 school years. Peer support! Adam Shickley, M.A. @Abshickley

  • People sharing their passions with each other. For example, we have staff running free circuit training or yoga sessions for other faculty and staff after school. Celebrating people’s successes as well as birthdays, weddings, babies, etc 🙂 Ishi Gidwani @PE_with_Ms_G

  • Wellness plan template I created for our Leadership Academy:

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