Practical Wellbeing practices for Teachers (Re.connect)

Description

What is Re.Connect?

As teachers it can be all too easy to lose our sense of who we are.

We sacrifice ourselves daily, to make a difference.

We might often find ourselves saying “yes” to everyone, refusing to call in sick when we’re sick, taking things personally, refusing to set boundaries, trying to assess everything (marking tips), failing to meaningfully collaborate, losing our creativity (treating classroom as playfu ), the list could go on.

And sometimes it happens that in all of this that we do, we get lost, we lose ourselves, we lose our sense of who we really are.

At some point we might notice that we’ve gone from thriving, to barely surviving. We’re drowning in work, marking, assessments, parent meetings, staff meetings, performance management etc. But we press on, thinking that this will pass. Our bodies are in survival mode.

The problem comes when this doesn’t pass and our bodies remain in survival mode for a continuous period. This is unsustainable and inevitably leads to stress, anxiety, insomnia, even burn out.

Re.Connect is about Re.Connecting with ourselves: coming back home to the body and the ever present Now. Ultimately it is about finding ourselves again.

Why Re.Connect?

Re.Connect is more than just a way to address the symptoms: anxiety, insomnia, stress, and burn out. It goes deeper than counselling and talk therapies. Re.Connect is about Re.Connecting with that part of us that, unbound by the chains of past stressors or future worries, can perceive the world as through the eyes of a child: with wonder, joy and excitement. Ultimately, it’s about going from surviving to thriving in the classroom!

According to the UK's Health and Safety Executive, education professionals report the highest rates of stress, depression and anxiety in Britain. There is a desperate need for support for teachers. Real support. Support that goes beyond the obligatory staff meeting that feigns concern for teacher wellbeing. We all know the one; the meeting that reiterates the need to take time out for our wellbeing, and then at the end we are reminded about the next round of pending assessment deadlines.

The development of Re.Connect

One of the most re-visited pedagogical tools is Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. It seems likely that we’ve all had Maslow’s famous Hierarchy served to us at least once in our teaching careers. The premise behind it is that to enhance children’s capacity for learning and achievement in the classroom, we need to ensure that they are thriving, not just surviving. If they are tied up in the lower levels of the hierarchy, where their survival needs are not being met, they and their minds will not be free to engage fully in the learning environment.

The same must go for teachers. The model was, after all, created from Maslow’s study of adults.

The early beginnings of Re.Connect started with application of Maslow’s Hierarchy both in the classroom and through working one-to-one supporting teachers. Through reflective delivery of such support, the benefits and limitations of Maslow’s Hierarchy soon became apparent. Throughout this experiential process - maintaining Maslow’s Hierarchy as its foundation - Re.Connect was developed to incorporate the most pragmatic aspects of current neuroscientific and psychological research and models - including Polyvagal Theory, brain plasticity, epigenetics, neurolinguistic programming - and ancient wisdom from qigong body and yogic breath work.

With all this in mind, Re.Connect has classified wellbeing into five main areas:

Somatic Wellbeing, Emotional Wellbeing, Cognitive Wellbeing, Financial Wellbeing, Social Wellbeing.

This course addresses teacher wellbeing at its core, working towards to a holistic, whole-person wellbeing, by addressing each area of wellbeing in turn. With a comprehensive range of physical, emotional, cognitive and social exercises, this is so much more than the token lip-service that is so often paid to wellbeing, as if that was going to address anything. The driving idea behind this has been practicality and pragmatism.

We are looking for a small group of educational professionals to work with to refine and improve our content further, and ensure we are offering the best in wellbeing support. If you are interested in working with us, please email us with the subject 'ambassador', or send us a message on our instagram page.

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