Teacher Self-Care Challenge
TEACHER SELF-CARE CHALLENGE: Eleni Vardaki will lead a virtual self-care training experience for teachers who want to make their self-care goals and plans a priority at the turn of the year. Teacher well-being matters. And teacher mental health matters. We matter. Proactively taking control of our emotional / physical self-care habits to take them up to the next level is essential for our positive mental health and well-being.
TEACHER WELL-BEING MATTERS
Well-being is about moving from baseline mental health (0), up into the optimal mental health range (let’s say maximum optimal mental health was a 10+ on a scale of 10+ to 10-, then living in a state of well-being would be on that continuum).
Social media posts and articles on websites sometimes use the term ‘mental health’ in a sloppy kind of way, treating it as synonymous to ‘mental illness’. But the UN’s definition of mental health is clear:
This state of well-being being is about living in the 0 to 10+ range of wellness. It’s not about fighting to recover you mental health (hopefully with the support of a qualified specialist who is trained and licensed to treat mental illnesses, and who you can trust) when you are in state of mental illness (the 0 to 10- range).
Committing to an effective personal self-care practice is essential for maintaining our mental health.
Enjoying mental health requires a commitment to personal self-care, as can be seen from the UN’s definition of self-care:
Given the importance of teacher self-care for teacher well-being, and the importance of teacher self-care for teacher mental health, I decided to put together an experience in support of teacher self-care.
MAKING TIME FOR OUR SELF-CARE
It’s one thing to know what you need to do for better self-care…it’s quite another to actually follow through and do it consistently. Especially when you’re an empath who keeps putting others’ needs before your own.
More and more teachers are shedding the unhelpful (for all!) ‘Martyr Teacher’ beliefs we used to carry, causing us believe we have to sacrifice our health and well-being in order to do our job well.
We’re learning about psychology and the new science of stress and habit formation, offering solutions for burnout prevention and ways that work to improve our self-care habits.
More and more teachers are sick and tired of being sick and tired.
We’re shifting away from an ‘I’m not OK – You’re OK’ / ‘I’m not OK – You’re Not OK’ mode.
We’re shifting to an ‘I’m OK – You’re OK’ mode of working and living – and that requires taking back control of our well-being by making time to improve our self-care skills and habits.
WHAT'S THIS TEACHER SELF-CARE CHALLENGE LIKE?
This is a 6- week flexible self-paced course that helps you bring more balance into your life by making self-care more of a priority – turning talk into action.
It’s for teachers who are seeking support in shifting from knowing (on an intellectual level) what they need to do to take better care of themselves to following through and actually doing it (consistently).
WHAT'S THE FORMAT?
Seeing as our physical self-care is inextricably related to our well-being, and how some teachers may prefer to make their exercise plan a priority right now, teachers choose whether they want to be in the group that makes their physical self-care a priority (Group B) or emotional self-care a priority (Group A).
No matter what group you choose to be in, you can always dip into the other group’s resources at any given time if that’s something that you’d find helpful. All resources will be available for all registered participants.
Both groups have access to short prerecorded videos, Accountability Partner pairing (available to the teachers who request to be paired up), doable self-reflection exercises, and mindfulness skills development training.
Learning how to do the Emotional Freedom Technique (which I introduce both groups to weeks 1-3) is like shifting into 5th gear mindfulness. There are also entry-level mindfulness skills I teach for body and breath awareness. So there really is something for everyone at every level of their mindfulness skills and habits journey.
WHY STRUCTURE IT LIKE THIS?
The idea is to offer you an opportunity to craft a personal Self-Care Plan that meets your particular self-care needs at this particular point in time. At the same time, you get to enjoy a shared community experience of supporting each other and making progress together.
LEARN MORE ABOUT ELENI'S TEACHER SELf-CARE CHALLENGE
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Eleni Vardaki works online supporting the well-being of teachers, parents, and students in schools worldwide. To learn more about her educational programs and private EFT therapy / mentoring offerings, go to elenivardaki.com/work-with-me
