• The Dynamics of Healthy Relationships (Webinar)
• Positive Emotions and Your Health
• The 7 Sleep Factors (Webinar)
• Winter Goals | Make the Most of the Season
• Techniques for Managing Stress (Webinar)
• Resilience in School Environments (RISE!)
• Organizational Well-Being (Webinar)
• Self-Care is Not Enough!

Healthy relationships don’t just happen, they require communication, consideration, and so much more…Join us to discover positive dynamics required for healthy relationships and ultimate happiness.

This pre-recorded webinar requires a My Life Expert account. Click the link below to create your account using code MLSD635.

Do you tend to look on the sunny side, or do you see a future filled with dark, stormy skies? A growing body of research suggests that having a positive outlook can benefit your physical health. NIH-funded scientists are working to better understand the links between your attitude and your body. They’re finding some evidence that emotional wellness can be improved by developing certain skills.

Having a positive outlook doesn’t mean you never feel negative emotions, such as sadness or anger, says Dr. Barbara L. Fredrickson, a psychologist and expert on emotional wellness at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. “All emotions—whether positive or negative—are adaptive in the right circumstances. The key seems to be finding a balance between the two,” she says.

“Positive emotions expand our awareness and open us up to new ideas, so we can grow and add to our toolkit for survival,” Fredrickson explains. “But people need negative emotions to move through difficult situations and respond to them appropriately in the short term. Negative emotions can get us into trouble, though, if they’re based on too much rumination about the past or excessive worry about the future, and they’re not really related to what’s happening in the here and now.”

People who are emotionally well, experts say, have fewer negative emotions and are able to bounce back from difficulties faster. This quality is called resilience. Another sign of emotional wellness is being able to hold onto positive emotions longer and appreciate the good times. Developing a sense of meaning and purpose in life—and focusing on what’s important to you—also contributes to emotional wellness.

Research has found a link between an upbeat mental state and improved health, including lower blood pressure, reduced risk for heart disease, healthier weight, better blood sugar levels, and longer life. But many studies can’t determine whether positive emotions lead to better health, if being healthy causes positive emotions, or if other factors are involved.

“While earlier research suggests an association between positive emotions and health, it doesn’t reveal the underlying mechanisms,” says Dr. Richard J. Davidson, a neuroscientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “To understand the mechanisms, I think it will be crucial to understand the underlying brain circuits.”

By using brain imaging, Davidson and others have found that positive emotions can trigger “reward” pathways located deep within the brain, including in an area known as the ventral striatum.

“Individuals who are able to savor positive emotions have lasting activation in the ventral striatum,” Davidson says. “The longer the activation lasts, the greater his or her feelings of well-being.” Continued activation of this part of the brain has been linked to healthful changes in the body, including lower levels of a stress hormone.

Negative emotions, in contrast, can activate a brain region known as the amygdala, which plays a role in fear and anxiety. “We’ve shown that there are big differences among people in how rapidly or slowly the amygdala recovers following a threat,” Davidson says. “Those who recover more slowly may be more at risk for a variety of health conditions compared to those who recover more quickly.”

Among those who appear more resilient and better able to hold on to positive emotions are people who’ve practiced various forms of meditation. In fact, growing evidence suggests that several techniques—including meditation, cognitive therapy (a type of psychotherapy), and self-reflection (thinking about the things you find important)—can help people develop the skills needed to make positive, healthful changes.

“Research points to the importance of certain kinds of training that can alter brain circuits in a way that will promote positive responses,” Davidson says. “It’s led us to conclude that well-being can be considered as a life skill. If you practice, you can actually get better at it.”

In one study, Davidson and his colleagues found changes in reward-related brain circuits after people had 2 weeks of training in a simple form of meditation that focuses on compassion and kindness. These changes, in turn, were linked to an increase in positive social behaviors, such as increased generosity.

Fredrickson and her colleagues are also studying meditation. They found that after 6 weeks of training in compassion and kindness meditation, people reported increased positive emotions and social connectedness compared to an untrained group. The meditation group also had improved functioning in a nerve that helps to control heart rate. “The results suggest that taking time to learn the skills to self-generate positive emotions can help us become healthier, more social, more resilient versions of ourselves,” Fredrickson says.

Dr. Emily Falk, a neuroscientist at the University of Pennsylvania, is taking a different approach. Falk is exploring how self-affirmation—that is, thinking about what’s most important to you—can affect your brain and lead to positive, healthful behaviors. Her team found that when people are asked to think about things that they find meaningful, a brain region that recognizes personally relevant information becomes activated. This brain activity can change how people respond to health advice.

“In general, if you tell people that they sit too much and they need to change their behavior, they can become defensive. They’ll come up with reasons why the message doesn’t apply to them,” Falk says. But if people reflect on the things they value before the health message, the brain’s reward pathways are activated.

This type of self-affirmation, Falk’s research shows, can help physically inactive “couch potatoes” get more active. In a recent study, inactive adults received typical health advice about the importance of moving more and sitting less. But before the advice, about half of the participants were asked to think about things that they value most.

The “self-affirmation” group became more physically active during the month-long study period that followed compared to the group that hadn’t engaged in self-affirmation. “The study shows one way that we can open the brain to positive change and help people achieve their goals,” Falk says.

Being open to positive change is a key to emotional wellness. “Sometimes people think that emotions just happen, kind of like the weather,” Fredrickson says. “But research suggests that we can have some control over which emotions we experience.” As mounting research suggests, having a positive mindset might help to improve your physical health as well.

Enhance Your Emotional Wellness

To develop a more positive mindset:

• Remember your good deeds. Give yourself credit for the good things you do for others each day.
• Forgive yourself. Everyone makes mistakes. Learn from what went wrong, but don’t dwell on it.
• Spend more time with your friends. Surround yourself with positive, healthy people.
• Explore your beliefs about the meaning and purpose of life. Think about how to guide your life by the principles that are important to you.
• Develop healthy physical habits. Healthy eating, physical activity, and regular sleep can improve your physical and mental health.

The “rule of threes” states that our bodies can go three minutes without oxygen, three days without water, and three weeks without food. But how long could you go without sleep?

Whether you struggle to get to sleep, stay asleep, or wake up feeling rested, you’ve likely realized that not getting enough rest can affect your mood, productivity, and other aspects of your physical and mental health. In this eye-opening presentation, Nicole reveals the seven factors that contribute to a restful sleep, while providing practical solutions to help you create and maintain a sleep routine that reduces stress on your body and mind.

We're excited to offer two (2) opportunities to attend The 7 Sleep Factors session. When you register on Nicole Porter's website, you will be asked to select a date/time.

Thursday, February 9 @ 6:30 - 7:30 am

Tuesday, February 14 @ 4:00 - 5:00 pm

The winter months bring cold weather and short, dark days, which can make the months until spring feel just a little dreary. Luckily, if you really think through what you want to accomplish during the winter season, you may find that these cold, dark months aren't so bad after all. Get inspired with these 12 winter goal ideas.

1. Figure out your budget

Budgeting isn't exactly a thrilling task, and it can be a bit anxiety-inducing, too. But setting a goal to figure out a budget will save you a lot of time (and money) in the long run, so get out that spreadsheet and start crunching the numbers. There are lots of apps to help you along the way.

2. Make meal prepping a priority

Whether you find yourself constantly scrambling as you try to figure out what's for dinner, you want to stop buying $12 salads for lunch, or you simply want to eat healthier, a little meal prepping once a week can go a long way. Meal prepping can save you a lot of time and money.

3. Get started with a new fitness routine

We know, we know—you probably don't want to do an outdoor workout when it's freezing out. But hear us out: You don't have to! During the pandemic, tons of workout options became available on YouTube, and via different subscription services. So whether you want to spend the winter doing dance cardio, yoga, or HIIT, trust us: The internet holds a wealth of great options for you. And if you do feel like venturing outside to get your heartrate up, hey, more power to you!

4. Spend more time with loved ones

In our increasingly digital world, we often lose sight of the value of face-to-face contact with friends and family. While we are technically still in a pandemic, this is the first year that things feel more under control—for now, at least!—which makes seeing people in person feel a lot less scary. So plan dinner parties, set lunch and coffee dates, and start spending more quality time with loved ones.

Prioritize time with friends and family.

5. Do that thing you've been thinking about doing

We all have that one thing we think or talk about doing someday. And guess what? There's no time like the present. Start writing that novel, go on that solo trip (to a warmer destination, preferably), start that home renovation ... the sky's the limit!

6. Learn something new

The quiet nature of the winter month make them a perfect time to focus on learning something new, whether it's a new language, a new skill like pottery or knitting, or anything else.

Use the cold winter months to learn a new skill.

7. Make a winter bucket list

While plenty of people dread winter, making a fun winter bucket list might actually help you look forward to it. You can pack this list with activities like having a movie night, taking a winter hike (if you dare), taking a cooking class, going on a weekend getaway, or anything else you can dream up.

8. Dive headfirst into self-care

Winter is an excellent time to prioritize—or re-prioritize—self-care, if you've lost sight of it. So spend some time thinking about how you can carve out time to make self-care a priority this winter, and the figure out what activities you'll pursue: Regular bubble baths with a glass of red wine and a good book can certainly be on the list, but so can winter walks with your best friend.

A little self-care can go a long way.

9. Make a lot of soup

If you're like most people, "get healthier" probably tops your New Year's Resolution list every year. Well, most soups are packed with veggies, making them one of the healthiest foods ever. They're also incredibly cozy, nourishing, and delicious, which is why we we so strongly recommend adding "make a lot of soup" to your winter goals list.

10. Journal

If you don't have a journaling practice in place, winter is a great time to get started. Whether you're free-writing, dream journaling, or writing in a bullet journal, we guarantee that there's a journaling technique out there that will resonate with you.

Start journaling this winter.

11. Pick a number of books to read

It's hard to argue with the fact that winter is an excellent season for reading. Without the pull to go outside and the irresistible urge to curl up with a fuzzy blanket, a cup of tea and a sweet-smelling candle, giving yourself a "reading quota" for winter can be a great way to get through some of those novels that have been sitting on your shelf.

12. Make sure to get enough vitamin D

Last but certainly not least, make sure you're getting enough vitamin D, also known as the sunshine vitamin. It's not always easy to get in the winter, but spending a few minutes outside every day, taking a vitamin D supplement (or both) can help keep your bones strong and your spirits high.

Stress is a national epidemic and as the summer fades, and another school year begins, stress tends to peak. In this working session, we will discuss and practice mindfulness, breathing techniques, and other strategies to take control of your stress.

This pre-recorded webinar requires a My Life Expert account. Click the link below to create your account using code MLSD635.

Cultivating trauma-informed educators is crucial to creating a better world for both students and adults. Teacher performance and student outcomes are simultaneously enhanced through improved stress-management skills and greater overall social-emotional learning. Ready, Set, RISE! provides educators with no-cost, evidence-based resources that help build a community of advocates through trauma-informed practices and strategies.

Together with Alliance for a Healthier Generation and Discovery Education, Kaiser Permanente is expanding its Resilience in School Environments (RISE) initiative to offer a versatile series of no-cost virtual and onsite resources designed to foster greater social and emotional resiliency in schools.

Mission Statement

Building a community of advocates by inspiring educators and administrators to incorporate trauma-informed educational methods in schools nationwide.

For Educators

Help enhance your performance as an educator and improve student outcomes with the no-cost social-emotional learning resources available from Ready, Set, RISE!

e-Learning Modules

Gain a foundational understanding of trauma-informed educational practices and policies with these interactive digital learning modules. This series covers core social and emotional learning concepts, as well as logistical and administrative concerns regarding planning, implementing, and sustaining trauma-informed practices in schools. Empower your students to better manage emotions, recognize strengths and weaknesses, and rise above adversity.

The Central East MHTTC in collaboration with the National Center for School Mental Health is offerING a series of mental health webinars with a focus on advancing high-quality, sustainable school mental health from a multi-tiered system of support, trauma sensitive, and culturally responsive and equitable lense.

Webinar Series Objectives

• Gain increased awareness of school well-being within a multi-tiered system of school mental health supports and services.
• Support trauma-informed systems in schools.
• Increase understanding of strength-based practices that promote student academic and social-emotional-behavioral success.
• Learn to provide more culturally responsive and equitable services and supports.
• Hear perspectives on school mental health from school, district, and state levels.
• Obtain insight into how you, families, schools, and communities can best work together to address student mental health needs.

THIS MONTH

Organizational Well-Being

February 14, 2023

12:00 - 1:00 pm

For more than two years, the COVID-19 pandemic has taken education leaders, teachers, and school systems on a professional roller coaster ride. With very little notice, educators across the United States had to shutter school doors, move into isolation and quarantine, establish universal approaches to virtual learning, and devise innovative ways students could continue to access meals the school usually provides. They've had to learn and implement unparalleled public health mitigation strategies, and continuously reinvent day-to-day operational practices. Many districts closed and reopened classrooms several times and erected hybrid learning structures in the interest of reducing student and staff exposure to the COVID-19 virus.

During these years, K–12 educators worked tirelessly and were challenged in countless ways while living the frontline experience of responding to the global pandemic. Each has felt—and may continue to feel—wounded and weary. And leaders and teachers ran this gamut while navigating changing circumstances in their personal lives, too, which were often difficult.

Trauma—For Individuals and Systems

The reality is the pandemic affected many school leaders, teachers, and other professionals within the K–12 landscape in ways that can be considered traumatic. Trauma is defined as, "an event, series of events, or set of circumstances that is experienced by an individual as physically or emotionally harmful or life-threatening and that has lasting adverse effects on the individual's functioning and mental, physical, social, emotional, or spiritual well-being" (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2022). By this definition, coping with this global pandemic has been traumatic for many people, most certainly including educators. And just like individuals, organizational systems can be affected by prolonged harmful or threatening circumstances—and the experience of COVID-19 has been traumatic to schools and districts throughout our country (and across the world). Two-and-a-half years in, the effects of this pandemic are taking a heavy toll on educators and on the schools they work in.

The prolonged stress of constant pandemic-driven changes in school systems has manifested for educators in three ways: burnout, moral injury, and compassion fatigue.

Burnout is "chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed" (World Health Organization, n.d.). Burnout is often revealed in comments and conversations in school hallways, lunchrooms, and staff meetings in which educators articulate their experiences of energy depletion, feelings of emotional distance, pervasive negative or cynical thoughts, and fears of diminished effectiveness.

Emotions of moral injury are "strong feelings of guilt, shame, and anger about the frustration that comes from not being able to give the kind of care or service an employee wants and expects to provide" (Washington State Department of Health, 2020). Teachers have conveyed such feelings about enforcing isolation and social distancing on students as virtual learning shuttered schools and curtailed face-to-face engagement. Students lost out, and educators lost the direct engagement that is the cornerstone of effective instructional practice and, for many teachers, a source of great satisfaction. Educators at all levels felt helpless, too, when unable to comfort students who experienced pandemic-related family illness, trauma, and loss.

Compassion fatigue is the "natural consequent behaviors and emotions resulting from knowledge of a traumatizing event experienced by another and from wanting to help a suffering or traumatized person" (Beaton & Murphy, 1995). It's a weariness that comes from caring so much for someone who is suffering. Especially as it relates to the pandemic experience, compassion fatigue can manifest itself among K–12 educators as a sense of overwhelm, severe exhaustion, sleep disturbances, emotional dysregulation, boundary mismanagement, and physical and mental health-related concerns.

School leaders must begin to move forward in the spirit of post-traumatic growth.

Toward Post-Traumatic Growth

Realizing that this pandemic has taken a toll on K–12 systems and educators, school leaders must take time now to reframe their perspectives and begin to move forward in the spirit of post-traumatic growth. Leaders need to acknowledge the wounding impacts of the pandemic while simultaneously finding and embracing any useful changes that could come from going through pandemic-related challenges. Now is the time to reflect on our experiences and make constructive adjustments, individually and systemically.

In this sense, school leaders have an opportunity, right now, to draw from educators' recent experiences to strengthen the effectiveness of K–12 organizational practices in ways we may never have imagined before the pandemic. As the pandemic starts to wane, we need to move away from believing that individual efforts toward wellness will be sufficient, that educator self-care practices, in and of themselves, can propel schools forward and out of this crisis of well-being. Individual self-care, albeit essential, isn't enough on its own. It's simply impossible for educators, as individuals, to self-care their way through the individual and systemic impacts of burnout, moral injury, and compassion fatigue. Education leaders must reaffirm their commitment to whole-organization wellness and shift their focus toward embedding well-being strategies within their organization to systemically support educators' well-being.

Organizational wellness implies that employees perceive that the relationships, policies, and social norms across their workplace support optimal wellness for everyone (Reynolds & Bennett, 2019). When individuals in an organization experience a commitment to systemic wellness, the operations, strategies, and culture of the organization fit together, make sense, and (most important) are healthy. There is minimal "politics" and confusion and high morale and productivity—and there is lower turnover (Lencioni, 2012).

As the director of a districtwide wellness and student support program, over the past few years I've seen a tremendous need for K–12 schools to implement more systemic well-being strategies. Today the need for institutional shifts is more evident than ever—and must begin as soon as possible to ease the pandemic-related impacts on K–12 districts and school cultures. Here are four places to start—three true shifts in practice schools should make and one area to invest in wisely:

• Start or rekindle an organizational sense of belonging for everyone in the school.

• Strengthen social-emotional competence in adult professionals.

• Promote an active understanding and practice of workplace self-regulation strategies.

• Invest in workplace well-being resources.

Until we make these institutional shifts to develop and reinforce whole educator well-being, our school systems can't move forward in constructive and healthy ways.

Toward Organizational Wellness

Creating a Sense of Belonging for All

Strengthening a sense of organizational belonging, the collective experience of fitting in, is the first institutional shift necessary to foster a wellness transformation in the workplace. Shawn Ginwright, professor at San Francisco University and author of The Four Pivots, has described belonging as "a mutual exchange of care, compassion, and courage that binds people together in a way that says you matter" (2022, p. 94). A sense of belonging in relationships and workplace communities is essential to both individual and systemwide well-being (Brown, 2021).

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, during the most active phases of the virus, the public health strategies of isolation, social distancing, and masking posed a significant, if unintended, barrier to belonging. The individual connections educators had had with one another and with their students were blocked. When social closeness is barred, and we're cut off from the power of human connections, systemic fractures and divisions begin to tear away at workplace belonging. This shows itself in the workplace as extreme impatience, overt irritability, emotional blunting, blaming, inadequate communication with one another, and even hostile behavior.

Institutional strategies that can rekindle a sense of belonging include:

• Doubling down on relationship-based leadership, which looks like giving individuals or groups undivided attention when meeting; intentionally asking colleagues/staff "how are you doing" and making time to listen closely to and offer real support specific to their response; and approaching staff behavior challenges with an empathetic perspective before reacting.

• Revisiting—as a whole school or in small groups—your school's mission statement and any statements of key behaviors and expectations for the school community.

• Doing strategic team-building with key leadership groups (such as department heads or the administrative team) through activities like reviewing strengths and weakness of existing day-to-day operational processes; engaging in data-driven goal and objective setting; and ongoing, applicable action planning. Team building strengthens relationships and trust and increases a sense of belonging.

Phyliss Fagell (2021) has said that since we've no manual for helping children thrive in the wake of a pandemic, "We can start by ensuring that everyone feels seen, nurtured, and valued." There is no manual for helping adults during these difficult times, either. But schools can start by prioritizing belonging, so all educators and staff feel seen, heard, and valued. We need to agree again to cooperate with one another, rebuild meaningful connections, and make meaning together in the shared purpose and pursuit of K–12 education.

Strengthening Social-Emotional Competence

Social-emotional competence is the process by which individuals apply knowledge, attitudes, and skills to understand and manage emotions, set goals, feel and show empathy for others, maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions (CASEL, 2022a). Key elements of adult professional social-emotional competence are the ability to practice self-awareness and self-management, make responsible decisions, maintain and grow relationships, and practice social awareness (CASEL, 2022b).

The first step in practicing social-emotional competence in the workplace is having self-awareness, the ability to understand your emotions and thoughts and their influence on your behavior. At the core of self-awareness is the ability to successfully navigate emotions. Most of us think of work as being driven by skill sets, information, brainpower, experience, achievement, and accomplishment. However, emotions are the most powerful force inside the workplace, influencing everything from leadership effectiveness to innovation to customer relations. (Brackett, 2019). As we move forward in the post-pandemic journey, system-wide professional development focused on reinforcement of adult social-emotional practices, especially professional self-awareness and skillful emotion identification, is paramount.

Developing Self-Regulation Strategies

Awareness, acknowledgment, and practice of self-regulation strategies in the workplace is the third shift necessary to usher K–12 organizations forward in the pursuit of organizational wellness—and it's a crucial one. Bruce Perry, an author, teacher, clinician, and researcher in children's mental health and neuroscience, confirmed this insight, stating, "The single most helpful thing educational systems can do is to embed organizational care strategies into their systems, so educators are regulated" (Perry, 2022).

Dr. Perry is right. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the emotional brains (limbic systems) of K–12 leaders have been functioning on maximum alert, fight-or-flight, and survival mode. We have had to rapidly create and implement countless new day-to-day operational practices under great stress. No wonder many educators still often feel dysregulated—unable to adequately manage overwhelming emotions they experience at school, such as frustration or sadness. A teacher who's dysregulated during the day might have difficulty focusing and remembering details of assigned tasks or burst into tears in a collegial conversation.

Institutional shifts that allow educators to responsibly self-regulate can transform school cultures and contribute to organizational well-being.

The Neurosequential Engagement Model of Therapeutics (National Council for Adoption, 2022) integrates the principles of neurodevelopment and traumatology. This developmentally sensitive, neurobiology-informed approach holds that individuals cannot fully relate to or reason with others in their environments, including co-workers, until they can identify their own neurological dysregulation. Once they recognize any dysregulation, they can actively regulate themselves and establish neurological control from within.

Effective self-regulation practices are relational, relevant, repetitive, rewarding, rhythmic, and respectful (National Council for Adoption, 2022). Regulation strategies that work well in K–12 workplaces include breathing exercises; creative expression like drawing or writing; rhythmic movement, including singing and dancing; mindfulness and meditative breaks; reflective time-out practices; positive self-talk; and laughter. Schools should familiarize adults with these healthy coping strategies and set up systematic ways they can practice them when they begin to feel dysregulated or flooded with tension or emotion.

When educators become skilled at self-regulating in the workplace, they gain the ability to coregulate and help others soothe and manage their distress. Practicing self-regulation, and in turn coregulation with students and colleagues, leads to an increased sense of safety, calm, and support during times of distress. Institutional shifts that allow educators to responsibly self-regulate can transform school cultures and contribute greatly to overall organizational well-being.

Providing Practical Supports

In addition to the institutional shifts indicated here, K–12 systems should invest in practical workplace supports for whole-educator well-being, including:

• Employee Assistance Programs to help educators access mental health, financial, legal, and other related services.

• Access to quiet, calming spaces in which educators can practice mindfulness and remain self-regulated, and a system through which they can go to such a space briefly as needed.

• Expertly facilitated educator well-being support groups to focus on professional well-being and shared experiences and learn professional and personal wellness skills. Repurposing district budget allocations aimed at supporting educator professional development or partnering with community mental health providers are two creative ways districts can fund innovative educator well-being support groups.

The Power of Leaders

As school systems make shifts like these that support educator wellness, it's important to remember the power and responsibility education leaders have to model healthy professional well-being. By transparently engaging in practices to support their own physical, emotional, social, occupational, and spiritual wellness—and letting their vulnerability show—leaders can set an example for others, foster a culture of belonging, and contribute to the positive sense of well-being urgently needed in K–12 classrooms, schools, and districts nationwide.