Teacher Wellbeing

Today I'm talking about what to do when the term gets busy and you are tempted to skip the self-care and wellbeing practices in favour of powering through that never-ending to-do list. It's so tempting to let the habits fall by the wayside completely and then the next thing you know it's holidays and it's been 6 or 8 weeks since you payed any attention to your own needs. But there IS a better way! Sign up for the Resilient Teacher Roadmap course waitlist: www.selfcareforteachers.com.au/roadmap

Announcement: I'm pregnant and taking some maternity leave from mid September 2021! Therefore, not sure if I'm doing another regular season of the podcast this year. For now I'm going to do an occasional bonus livestream series and rebroadcast it on the pod. It's not ideal but it's all I've got in me atm. So every few weeks expect a bonus pod ep with the audio of FB or IG live session. Follow the podcast in your favourite pod app: https://pod.link/teacherwellbeing It also means there are only 3 months left to sign up to coaching with me as I will be closing my books a couple months before I take maternity leave. Since my coaching is always in a series and you can't do one off session sunless you're a previous client, I'll need to start the last coaching series group in term 3 so make sure if you have been thinking about signing up for coaching do so or wait until this time next year! Also I'm changing things up with the discovery calls due to an unfortunate run of no shows and so it's one free appointment only, if you miss it without communicating then it will be a fee before you can rebook. Webinars are free and there is a recording so you don't have to be there live but discovery call not so much. Read more about my coaching and sign up for a free Discovery call at https://selfcareforteachers.com.au/coaching Also, the resilient teacher coaching program will not be running again this year because I'll be on maternity leave in term 4 but I am going to do something special in term 3 on the topic of resilient teachers so stay tuned and make sure you're on the waiting list to hear about that! Sign up for the waiting list at https://selfcareforteachers.com.au/resilientteaacher The plan is to run the full program again in Term 1 2022 with it being the only way to work with me in person in first part of next year but no promises, I will see how things go with Bub! Get on the waiting list anyway and you'll get updates about it. School Wellbeing Champions: I haven't been able to progress that as much as I'd hoped because I've been so unwell but I haven't forgotten and I am definitely planning on doing something with that later this term or in term 3 so make sure you're on the regular newsletter list for that too if you're interested in being a school wellbeing champions. Also, I'm keen to make my School Wellbeing Sessions PD options as accessible as possible to Rural, Regional and Remote schools because I know there are extra challenges there with accessing PD compared with those of you in metro schools. So I'd love to hear about your challenges with accessing PD in RRR areas, keen to help address some of those in my trainings, so let me know at hello@selfcareforteachers.com.au if that's you! Also you can always sign up for the Freebies Library and take the Teacher Wellbeing Personal Quiz, both are free. Freebies Library: https://selfcareforteachers.com.au/library Quiz: https://selfcareforteachers.com.au/quiz

The final episode for Season 8 is a beautiful conversation with artist and teacher Jane Mant. Take the Teacher Wellbeing Persona Quiz at www.selfcareforteachers.com.au/quiz

Hi everyone and welcome back to the Teacher Wellbeing Podcast, which is now 4 years old! In celebration of this milestone, I'm sharing a replay of S04 E10 from 2018, about the Three Thinking Traps that Sabotage Your Wellbeing As a Teacher. Last week I shared my favourite episode, but this week I'm sharing your favourite episode, or at least, the most downloaded episode of the last 4 years. It's about the three thinking traps that sabotage your wellbeing as a teacher and what to do instead. I see these thinking traps all the time and I experience them myself, so don't feel like you're alone in it. Of course it's not an exhaustive list, but these are the top three that I see and I think it's useful to identify them so that we can get out of the trap. I've heard Katrina Bourke say that we have to "name it to tame it" when talking about emotions, and I think it applies here too. Once we're aware of these thinking traps, we can catch ourselves in the act and redirect our thoughts to be more conducive to supporting our self-care and our wellbeing and resilience, instead of sabotaging and undermining it. What's your #teacherwellbeing persona? Take this FREE four-minute quiz to reveal your teacher wellbeing strengths and weaknesses. Take Quiz Here: https://selfcareforteachers.com.au/quiz

The Teacher Wellbeing Podcast is turning 4! In celebration of this milestone, I'm sharing a replay of S05 E04 from 2019. This is my absolute favourite episode of the last 4 years, and it's also the episode I've had the most feedback from listeners about. This really resonated with you then, and I think it will resonate with you now too. The School Wellbeing Champions meetup is on again, on the 10th and 13th of March 2021. Head to selfcareforteachers.com.au/wellbeingchampion to find out more! Despite the jokes that teaching is 9 - 3 with 12 weeks holiday a year, we know it to be otherwise. We know that the work starts well before 9am, finishes well after 3pm and that large parts of those holidays are usually spent working too. We also know that workload has been increasing over the last 10-20 years. The introduction of new improvement measures such as Professional Standards for Teachers and the national curriculum, as well as the impact of NAPLAN and the My School Website have resulted in more administrative work, much of which arguably has little to do with the actual running of a classroom day to day. There is a vast invisible workload required of teachers today, much of which isn't only invisible to the general public but it's also going unnoticed and unacknowledged by us too. As well as the administrative requirements of the job, the mental load of running a classroom and the emotional labour inherent in the role are increasing too. This episode is about that invisible work, and while there are no quick fixes, I offer some steps to take to help survive and practise self-care in the process. The Teachers Thriving list of Employee Assistance Services Mental load cartoon by French Cartoonist Emma, in the Guardian Mental load ABC article by Leah Ruppannah BBC Emotional labour article Toggl App The work hours tracking sheet on the Self-Care for Teachers Freebies Library Books mentioned: "The Wife Drought" by Annabelle Crabb and "Your Money or Your Life" by Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez

Today I'm excited to bring you my conversation with Steve Francis from HappySchool.com.au and we are of course talking about creating happy schools! Steve tells us about his teaching and leadership background in QLD and Hong Kong, and how his passion for supporting the teachers that he worked with turned into a Masters researching teacher stress, and then eventually that turned into the Happy School business. We talk about the findings from Steve's research, including the 3 key factors for staff wellbeing in schools and the really important piece of school leaders acknowledging and recognising the good work of their staff. The School Wellbeing Champions meetup is on again, on 10th and 13th March 2021. This is a virtual networking event for teachers and school staff who are the 'wellbeing person' at work. Find out more and sign up at www.selfcareforteachers.com.au/wellbeingchampions

What is culture? Two definitions I like are: 'people like us do things like this' and 'ideas, customs, and social behaviours of a particular people or society.' Many teachers tell me they feel at odds with the culture in their workplace. Or worse than at odds, completely undermined by it. Well, if that's you, I hear you. I know how challenging it can be. I also want you to know that you don't have to let it be a foregone conclusion. If your school culture is one of Depleted Teachers and you want to be a Resilient Teacher, then you can shift your own personal culture to move towards that instead. Here's 4 steps to help you: - Decide what culture you want - Identify what thoughts, beliefs and actions enhance and promote, or inhibit and undermine that culture - Surround yourself with people who get it, support you and will hold you accountable - Take action, tweak, follow up Remember, if you're interested in having proactive wellbeing conversations in your staffroom, follow along with the prompts by @flourishingfebruary!

At the best of times, teaching is exciting, exhausting, scary and rewarding. First year teachers find it is all of this and more! There are so many new things to learn and so, so much work to do. Non-teaching friends and family don't really understand the demands of the job, you are still feeling like a bit of an imposter (are they really letting me in the classroom by myself?) and the students can and will test you because you're new. There are so many expectations to meet, a lot of new names to remember and lots and lots and lots of paperwork. It is all too easy as a teacher to always put your needs at the bottom of the list. This is even more of an issue in your first year as you are eager to prove yourself and likely trying really hard to avoid any negative assessments of your abilities. Here's a few dos and don'ts for self-care in your first year. These are from the following blog posts: •https://selfcareforteachers.com.au/first-year-teachers-self-care/ •https://selfcareforteachers.com.au/collective-wisdom/ Sign up for the Resilient Teacher program: https://selfcareforteachers.com.au/resilientteacher

This episode is the audio replay from an Instagram Live I did on the 15th January 2021. Come hang out with me on Insta, I'm having fun with Reels and things! https://instagram.com/selfcareforteachers Sign up for the Free webinar: https://selfcareforteachers.com.au/webinar And enrol in the Resilient Teacher Group Coaching Program here https://selfcareforteachers.com.au/resilientteacher

Happy New Year! You did it, you made it through 2020, the weirdest, hardest year yet. Wherever you are in the world, I want to acknowledge the huge challenges and upheaval 2020 brought and give you a big pat on the back. Well done, it is no mean feat. So we find ourselves in 2021 and I wonder if perhaps your social media newsfeed and email inbox is filled with messages about how unworthy you are, how you need to punish yourself for any pleasures or indulgences over Christmas and the holidays, and overhaul you entire life by January 14 to be enough. Well, this isn't one of those messages. Those messages are utterly wrong and completely crap. You are SO worthy, already and always. You do not have to punish yourself for enjoying yourself, even if perhaps you feel you over did it a bit. And you most certainly do not need to overhaul any part of your life by January 14 to be enough. You are enough. Already. Always. If you'd like some gentle support in being proactive about your health, wellbeing and resilience this year then I invite you to enrol in the Self-Care System Mini-Course and Healthy Habits Planner. We're having a live 2021 Vision Workshop tomorrow, Tuesday 5th January at 10am QLD time. Enrol here: http://selfcareforteachers.com.au/self-care-system Whether you're into resolutions and goal setting like me, or whether you think the New Year is just an arbitrary date, please take some time to encourage and nourish yourself this month. And as always, remember that you are a person first and a teacher second and you are SO worthy of your own care x

In this episode I'm sharing my predictions for the 2021 trends in the teacher health, wellbeing and resilience space in Australia (and beyond). This is also the last episode of Season 7 and for 2020. I will take a little break and see you in 2021! My predictions are: 1. Schools are taking on board the wellbeing message and doing SOMETHING but it will continue to be hit and miss. 2. Wellbeing Champions continue to grow and be driven by staff instead of leaders. Individuals are making impacts in the schools and communities where they live. 3. Education policy and Department expectations will continue to be problematic but also continue to acknowledge the need for teacher wellbeing. At least they're paying lip service now? 4. Unions will continue to be necessary but as we saw with Qld this year, people are unhappy with the result. We can acknowledge things would be worse without the unions fighting for us and still be unsatisfied 5. Teacher Wellbeing/Wellness businesses are increasing in quantity. It's great that there are more options for teachers, some are more rigorous than others so just make sure you do your homework. 6. Positive Psychology/Positive Education will continue to dominate the teacher wellbeing conversation, and complementary approaches are still very small percentage of the landscape but growing I think. 7. Student Welfare/Wellbeing will continue to be given more attention at the national level which means it's up to us to keep reinforcing the message that student wellbeing and teacher wellbeing are intricately linked. Hence the increase in School Wellbeing Champions! 8. The overall school staff health and wellbeing movement is well under way. It is mainstream now even if still a long way to go. It will continue to grow and be driven from the bottom up by individuals out of necessity. 9. Teachers are taking their own health and wellbeing into their own hands and investing their own money, energy, time, resources. This doesn't replace the need for the school-wide, state-wide and national initiatives, however it is excellent that teachers are no longer waiting for others to do something about it and prioritising themselves. Make sure you're following me @selfcareforteachers on IG and subscribed to the #teacherwellbeingpodcast in your favourite podcast app because I have some exciting things coming in January. Grab the Self-Care System Mini-Course and Self-Care Planner/Habits Tracker via the link below to help support yourself over the school holidays to have a more wellbeing and less fatigue, more resilience and less burnout in 2021. Enrol here: https://selfcareforteachers.com.au/self-care-system It's not a quick fix, it's a system that will teach you to make micro-changes each week and each month so you can make a big difference to your life, health and wellbeing over the course of the year (not just on the school holidays.) As always, remember you're a person first and a teacher second and you are allowed to look after you x

Who benefits from individual teachers and schools being caught up in and measured by the way things look and appear as opposed to what difference is really being made academically, socially, emotionally? Links mentioned: •Instagram @selfcareforteachers •Resilient Teacher Program Wait List •Rethinking Resilience podcast ep •Invisible work of teaching podcast ep •BOOK: Changing Australian Education: How policy is taking us backwards and what can be done about it by Alan Reid •AEU FB page webinars about funding inequality in Australian schools •Feminist Coach Academy podcast https://feministcoachacademy.com/podcast/ •Feminist Coach Academy Certification Training https://feministcoachacademycourses.com

Part 2 of my conversation with Stuart Keene, Clinical Exercise Physiologist. If you haven't yet listened to last week, please do so first. Early bird Prices until 11th December: 2021 Self-Care System •2021 Self-Care Systemhttps://selfcareforteachers.thinkific.com/courses/selfcaresystem2021 •Fatigue Resilience Masterclass Serieshttps://selfcareforteachers.thinkific.com/courses/fatigueresilience Other Links Mentioned: •Symptom Tracker Sheet in Freebies Library •Book a call with Stuart •HRV sensor Whoop •HRV sensor EliteHRV

I speak with my husband, Stuart Keene, Clinical Exercise Physiologist, about movement as medicine and the science of exercise and HRV as fatigue management and mitigation.

I really love this time of year, because it's the time I start looking at planners and calendars and thinking about all the possibilities of a new year. It's exciting! That being said, the flip side of excitement is often anxiety. And this can be a really anxiety-filled time of year for many! I share what I've learned from Hagrid about managing this anxiety, and the very powerful language shift to get rid of What Ifs once and for all! PS Remember, there's still time to come to the Wellbeing Champions Meetup on Saturday: http://selfcareforteachers.com.au/wellbeingchampion