Cultivating Our Best Selves as School Administrators: Designing Our Wellness Vision

Supporting those who support of students: Classroom of student desks appear against a chalkboard full of lessons

 

"When we give ourselves compassion, we are opening our hearts in a way that can transform our lives"

Kristin Neff

 

 

Since March 2020, a variety of stressors have emerged in the world. Now in our third year of the pandemic, school administrators continue to navigate these stressors, including the COVID-19 crisis, fluctuating school policies, and increasingly deep grief, loss, and trauma amongst peers, colleagues and students. According to the World Health Organization, burnout has not been successfully prevented. Bearing witness to traumatic experiences–one’s own experiences and others’–can impact our well-being.

 

Cultivating Our Best Selves as School Administrators will engage systems leaders, principals, school site leaders, and those in other roles responsible for decision-making and direction to increase personal motivation, resilience, and strengths.

This summer, we hope to create a space to support those who support others.

 

What is this about?

Join our four-part series that explores school administrator wellness. Through this program, we hope to:

  • Create engaging connections with other school administrators (i.e.: creating peer wellness support).
  • Increase self-compassion by building sustainable wellness vision plans that  cultivate and reinforce school leaders’ strengths.
  • Identify and Design habits that support leaders’ self-transformation and growth. These habits include emotional balance, meaning-making, and creating a culture of wellness.
  • Offer a learning space in which school leaders will feel connected to their peers in the field, share their own experiences, and learn transferable skills.

 

Who is this for?

This series is offered to county and school district administrators in the Pacific Southwest (Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, and U.S. Pacific Islands of American Samoa, Guam, Marshall Islands, Northern Mariana Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, and Palau); this series is open to other providers outside of our region.

 

When is this series?

Note that while attending all four sessions is not required, we strongly ask that you attend all sessions as each session builds on each other.

July 20, July 27, August 3, and August 10
(four consecutive Wednesdays)
3:00 - 4:30 p.m. PT

 

Session 1, July 20, 2022: Wellness, where am I?

  • Understand the impact of compassion fatigue on wellness
  • Invite reflection on how compassion fatigue impacts our work and may reduce performance
  • Cultivate at least three steps to increase energy, strengths, and self-leadership

 

Session 1 materials:

 

Session 2 on July 27, 2022: You have what it takes! 8 step process for lasting change

  • Lead participants in a discussion on “What it takes to change: 8 step process for lasting change”
  • Invite participants to reflect on barriers that are impacting their mental health and well-being
  • Invite participants to assess readiness to change and implement new transformational habits

 

Session 3 on August 3, 2022: Design your own environment

  • Understand the steps to designing a wellness vision
  • Design a wellness vision plan and habits to enhance your mental health and well-being
  • Cultivate opportunities to grow, feel better, and commit to emotional balance

 

Session 4 on August 10, 2022: Building lasting success for self and others

  • Maintain your wellness vision into the next school year
  • Invite participants to create workplace culture that prioritizes adequate time for emotional balance
  • Cultivate opportunities to elevate wellness, self-compassion, and motivation in your school leadership

 

Register for one, some, or all sessions in the series by clicking any of the session links above

 

Priming Resources

 

Faculty

Angela Castellanos

Angela Castellanos, PPSC, LCSW

Angela Castellanos, LCSW, is an experienced mental health consultant and administrator with 25+ years of diverse and progressive expertise in the mental health care industry and school settings. As a licensed clinical social worker, she specializes in administering school mental health programs; mentoring industry professionals (local, state, and federal); and developing and teaching best practices in the areas of trauma, suicide prevention, crisis response and recovery, and school mental health. She is a Certified Approved Instructor through the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation, Inc. and an experienced wellness coach and therapist.

 

 

 

Tanya FastnachtTanya Fastnacht, MSW Intern

Tanya Fastnacht is a Master of Social Work student at the University of Massachusetts-Global in advanced generalist practice and is completing her final practicum with the Center for Applied Research Solutions (CARS). She received her bachelor's degree in Psychology at CSU Sacramento where she first developed her passion for research and policy in mental health. Tanya has several years of experience working in community mental health and volunteering as a crisis counselor.